The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-12-04

parties or upon whole communities, for Of
fences committed BY Q portion ofthem against |
the government to which they owed obed- |
fence, was common in the barbarous ages of |
the world but Christianity and civilization
have made such progress that recourse to , |
punishment so cruel and unjust would meet
with the contemplation of all unpreiudicedl
aid rightminded men. The punitive Justice |
of this age, and especially of this country, |
does not consist in stripping whole /
states of their Liberties, and reducing all |
their people, without distinction, to con-
dition of slavery. 1t deals separately with
each individual, confines itself to forms of
law. andsviudioates its own, purity by an i'm
partial examination Of every case before
competent judicial tribunal. If this does
not s&tisfy all our desires with regard TO
southern rebels, let us console ourselves by
rejecting that free constitution, triumph
ant in war and I'm broken in peace, is worth
far more 10 ms and our children that the
qualification of any present feeling.
- am aware 1t is assumed that this system
OF government for the southern states Is not
to be perpetual. 1t is true this military gov
nnent is to be only provisional; but It is
-cSu &rcasck
evil is to be made perpetual. If the guar
antees of the constitution can be broken
professionally, to serve temporary purpose,
and in a part only of the country, We can
destroy them everywhere and for all time
Arbitrary measures often change, but they
generally change for the worse. It is the
curse of despotisn chat it has no hating
place. Intermittent exercise Of its power
brings no sense of security to its subjects;
for they can never know what more they Will
be called to endure when its red right hand is
armed to plague them again, nor is it pos
siole to conjecture how Or when power unre-
strained by law may seek Its next Victims
States that are still free may be enslaved at
any moment; for, if the constitution does
not protect all, it protects none.
+ 1t is manifestly, and avowedly the object
of these laws to confer upon the negroes the
privilege of voting and to disfranchise such
number of white citizens as will give the
former a clear majority at all elections In
the southern states This, to the minds Of
some persons, is so important that a viola
ton of the constitution is justified as means
of bringing it about. The morality IS al
ways false which excuses q wrong because 1t
proposes to accomplish desirable end
We are not permitted to do evil that good
may come. But, in this case, the end is
itself evil las we'll as the means. The subjuga-
ton of states to negro domination would
be worse than the military despotism
under which they are now suffering. 1t was
believed beforehand that the people would
endure any amount of military oppression
for any length of time, rather than degrade
themselves by subsection to the negro race !;
therefore they have been left without a
choice. Negro suffrage was established by
act of congress and military officers were
commanded to superintend the process of
clothing the negro race with the political
privileges of white men. The blacks in the
south are entitled to be humanely governed,
and TO have the protection of just laws for
all their rights of person and property. If
it were practicable at this time to give them
a government exclusively their own, under
which they might manage their own affairs
in their own way, it would become grave
question whether we ought TO do so, OF
sad ~
quire us to save them from themselves but
under the circumstances, this is only spec
ulatiye point. 1t is not proposed merely that
they shall govern themselves, but that they
should rule the white race, make and ad-
minister state laws, elect presidents and
members of congress, and shape, to greater
or less extent, the future destiny of the
| whole country. Would such q trust and
power be safe In such hands The peculiar
| qualities which should characterize any PEG
| pie that are fit to decide upon the manage
ment of public affairs for great state have
seldom been combined. II is the glory Of
/, white men to know that they had these quail.
! tiles III sufficient measure to build up, or
this continent, q great political fabric, and te
preserve IFS stability for more than 90 years
while, in every other part o: the world, al
| similar experiments have failed. But, i
| anything can be proved by known f.cts, III
all reasoning upon evidence is not bandon
edit must be acknowledged that, in the
progress of natiohs, the negroes have shown
less capacity for government than any other
race of people. No independent government
of any form has ever been successful IN theil
hands. On the contrary, whenever they
have been left to their own devices, they
have shown a constant tendency to relapse
into barbarism. In the southern states
however, congress has undertaken to confer
upon them the privilege of the ballot. Jus
released from slavery, it may be doubted
whether, as a class, they know, more than
their ancestors, how to organize and regu
| late civil society, Indeed, it is admitted
| that the blacks of the south are not only re
| CARELESS of the rights Of property, but theii
voting can consist in nothing more than car
| rying the ballot to the place where they ar,
directed to deposit it.
| need not remind you that the exercise o
the elective franchise is the highest attribut,
of an American citizen; and that, whel
guided by virtue, intelligence, patriotism
and proper appreciation of our free institu
tons, it constitutes the true basis of demo
cratic form of government, in which the SOW
ereign power is lodged in the body of thu
people. A trust artifeially created, not fe
its own sake, but solely as means of pro
noting the general welfare, its influence 70
| good must necessarily depend upon tn,
elevated character and true allegiance of tn
! elector. 1t ought, therefore. to be repose,
in none except those who are fitted morall,
| and mentally to administer it we'll; for,
conferred upon persons who do not justl
estimate its value, aud who are indifferen
as to its results, it will only serve Us a mean
of placing power in the hands of the ur
principled and ambitious, and must eventut
in the complete destruction of liberty, Q
which it should be the most powerful con
servator. r..s. - ~
] have, therefore, heretofore urged upo
your attention the great danger to be az
pretended from an untimely extension 3
the elective franchise to any new class Il
our country, and especially when larg
majority of that class, in welding the powe
thus placed in their hands, cannot be expect
ed correctly to comprehend the duties an