Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-05-10
! Tha soufhern I[IlIsnninm.

We remember that one Of the aIgu-
ments made against the Reconstruction
act was that it would breed strife and
ill-blOod between the whites and blacks
in the southern states. The prophets
/ who prophesied this have not had long
to wait to see their Vaccinations proved
! false and absurd
The truth is that the Congressional
/ Reconstruction act has done more to
/ RECONCILE differences, aud to produce
! good feeling in the southern states, than
1 anything either the President or Con-
/ gress, or General Grant and the arm
! les. have dOue. .....r. --..
] We read 10. our southern exchanges
/ accounts of Union meetings, OfRepub-
/ lican organizations, of free discussion;
i of aTSunieufs with blacks, and appeals
/ to them from those who very lately
/ promised to die or leave the country
/ before tLey would suffer negroes 90 vote
! In Charleston c0l6red people ride in
] the. cars, Just as in New York; in Rich
mond they hold political meetings; in
/ Petersburg a mass meeting of white
and colored citizens unanimously a.
! dOpted a platform asserting the right of
! the blacks TO education in the state S
] free schools, to the vote, and to Office,
and the Richmond Wing declares that
! sensible men will agree to the resOlu-
tio1s; in Georgia the Republican party
declares as its fundamental principle
equal rights to all, without regard to
color" In Alabama reconstruction
meetings are held, attended By the best
men in the state; and in Tennessee the
democrats have issued a cOmiCal
tBrownlow catechism' whose object is
Il s--N0-.-A v.--v,1~
BroWnloW, aud not the democratic par
ty, is their eatenemy-t that they oUght
to vote the democratic ticket. H1
Now that the colored men are to
vote, they suddenly assume great i'm
portsnce to the white politicians in the
South. The Reconstruction act has
worked wonders IN subduing hatred
and establishing kindness. federation
and forbearsnce. Under it negroes, who
were six months ago to be forever ex-
cluded from the polls, are, in almost
every southern state taking part in the
political conventions of both parties
aud addressing not only their own peO-
pie but the whites: and some of the
Journals which but a little while ago
prophesied a war Of races, now relate
with pleasure what we'll l-cOnduCted and
useful citizens are the blacks Of the
South.
We wish President johnson, who
has sometimes tWaddled abOutthe com
ing war Traces, " would take a lesson
from the change Of sentiment and feel
ing in the southern states, consequent
upon the Congressional act conferring
upon the negroes the right vote. It is
always time for a public man to learn
and Mr. Johnson may learn from this
that his fears were groundless; and II
he thinks the matter out, he must come
to the conclusion that to make suffrage
general and equal was the only way to
avert a war of races, and to establish at
once peace, and general good under
standing.
We recommend the same lesson to
some of the Republican politicians, who
have blamed the EVENING POsT for
demanding in season and out, univer-
sal suffrage. Ignorance may be danger
Gus to the state or the city, but the way
to cure Ignorance is not to make it help
less and dependent upon the more fort
unate. but to give 1t responsibility and
power, which will train the ignorant to
thoughtful ways; and when the igno-
rant vote it will be to th8interest of the /
educated to provide. In selfdefenee,
schools for all In the southern states
already we hear of state schools for
the blacks-Which were never spoken
of with patience until the blacks we're
made voters.-lN.r K.sBost.