New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-12-16
TIE NRlRESr Duty.

COnVelslnR laSU week at w dSuluBtOu WIFI
one of the keenest and most determined Rad
icals in the South, we inquired as to the pros
pect of carrying his State in the ensuing cleo
ton. Every much depends" he replied, "on
" our candidate for Governor. If A. be the
man, / shall fear the result; with b., the
chance will be better; but the man we ought
to run, if we could is Gen. y. He was q
Rebel, and fought CALAMITY through the war;
" yet, the moment it was over, he said he had
fought for Slavery, because he believed in 1t;
" but, now that it was gone, he was for Re
" construction and lasting Union on the basis
" of Equal Rights for an. From that hour, he
"has steadily, openly advocated the eniIan-
" chisement of the Blacks not merely as ex-
"pedent or polite, or inevitable but as essen
TALLY right-a logical, necessary result of
Enc cipation. If he were only enfranchised,
so that we could run him for Governor, our
success would be certain"
Is there one man on earth not a born idiot
who can imagine a reason for not enfranchis-
ing such man-all such men? What sort Of
policy, or justice, OF common sense, can there
be in keeping under the ban men who are not
merely with US and Of us, but whose restora-
ton TO political rights is essential to our own
success and ascendancy9
We do not seek to disguise the fact that we
favor far more generous and comprehensive
restoration to political rights but that cannot
affect the wisdom Of enfranchising our Orn
people 1t is on this point that We would now
| fix attention.
! The Alabama Convention has sent MP to
| Congress long list of the disfranchised in
that State who, because they are earnest, act
i've Radicals, the majority desire to have restored
to the fullest rights of citizenship and we do not
doubt the ultimate success Of this demand
But why not affirm principle rather than
establish an cxcepton7 Why should not Con-
gress enact, In six lines, that every SouthrOn
who has for at least three months past, sup
ported Reconstruction on the basis of Equal
Rights for all citizens, and still supports it,
shall, upon making and filing his affidavit to
the fact, be restored to all political rights and
placed on the registry of his district as q
voter? What is the need of squandering paper
in printing long lists OF names when the prin-
! ciple involved is so clearY Admit that a few
unchanged Rebels might commit perjury in
matter so plain as to render exposure and in
fanny, if not legal punishment, inevitable, we
insist that their power for evil would be fatally
crippled by the nOtOriety of their crime And
| it is never possible to preclude absolutely all
chance Of such abuses.
Col. Dom Piatt used to insist, in his Ohio
stump speeches, that the Republicans must
make haste and get principle to stand upon
before Vallandigham should die and leave them
bankrupt In that spirit, we hold that the in
sane folly wheIewith the ex- BourbOns Of the
! South insist on arraying the Blacks in solid
| phalanx against them cannot possibly be ex-
pected to outlast the next two years. And,
whenever the old masters shall have wit
enough to say to their ex-slaves, ave con-
"cede to you all the rights that we claim for
ourselves; why should we be antagonists any
"lOnge Y-they will carry large part if
not most of them away from those who now
run the Republican machine at the South.
| The recent Conservative negro meeting
at Mobile is OminOus of what must surely
come. So long as the ReactOnists who alb
surdly term themselves Conservatives shall
see fit to stand on the platform of ga White
| MANS government" whereof Blacks must be
serfs, this gTavitatiOn Of the negroes toward
their old masters will amount to nothing more
than the Irish vote for Know Nothing tickets
but, the moment the old aristocracy of the
South concede the Right of Suffrage to the
Blacks the whole situation will be changed.
And that they will do, so soon as they are
! satisfied that they can do no better.
Every consideration Of polcy-and we are
now looking no further-demands that the Re-
construction Of the Southern States be fastened
so far as is consistent with the maintenance of
Political Rights for their lately emancipated
/ Il "a. -
acts so far as TO render a majority of those
voting, instead of requiring a majority Of all
who are registered, to adopt their renovated
Constitutions. That it will also enfranchise at
least all the fre-tried Radicals who were once