Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-03-26
1T is TIME FOR ACTION.

IL 10 AAAAL N@~ -
Ascertain what the rebels do not like,
and give them that" is the practical
motto of the Radicals. They don't like
famine. Give them that They don't
like tyranny. Give them that They
don't like taxation without representa-
ton. Give them that. They don't like
arsenic for the furnishing. A member OF
the Chicago Board of Trade says give
them that And so we 90, making his
tory" as Lincoln would say. Now, let
Ms see If, out Of all the things we get be-
oause we don't like them, we cannot ex-
tract something good. Let us see if we
cannot employ the Reconstruction meas
ures of Congress to advantage. The
intention Of them is to punish, not TO
benefit. They mean to make black 10y
alty the basis of Southern State govern
ments. and we had as well recognize at
once the fact of negro suffrage all over
the South. 1t is to be, and there is no
mower on earth to prevent it. If those
of the Southern people who can vote,
fail to do so from disgust with the idea
of voting in company with their late
servants, their doom will be sealed, and
the power of government depart from
them. Will this be wisdom or folly
State conventions are to be called, and
the members to compose them, will be
voted for by those who shall register,
and not others. All'the negro men will
register, that is certain. Let US state
case for illustration:
In one county in Mississippi, there are
twenty-five white men who are disfran-
chised by the reconstruction bills, be-
cause they had taken an oath to support
the Constitution of the United States,
and afterwards aided the South in the
late war. There are two thousand white
men who will be entitled to register and
vote. There will be the same number of
negroes. In addition to these, there are
about fifteen loyalists, dyed in the wool,
whose mission will be to control the ne
gro vote and have two or more OF their
number elected to the constitutional
convention. If the white men who can
register and rote, shall fail to do so, is it
not clear that these loyalists will be re-
turned to the convention2 Suppose a
similar state of things shall exist in each
county in the State. We have Radical
convention that will frame constitution
excluding from the polls erer after, all
who failed to register and vote at the
election. This constitution will be sub
mitted to the people for ratification.
All who failed to register and vote for
delegates will be excluded from voting
on the question Of ratification. The re
suit is obvious. The wool dyed 10y
alists, Southern renegsdes, and speei-
mems of the rag-tag and bob-tail poll
ticians of every cline, kingdom and
country, will find themselves in the high
places of the State, where they can, at
pleasure, domineer over the people. But
suppose, in the county referred to, all
the white men who are not DISTINGUISHED,
shall register. Does any sensible man
doubt that they could carry the county
Does any one doubt that they could carry
at least one thousand Of the two thou
sand negro votes? The result would
stand, upon the most favorable caleula-
ton for the wooldyed, three thousand
whites and negroes, to one thousand ne
groes and loyalists Now, would it not
be folly, madness, in the Southern peo
pie to throw themselves back on the high
horse Of dignity, refuse TO register, and
thus allow their States TO become the
miserable, dOwn.trodden thing that Ten
nessee is to-day Each one of them
would have Brownlow for Governor,
and Legislature like his. They would
lose power, as we have lost it. Their
courts would decide as our courts decide,
and they would have just the sort Of
rights that We have, the right to pay
taxes and bear all the burdens without
any Of the benefits Of the State. We say
to the people OF the South, recognize ne
gro suffrage as fixed fact, and prepare
to make the most of it The time for
complaint is over, and the time for action
arrived.