The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-19
he losses during the war:
Total 80, 1855 I,298.9n

| If all were registered the white ma
jorities would be as follows: In Ala
| bama, 20, 2TS; Arkansas. 81 $40; Florida.
4, 1888; Georgia, 1888; Louisiana, "a, $50;
Virginia, &c, $40. The black maiorities
would be in Mississippi, 1870; South
Carolina, q, 4S9. II in the eight States
where the whites are dominant, dis
/ reimbursement Is limited by the con-
ditions of the reconstruction bills, the
white majOritIes cannot be entirely
wiped out, except possibly in Florida.
/ The Southern ObstructiOnists assert
that the registers reject a great many
white men who are not legally dis
sfranchisFd, aud as there is no appeal
from their decisions, that IL is impossi-
| BILE for white men to obtain their rights.
| This may be true in some localities, but
II is not likely that it is the general
fact. There is no evidence OF any such
| general purpose of the military COM
manders to reduce the whites TO n
minority by unfair means, as the OBJ
structionists aiIege. On the contrary,
they show every disposition to admin
lister the law strictly and fairly. The
Acknowledgement OF whites, therefore,
which gives the negroes a majority
| of voters in every State except Arkan-
sas, Is voluntary. The whites refuse 10
register. If negro supremacy is estab-
lished throughout the South, as now
seems II Will De tue lhuIL Oh the
whites themselves, who sullenly stand
back and surrender their power because
they dislike the conditions under which
they are permitted - exerciseit. If by
registering and voting they Endorsed
these conditions, we might honor their
pluck in standing out and bearing the
/ consequences. But they do not indorse
the Congressional scheme by voting
under 1t. They merely go through with
the process as an inevitable evil, and
| have full liberty to hate and denounce
| the scheme and its authors to their
hearts, content, and keep doing so till
they are satisfied. No, the abdfcatiou
of power by the whites is cowardly and
iuexcusable, and they will themselves
share the responsibility OF the conse-
quences, whatever they may be.
What the consequences of negro su-
pTemacy in the South are to be IL is Inn
possible to predict. George w. Ken
dali, of Texas, has written a letter, for
the consolation of his white brethren,
in which he predicts that the first coll
ored vote will be the heaviest ever coun-
ted; that the negroes will not continue to
take an interest after ssthe novelty Of
voting has passed away. There may
| be someth ng in this, but the negroes
and their white friends will frame the
new Constitutions for the Southern
States and do the first legislRting, and
! II they hold their present purpose and
leadership, they will adopt the Tennes-
see system, and there will be much
more sweeping Acknowledgement of
white men than under the confiscation
acts, and the imposition of such other
disa bllities as even Brownlow has not
attempted. The southern white men
must see that those who hold the power
at the start will have every inducement
so to TX things that they can retain it,
and although Congress Is to pass upon
the new constitutions before they can
stand, there is no probability that that
body will require any greater leniency
toward ex-rebels in the other States,
than in Tennessee. They will accept
the constitutions made as true express
sions OF the popular will, and it will be
long time before the white men of the
South can hope for any change. Ifthey
mean TO have any voice in their State
Governments for the next dozen years
they Will do we'll TO register and vote
now. II may be their last chance.