Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-12-04

WI 60 ~ go nE EAAI1EAAAAEA ~
the. States 20 negro domination wold be
worse than military despotjsm under
which they are now suffering. 1T was
! believed beforehand that the people would
endure any moun Ofmilitary oppression
for any length of time rather than de-
grade themselves by subsection to tne'
negro race. Therefore they have been
left without a choice negro suffrage
was established by act of Congress, and
military officers were commanded to.
s~uperintend the prCcess OF clct ling the
negro race with the political privileges to
govern white men. The blacks in the
South are entitled to be well and humane
ly governed and to have the protection Of
Just laws, for all their rights of person and
property. If it were practicable at this
time to give them agovernment exclusive
" their own, underwhich they might man
age their own affairs in their own way, it
would become a grave question whether
we ought to do so, or whether common
humanity would not require us to save
them from themselves. But, under the
circumstances, this IS only a speculative
point. tits not proposed merely that they
shall govern themselves butthat they shall
rule the white race, make and admin
lister state laws, elect Presidents and men,
beTs OF Congress, and shape to a greater or
less extent the future destiny of the whole
country. Would such a trust and power
be safe in such hands? The peculiar
qualities which should characterize any
people who are fit to decide uDon the
management of public affairs for a great
state, have seldom been combined. 1t is
the glory of white men to know that they
have had these qualities in a sufficient
measure, to build upon this continent a
great political fabric, and to preserve its
stability for more than ninety years, while
in every other part of the world all similar
experiments have failed. But ifanything
can be proved by known facts, if all rea-
sOnihg upon evidence is not abandoned, it
must be acknowledged that in the pro
gress of nations the negroes have shown
less capacity for government than any
other race of people. No independent
governmental any form has eyerbeen sac
cessful in their hands. On the con
trary, wherever they have been LEFT
to their own devices, theT nave
SHOWN q Constant tendency to TIc.ccsa
into barbarism. In the Southern States,
however, Congress has undertaken to con-
fer upon them the privilege OF the ballot.
Just released from slavery, it may be
doubted whether as class, they know more
than their ancestors how to organize and
regulate civil society indeed, it is admit
ted that the blacks OF the South are not on
ly REGARDLESS of the rights OF property, but
their voting can consist IN nothing more
than carrying a ballot to the place where
they are directed to depositit il. need not
remind you that the exercise of the cleo.
tive franchise is the highest attribute i'm an
American citizen, and that when guided
by virtue, intelligence, patriotism, and the
proper appreciai ion of our free institutions,
it constitutes a true basis Ofthe Democratic
form of Government, in which hesJvereign
pOwerIs lodged in the bod ofthe people, a
trust artiticially created not for its own
SAFE, but solely as a means OfpromOting
general welfare. Its influence for good
must necessarily depend upon Its elevated
character and the allegiance of the elect
or. 1t ought, therefore, to be repOsed in
one except those who are fitted, morally
and mentally, to administer il well; for if
conferred upon persons who do not Justly
estimate its value, and who are indifferent
as to its results, it viii only serve as a
means of placing power in the hands of
the u~nprincipled and ambitious, and must
eventually end in the complete destruction
of that liberty of which it should be the
most powerful CONSERVATION. I have,
therefore, heretofore urged upon your
attention the great danger to be ap-
pretended from an untimely ex-
tension of the elective franchise to
any new class in this country, es-
pecially when large majority of that class,
IN welding the power thus placed in their
hands, cannot be expected correctly to
comprehend the duties and responsibilities
-Is.I -,rAn1, g. a-T-m--
it were, four millions Ofpersons were held
in a condition Of slavery which had existed
for generations. To-day theyare freemen,
and are assumed by law to be citizens.
%It'cannot be presumedfrO m their previous
condition OF serYituce that as a class they
are as well informed to the nature of our
government as an intelligent foreigner who
makes our land the home of his choice.
| In the case of the latter neither a residence
offiYe years, nor the knowledge of our
institutions which it gives, nor attachment
to the principles Oh tne Constitution, are
the only conditions upon which he canb e
admitted to citizenship. He must
prove, in addition, agoodmoral character,
and thus give a reasonable ground for the
belief that he win be faithful to the obi
cations which he assumes as a citizen of
/ AhOpuDlSI nASAC AAC pNOpAC NNC oJuACC VI
all political power. speak by their suf;
frage, through the fundamentally of the
ballot box. II must be carefully guarded
against the control of those who use cor
ruption in principle, and are enc mics of
free institutions, for il can only become
to u political and social system a safe
conductor of healthy and popular senti-
ment when kept free from lhe democrat
iZing influences controlled through usur-
patton by a designing anarchy, and despO-
tism must inevitably follow. In the
hands of the patriotic and worthy
u government viii be preserved
npon the principles of the Constitution
inherited from our fathers. IL follows,
therefore, that in admitting to the ballot
box q new class of voters, not quail
fed for the exercise of the elective fran
chise, we weaken II system Of Govern
ment instead of addingto its strength and
durability. l yield to no one in attach
ment to thatrule Ofgeneral suffrage which
distinguishes our policy as a nation, but
there Is a limit wisely observed hitherto,
which makes the ballot a privilege and a
trust, and which requires Ofsome classes a
time suitable for probation and prepare
ton. To give it indiscr1minately to a new
class, wholly unprepared by previous hab-
its and opportunities to perform the trust
which it demands, is to degrade it, and fl
nally to destroy its power, for it may be
safely assumed that no political truth is
better established than that such indiscrim-
mate and all-embracing extension of pop
ular suffrage must end at last in its over
throw and destruction. l repeat the ex-
preston of my willingness to Join in sny
plan within the scope of our constitutional
authority, which promises to better the
condition of the negroes in the South, by
encouraging them to industry, enlighten-
ment and improvements their morals and
giving protection to all their just rights as
freedmen, but to transfer our political IN
heritance to them would, in my opinion,
be an abandonment Of q duty which we
owe alike to the memory of o. u fathers
and to the rights of our children. The
plan of putting the Southern States wholly,
and the Federal Government partially,
into the hands of the negroes, is proposed
at a time peculiarly unpropitious. The
foundation of society has been bro
ken up by civil war; industry
must be recognized, justice re
established, public credit maintained, and
order brought out of confusion. To ac-
complish these ends would require all the
wisdom and virtue of the great men who
formed our institutions originally. l con-
fdently believe that their descendants will
be equal TO the task before them, but it is
worse than madness to expect that the
negroes will perform 1t for us. Certainly
- - r-N- Nh1sw oC-..kn.,a Vr-Ns1