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

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ment to that rule of general Suffrage which
distinguishes our policyas a nation but there
Is limit, wisely observed hithereto, which
makes the ballet privilege and trust, and
which requires of some classes time suita-
BILE for probation and prepsratioa. Togiye
it indiscriminately to new class, wholly
unpre pared by previous habits and oppor-
tunities to perform the trust which it de |
is to degrade it, and finally to de- |
stroy its power. For it may be safely as |
sumed that no political truth is better estab- |
hshed than that such indiscriminate and ALI |
embracing extension OF popular suffrage
must end at last in its overthrow and de- |
struction. repeat the expression of my
willingness to join in any plan, within the
scope of our constitutional authority, which
promises to better the condition of the ne
groes in the south, by encouraging them in
industry, enlightmeat, the improvement OF
their morals, and giving protection to all
their lust rights as freedmen; but to trans
fer our political inheritance TO them would,
in nv opinion, be an abandonment Of
duty which we owe alike to the memory of
our fathers, and the rights of our children.
4 The plaza of putting the southern states
wholly, and the federal government partially,
into the hands of negroes, is proposed at
time peculiarly unpropitious. The founda-
tons of society have been broken up by civil
WAT Industry must be reorganized, justice
established, public credit maintained, and
order brought out of confusion To accom-
plish these ends would require all the wisdom
and virtue Of the great men who formed our
institutions originally. censcientioasy be-
iie3e their descendants will be equal to the
arduous task before them, but 1t Is more
than madness TO expect that negroes will
perform it for us. Certainly we ought not
to ask their assistance until we despair OF
our ewn competency. The great difference be-
tween the two races, In physical, mental and
moral characteristics, will prevent an
amalgamation and fusion ofthem together in
one homogeneous mass. If the inferior OBJ
tains the ascendancy over the other, it will
govern with reference entirely to its own
interest, for it will recognize no common in
terests, and create such tyranny as this
continent hes never yet witnessed.
Already the negroes are Influenced by
promises of confscation and plumber. They
are taught to regard as an enemy, every
| white man who has any respect for the rights
of his own race. Ifthis continues, it must
become worse and worse, until all order will
be subverted, 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 Arr
canize half our country.
| would not put considerations of money
| in competition with Justice and right; but
the expenses incident to reconstruction I'M
der the system adopted by congress aggra'
| waite what regard as the intrinsic wrong of
the measure itself 1t has cost uncounted mil
| lions already. and, If persisted in, will add
| largely to the weight of taxation, alread 3
too oppressive to be borne without Just com.
plant, and which NAV finally reduce the
treasury of the nation to n condition of bank
| ruptcy. We must notdelude ourselves. twill
require a strong standin army and E';eSsiy
...o.a 'si4s,n two hundred miitons or dollars
per annum, to maintain the supremacy OF
negro governments. After they are estab-
IIlished, the sum thus thrown away would il
properly used form sinking fund large enough
| to paw the whole national debt in less than
Is years. 1t is vain to hope that the negroes
will maintain their ascendancy themselves,
| without military power. They are wholly
| incapable of holding in Subsection the whole
people of the south. | submit TO the judge
ment of congress whether the public credit
may not be injuriously affected by q system
| of measures like this. With our debt, and
the vast private interests which are com phi
Gated with it, we cannot be too cautious Of a
policy which might, by possibility, impai:
confidence an our government. That conf
dence can only be retained by carefully IN
culcating the principles of justice and honor
on the public mind, aud by the most scrupu
lous fidelity to all our engagements of every
sort. ANY serious breach Of the or
game law, persisted in for any consider
able time, cannot but create fears for the
stability of our institutions. Habitual viola
ton of the prescribed rules which we binC
| ourselves to observe. must demoralize the
| people Our only standard of civil duty
being set at naught, the sheet anchor of our
political morality is lost, public conscience
| swings from its moorings, and yields TO every
| impulse of passion and interest. Ii we re-
| pudiate the constitution, we will not be ex
pected to care much for mere pecuniary OBJ
legations. Violations of such pledge as we
made on the 22d of July 1861, will assuredly
diminish the market value of our other prom
ises. Beside, If we now acknowledge thai
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 it
and hand them over to be governed by ne
groes, the moral duty to pay it may seen
much less clear. / say that it may seem so
for do not admit that this or any other ar
gument in favor of reputation can be en-
tertained as sonnd; but its inf uence On some
classes of minds may well be Supplemented
The financial honor of great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with a repub
lican form of government, administered b.
agents of the popular choice, is thing o
such delicate texture, and destruction of j
would be followed by such indispensable ca
lamities, that every true patriot must desire
to avoid whatever might be exposed to thu
slightest danger. The great interests of tht
Country require Immediate relief from thes
enactments. Business in the south is par
alyzed by sense of general insecurity; b,
the terror of confscation and the dread o
negro supremacy. Southern trade, from
which the north would have derived so grea
{ a profit under a government of law, still Ian
guishes, and can never be revived until !
ceases to be fettered by arbitrary power
which makes all its operations unsafe. Tha
rich country-the richest in natural resour
: ces the world ever saws worse than lost j
it be not soon placed under the protection o
a free constitution. Instead of being, as i
ought to be, source of wealth and power, i
will become an intolerable burden upon tn,
rest of the nation.
Another reason for retracing our step
will doubtless be seen by congress in tn,
late manifestations of public opinion upol
this subject. We live in country wher,
the popular win always enforces obediene,
tn itself simmer or LATER IN Is vain tn thin