Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1867-05-02
The Republican State Con-
Vent1Om.

NODouJ AuO"o "uAs ~ WI w. SNU
predict one thing, some another thing
every body are anxiously "waiting and
watching" the movements OF the Grand
Army and Great Taxation Republican
Party. No delegates have yet been Sc.
lected to represent Viuton County in the
great African Convention. Who will be &C.
locted? Will they endorse the proposed
Authorization Amendment to the Con-
stitution when they arrive at Columbus ?
Will they do as Cheesedon sOysH We
will let the Ohio Statesman tell what the
Repub licau Convention will have to do,
and we hope our Republican friends in
VintOn County will carefully read it:
"It was . bad piece of work the Re-
publican members Of the Legislature did
10 bO.ching the Amendment proposing
the Authorization Of the Constitution Of
the State, by patching on to it the dis.
franchisement Of from ti0enty to twenty-
four thousand White soldiers. All botoh
work is bad but the worst is Legisla-
tive botch work. Left to itself, and run.
ming purely on its " merits, the propo-
sitiOn TO Negroize the Constitution OF the
State, would have encountered an OppO-
sition that would have consigned it to
defeat. |, may seem smart to Republic
can politicians to say that nothing can
bring the Negroes down to the level Of
Democrats, aud that the opposition to
Negro Suffrage has it's main spring il
prejudice on account of the color OF tn e
skin and the Crispness of the hair, This,
however, does not dispose of the fact,
shat as o race, in their native land, the
Negroes have made no advancement
whatever in civilization, and in the arts
and sciences. AS illiterate and as bar
rous to-day is Africa as it was centuries
ago. Did there exist no other difference
between the White and the Black man
excepting that Of color and in the forms
alton of the hair, Africa could not now
be pointed to as a country wherein ciyilD
~ization has not been able to gain and
hold footing; nor could it be said to
the prejudice of that people that Miss
ionary labors are thrown away upon
them. because as coon as the Missionaries
are withdrawn, a relapse into barbarism
on the part Of those who had been un.
t der Missionary influence, ensues. 1t
will nightly help the advocates Of the
NegrOizing of the State Constitution to
give a reason that shall be perfectly and
satisfactorily explanatory of all this.
All that we know Of the White race, is
TO the effect that it has always been an
aggressive race-never satisfied with its
existing condition but always wrong
and fighting to better that condition,
physically and Intellectually. With q
view to add TO her store Of information,
EVE plucked the forbidden fruit. A
Negress would have contented herself
with things as they existed in the Cars
den of Eden, just as the Negroes in AT
RIGA are perfectly satisfied with things
there as they have existed from the be.
ginning, manifesting no desire of ion
provement in anything, What, then,
are We to gain by associating the mem
bers Of this race with us in the admins
~tration of the State and Federal Govern
ments? Will we, through such a%ssocia-
ton, secure better officers, and, conse-
quently, better government? Will prof.
legacy and wastefulness be brought to an
end? Some mighty good should certain
ly be brought 10 exchange for the
disfraDchisen ent Of the twenty or twenty,
four thousand Whites.
So far as Ohio is concerned, no wrong
is being done the Negroes that can be
remedied by making them voters. They
are secured protection in life, liberty and
property, and their voting will not add
to that protection. The White race is
adequate to the task Of governing this
country in the way it should be governed.
This being true-and undeniably true at
that--the proposition to disfranchise
twenty to tweDty-four thousand Whites
is q piece of legislative laundering that
is perfectly unaccountable. 1t ia folly
in uncomfortable. As it stands, it will as
sure the defeat Of the Republican Party
overwhelmingly, as it should any party
that would attempt it. The bluuder can
be partially retrieved by the Republican
State Convention %pronounciDg against
the Amendment as it stands. To pro-
nouuce against it will be rendering an
apology TO that twenty or t~weDty.four
thousand soldiers who did faithful duty
while the war actually lasted but who
are technically deSerters because they
took French leave for homo when the
business Of Wa was finished up. New
er was there a more outrageous insult
offered to a brave and gallant body of
men than is offered these men by the
Republican members Of the Legislature,
through the Constitutional Amendment,
whereby they are TO be d~isfranehised,
and a few negroes in the State made vot-
ersj and it is as little as the Republican
State Convention can do, by way Of
atonemeut, to repudiate and condemn the
whole thing as utterly in~defensible."