Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-12-06

ment will be preserved upon the prlncl-
lsples= of. the Constitution Inherited from
our fathers. 1t follows, Therefore. that, in
admitting to the ballot-box. Q new class OF
voters not qualified for the exercise OF the
elective. franchise, we weaken our system
of Government, instead of adding to its
strength and durability. 1 yield TO no one
in attachment to that rule of general sui
| frage which distinguishes our policy as q
nation; but there is limit, wisely OBJ
served hitherto, which makes the ballot
privilege and trust, and which requires
of some classes time suitable for proba=
ton and preparation. To give It lndis-
criminately TO a new class, wholly unpre-
pared by previous habits and opportunltles
to perform the trust which 1t demands, Is
to degrade it,,ands finally to destroy IT'S
power. For II may be safely assumed lnas
no political truth is better estapllsheQ snan
that such indiscriminate and all embracing
extension of popular suffrage must END at
last in its overthrow and destruction. L
repeat the expression of my w1li1ngn ess 10
join in any, plan, within the scope q our
Constitutional authority, Which promises prom y
to better the condition of the negroes In
the South, by encouraging them In indus
try, enlightenment, Improvement q tneiF
morals, and giving protectlon 10 an u tnelr
just rights as freedmen; but to- transfer
our political inheritance to them Wouia, IN
my opinion, be an abandonment OF q duty
which We owe alike to the memory OF our
fathers and the rights Of our children
1.-The plan of putting the Southern states
wholly, and the Federal Government par
italy, into the hands OF negroes, IS pro-
posed at time peculiarly unpropitlous.
| H. Of ofx hor
broken up by civil war. Industry must
be reorganized, Justice established, public
credit maintained, and order brought out
of confusion. To accomplish these ends
would require all the wisdom and virtue
of the great men who formed our institu-
lions originally Iconidently believe that
their descendants will he equal to the ar
duous task, before them; but itT is more
than madness to expect that negroes will
perform it for u.s. Certainly we ought
not to ask their assistance until we despair
of our own competency The great differ
ence between the two races, in physical,
mental, and moral characteristics, will pre-
vent an amalgamation and fusion of them
together in one. homogeneous mass Ii
the inferior obtains the ascendancy over
the other, it will govern with reference
entirely to its own interests, -for 1t will
recognize no common interests, and Gre
ate such q. tyranny as this; continent has
never yet witnessed Already the negroes
Eare influenced by promises Of confiscation
and plumber. They are taught oiregard
as an enemy every, white man who has
any respect for the rights Of his own race.
B 1t this continues, it must become worse
and worse, until all, order will be subvert-
ed, all industry, cease, and the fertile. fields
of the South grow up into a wilderness
Of all the dangers which our nation has
yet encountered, none, are equal to those
which must result from the success of the
effort now making to Africanize halt our
country. " 9na bGg ,9la1ic si&&f-i Js9TTG
/ would not put considerationsof money
in competition with justice and right; but
the expenses incident to Reconstruction
under the system adopted by Congress ag.
gravate what / regard as the intrinsic
wrong of the measure itself It. has cost
uncounted millions already, and, il, per
sisted in, win add largely to the weight OF
taxation, already too Oppressive TO- be
borne without Just complaint, and which
may finally reduce. the, treasury of the ma
ton to condition Of bankruptcy. We
must not delude ourselves 1t will require
q strong standing army, and probably two
hundred millions of dollars per annum, to
maintain the supremacy of negro govern
ments. After they are established, 1.-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 to hope thatthe
negroes, will maintain their ascendency
themselves without military power. They
are wholly incapable of holding in subjec
ton the whole people of the South
submit to the judgment of Congress
| whether the public credit may not be in
juriously affected by a system of measures
| like this With our debt, and the vast pri-
yate interests which accomplished with
| it, we cannot be. too cautious of policy
which might, by possibility, impair conf
denceI In our Government. That conf
dence can only be retained by carefully in.
culcating the principles of justice and
honor on the public mind, and by the most
serupulous fidelity to all our engagements
| of every Sort Any serious breach of the
organic law, persisted in for any consider
| able time, cannot but create fears for the
stability of our institutions. Habitual
violation of the prescribed rules which we
bind ourselves to observe must demoraliZe
| the people Our only standard of civil
Iiduty being set at naught, the sheet anchor
] of our political moralitysis lost; public
conscience swings from its moorings, and
yields to every impulse of passion and in
teresta live irepudiate the Constitution
we will not be- expected to care much fol-
mere pecuniary obligations Violation OF
| such pledge as we made on the 22d Of
| July, 1851, will assufedly diminish the mar,
ket value of our other promises. Besides
! if we now acknowledge that the national
debt was created, not to hold the States
in the Union, as tax payers were led to
suppose, but TO expel them from 1T, and
hand them over to be governed by negroes,
the moral duty to pay it may seem much
less clear. say it may seem SO, forI do
not admit that this or any other argument
in favor Of reputation can be -enter@
tanned as sound; but its influence on some
classes Of minds may well be unprecedented
The financial honor OF q great commercial
lnstion largely indebteds and swith repub
lican form of goYernment, administered
| by agents or the popular choice, is q thing
oflsuch delicate texture, and the destruction
of it would be followed by such anspeak-
able calamities, that every true patriot
must desire to avoid whatever might
/ expose it to the slightest dangers. The
great interests OF the country require i'm.
mediate relief from these enactments
Business in the South is paralyzed by q
sense of general insecurity by the terror
of confiscation and the dread of negro SUI
premacy. Southern trade from which the
1 North would have derived 30 great profit
/ under a. government of law, still languish.
.es, and can never be revived until it
| ceases to be fettered by arbitrary power,
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