Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-12-04
NEGRO SUFFRAGE.

| DOA d ucH CLASS Vi NOtcfs uOl 4udiiuTu tDf
the exercise Of the elective franchise, We
weaken our system Of government, instead
of adding TO its strength and durability.
| yield TO no one in attachment to that rule
OF general suffrage which distinguishes our
policy as a nation; but there is a limit,
wisely observed hitherto, which makes the
ballot privilege and trust, and which
requires of some classes time suitable for
probation and preparation. To give il in-
| discriminatory to new class wholly unpre-
pared BY previous habits and opportunity
10 perform the trust which it demands, is
to degrade it, and finally TO destroy its
power; for it may safely be assumed that
no political truth is better established than
thai such an indiscriminate and ALIEN
bracing extension of popular suffrage must |
| end at last in iis overthrow and destruc-
| tion.
| repeat the expression of my willingness |
TO join in any plan which the scope OF our
constitutional authority which promises
to better the condition of the negroes in
| the South, by encouraging them in indus
| try, the enlightenment and improvement |
OF their morals, and giving protection TO
| all their Just rights as freemen; but to
transfer our political inheritance TO them,
would, in my opinion, be an abandonment
| of duty which We owe alike TO the memory
of our fathers and to the rights Of our
children.
The plan of putting the Southern States
wholly, and the Federal government par
TALLY into the hands of the negroes, is pro-
posed at a time peculiarly unpropitious.
The foundations ofsociety have been broken
up by civil war Industry must be reor-
ganized, Justice re-established, public credit
maintained, and order brought out of con-
fusion. To accomplish these ends would
require all the wisdom and virtue of the
great men who formed our institutions
originally. confidently believe that their
descendants will be equal to the arduous
task before them but it is worse than mad
ness to expect that negroes will perform it |
for rs. Certainly we ought not toask their |
assistance until We despair of our own COM
potency. The great difference between the |
two races in physical, mental and moral |
characteristics will prevent an algamation |
or fusion of them together in one homoge- |
neous mass. If the inferior obtains ascend- |
ency over the other it will govern with |
| reference only to its own interests; for il |
will recognize no common interest and |
| create such tyranny as this continent has |
never yet witnessed. Already negroes are |
| influenced by promises of confscation and |
plunder. They are Taught to regard as
an enemy every white man who has any |
respect for the rights of his own race. II
this continues it must become worse and |
worse, until all order will be subverted, all |
industry cease, and the fertile fields of the |
South grow up into a wilderness. OF all |
the dangers which our nation has yet en- |
countered, none are equal TO those which |
must result from the, success of the effort |
now making to Africanize half our country.
THE COST.
would not put considerations ofmoney |
in competition with justice and right; but |
the expenses incident to reconstruction |
under the system adopted by Congress, |
! agravate what l regard as the intrinsic |
| wrongs Of the measure itself. 1t has cost |
uncounted millions already, and, If per
sisted in, will add largely to the weight of |
taxation, already too oppressive to be borne |
without just complaint, and may finally re- |
duce the treasury of the nation to condi-
ton ofbankruptcy. We mustnotdelude our
selves 1t will require a strong standing |
army, and probably more than two hundred |
millions OF dollars per annum, to maintain |
the supremacy of the negro governments |
after they are established. The sum thus |
thrown away would, If properly used, form |
sinking fund large enough to pay the |
whole national debt in less than fifteen |
years. 1t is vain 20 hope that negroes viii |
maintain their aseendency themselves |
Without the military power they are
wholly incapable of holding in subieetion
the white people of the South.
l submit to the Judgment of Congress
whether the public credit may not he iniu
riOusly affected by system of measures
like this. With our debt, and the vast
private interests which are complicated
with il, We cannot be too cautious of
policy which might, by possibility, impair
the confidence of the world in our govern
ment. That confidence can only be re-
tanned by carefully inculcating the princi-
pies of Justice and honor on the popular
mind, and by the most scrupulous fidelity
to all our engagements of every sort. Any
serious breach of organic law, persisted in
for considerable time, cannot but create
fear for the stability of our institutions
Habitual violation of prescribed rules
which We bind ourselves TO observe must
demoralize the people. 0nr only standard
of civil duty being set at naught, the sheet
anchor of our political morality is lost,
public conscience sWays from its moorings
and yields to every impulse of passion and
interest. If we repudiate the constitution
we will not be expected to care much for
mere pecuniary obligations
THE PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC FAITH.
The violation of such a pledge as we
made on the 22d of July, 1861, will as
suredly diminish the market value of our
other promises. Besides, if we now ac-
knowledge that the national debt was
created, not to hold States in the Union
as taxpayers were led to suppose, but to
expel them from it and hand them over
TO he governed by negroes, the moral duty
to pay it may seem much less clear. | say
il mdq seem so for / do not admit that il
or any other argument in favor of repu-
diation can be entertained as sound but
, its influence on some classes of minds may
, well be apprehended The financial honor
Ofa great commercial nation, largely in
debted, and with Republican form of
government administered by agents of pop
, ular choice, is thing of such delicate tex =,
tnre, and the destruction of it would be
followed by such unspeakable calamity,
, that every true patriot must desire to avoid
, | whatever might expose it 10 the slightest
danger. The great interests of the coun-
try require immediate relief from these
enactments.
+ BUSINESS IN THE SOUTH IS PARALYZED
! by sense of general insecurity, by the
: terror of cohfscation and dread of negro
3 | supremacy. Southern trade, from which
| the North would have derived so great a
: profit under government of law, still Ian
j.. guishes and can never be revived while it
2 can be fettered BY the arbitrary power
r which makes all its operations unsafe.
A That rich country, the richest in natural
resources the world ever saw, is worse
i. than lost if it be not soon placed under
s the protection of a free constitution. In
= stead of being, as it ought to be, a
o source of wealth and power, it win be-
D come an intolerable burden upon the rest
f of the nation.
THE LATE ELECTIONS.
e Another reason for retracing our steps
: will doubtless be seen by Congress in the
d late manifestations Of public opinion on
: this subject We live in a country where
e popular viii always forces obedience to it.
e self sooner or later. 1t is vain to think Of
e opposing it with anything short of legal
authority backed by overwhelming force.
= 1t cannot have escaped your attention that
e from the day on which Congress fairly and
1 ii. T.