The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-07

reconstructed, conceded the right of suffrage
to the blacks nor even to that better portion
of them whom no man will soberly pronounce
personally unfit to exercise that right.
On the contrary, those States-that is, the
ex-Rebels of those States, restored to sway by
President Johnson's "policy" "-proceededfo forth
with to deal with them as follows;-
North Carolina forbade the reception Of negro
testimony 10y her courts, except in cases where
blacks are parties. No contract with or by
person of color should be valid unless reduced
to writing and witnessed by white. The
marriage of a white to a colored person was
declared void, and a punishable misdemeanor,
And every person having an eighth Of black
blood was declared person of color.
Mississippi enacted degrading laws bearing
solely on colored persons similar to the above,
and prescribed in addition that no cOlored per
son should keep or bear arms alabama
adopted this also), and by vagrant, appren-
tice, and kindred acts, reduced her colored
population Ga majority Of the whole) to a state
of virtual slavery. The act for reclaiming
tugitives for labor was quite as harsh as the
Fugitive. Slave law; every colored child who is
an orphan or,whOse parents are unable to sup
port 1t must be apprenticed; every colored
person must have lawful home; every labOrer
quitting his employers service without good
cause must forfeit all his wages; and, finally,
all the penal laws against slaves and free
negroes were expressly revived and made ap-
pGcable to freedmen. In short, it would not
have been practicable for a majority of the
blacks to have kept out of prison and out of
slavery if those laws had been allowed to
stand.
So it was throughout the States now
awaiting reconstruction from the Potomac to
the Rio Grande-not merely an absolute, per-
emptory denial to the colored people of all
voice in making or modifying their laws or
y111a Int
thereto of the most invidious, insulting tyran-
nical enactments, calculated to invade their
rights, harrow their feelings, and render their
nominal liberty a mockery and a curse. And
all this was exulted over by the ex-Rebel
journals as certain to make them deplore their
emancipation And, while the greatest stress
is now laid on the fact that the blacks are
ignorant (through whose fault p no step was
taken in single State to dispel that igno-
rance by the establishment Of common schools
open to colored children.
Now, we challenge the Times to show, either
that we have misrepresented the action of
these JOhnsonized States, or that "the Pres-
dents plan" contemplated the overruling of
these cruel, degrading enactments. If not, how
can the Times ignore these facts in arraigning
the North as deficient in magnanimity and
generosity
Had "the South"-that is, the ex-Rebel
South-evinced particle of these qualities in
its dealings with its own cOlored people-nay
had it treated that population with decent
approach to justice-we firmly believe that
the North would have shown abundant mag
nanimity. Or had Johnson's "policy'' pro
vided effectively against Rebel tyranny over
the Southern blacks, we believe it must have
prevailed. But such legislation as we have
instanced elucidated by the Memphis and
New Orleans massacres, enlightened and
aroused the North. 1t was seen that such
magnanimity as Johnson desired and the Phi
ladelphia arm-in- arm Convention upheld, was
incompatible with justice and good faith to
the four millions of Southern blacks whose
efforts and prayers had powerfully aided to
vanquish the Rebellion-hence the public re-
probation of that policy. 1t fell, not because
the North lacked magnanimity, but because
"the South" (sO-called) sought to wreak on
her defenseless blacks its revengeful wrath at
the failure of the Rebellion.
But let bygones be bygOnes. Here is one
journal in the North that has always been
openly, zealously desirous of speedy and
thorough reconstruction on the basis of uni
versal amnesty and impartial suffrage. And
we mean by impartial suffrage that all Rebels
as well as all blacks shall vote, unless disfran-
chised for some other crime than rebellion or
treason. viii the Times instance one distinc-
lively Southern journal that advocates, or has
advocated, any basis of reconstruction which,
in its judgment, is fairer or more magnani-
nous