The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-04
Negro Supremacy-IH it an Accident or
Necessity?


From the ". Y. Times.
"Three millions of blacks are to rule eight
millions of whites" was substantially the cry
with which Governor Seymour attempted to fire
the Democratic heart of Brooklyn. 1t is the
cry everywhere relied upon for effect by the
Northern opponents of the Reconstruction
law. And it is undoubtedly calculated to be
effective. The domination of one race or class
over another is so essentially Tepugnant to
American ideas of government, that any scheme
based upon it could not be expected to meet
with permanent favor. What, then, are the
merits of this cry Does it indicate fact
inherent in the law, or is it an adroit express
sion of a result for which the whites can pro-
perly blame only themselves
As a matter of fact, apart from the consde-
rations in which it has its origin, the supre-
macy of the blacks in the States which have
held elections for a Convention must be con-
ceded. In Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia. and
Georgia they hold control of the Convention.
The work of State reorganization will be in the
hands of a majority of delegates who could not
have been elected without their votes. To
this extent, in the States named, negro supre-
macy is an accomplished fact. That it is preg
nant with causes of anxiety, and possibly
peril, few except the extremists are disposed
to deny. The manner in which it has been
produced is a point not quite so distinctly
understood. The opponents of Congress de-
clare it an inevitable consequence of the recon-
struction plan. But probably, they come
nearer the truth who represent it to be pro-
duct of white opposition to the law, and there
fore consequence of action which, aiming at
the defeat of the law, begins with an effort to
make il odious.
So far as the intent of the law is concerned,
nothing appears to justify the allegation of
black supremacy. To render Governor Sey-
mour's statement of the case even passably
accurate, we are required to assume that black
enfranchisement and white disfranchisement
are equal in their universality. Only on the
hypothesis that both have been sweeping in
their operation, is the asserted domination Of
blacks over whites ineligible. Nothing Of
this Sort however, was contemplated by Con-
gress in the enactment of the measure, which,
while cOnferring the suffrage on the freedmen,
leaves the great body of the white citizens in
the possession of votes They are widely
operating disabilities, unquestonably. Many
thousands are debarred from voting and from
holding office who might be proftably per-
mitted to avail themselves Of both. In this
respect the law is unWisely proscriptive. We
| have held from the outset that disabili-
ties of any kind should be restricted
to the comparatively few who were
conspicuous in promoting or conducting the
Rebellion, and many Republicans in Congress
| entertain the same opinion. But though some
| ars PRESCRIBED who can lily be spared from the
| process of reorganization, it is necessary to
remember that the great body Of the whites
are in no degree affected by the imposition of
disabilities. An overwhelming majority in
| every State are as free to vote now as before
| the war. The domination of the freedmen
| therefore, necessarily occurs only in those
! States which have a majority of black resi-
dents. In States whose population comprises
a majority of whites, the reorganizing power
| virtually remained vested in them. If they
have thrown away their privilege by refusing
to register, or by staying away from the polls,
or by voting against a convention, the fault is
| wholly their own.
The motives which have actuated the whites
in pursuing one or another of these courses
are various Some resolved to stand by their
| Rebel leaders, and to exercise no privilege
| from which they are excluded Others have
taken abstract positions, and refuse to recog-
nize law which, in their judgment, is consti-
tutionally invalid. Behind and above all other
considerations however, has been and is the
hostility Of class, heretofore dominant, to the
enacted equality of the race until now in
bondage. In this circumstance especially the
| "sulky stubbornness" of the Southern whites
had its rise. Their horror of negro votes may
be natural enough, in view Of the recent rela-