Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-11-01

| inst, The venerable Thomas Ewing, %
Ohio, publishes letter Of much interes
on the subject Of the late elections and th,
political situation, from which we extrsc
as follows. .lA, " His4
.f~ WHAT OHIO DECIDED.
"The two propositions, namely that OF
giving suffrage to the, blacks, and denying
il TO the whites as a punishment for past
political and military offenses, were for the
first time Submitted to the people, and
their opinion asked upon them at the late
election'in Ohio.
"Ohio was selected - the most decided.
ly Radical among the great States, and the
questions were put TO her people, first of
all, in the confident expectation that their
authority would be obtained for fastening
the reconstruction acts on the South, and
extending them over the border States,
under the assumption that the govern
ment of no State can be republican that
does MOI admit negro suffrage and pro-
scribe men who have been Rebels. Both
these questions were involved and dis
cussed in the Ohio election, the Republi-
can orators insisting that it would be in
bOHHtNANtlt dHN " ANlSC HAA~
frage on the South, and not accept it for
ourselves. This was manifestly true; we
could not, with any pretense of political
justice, place the whole South under negro
government, by admitting all black, and
excluding so many white voters az wOuld
give the negroes majority everywhere,
and at the same time refuse to suffer 1000
negroes TO vote in Ohio, with 100000
white voters to control them. When the
people Of Ohio refused to accept negro suf-
frage as a part of their own system, they
were guilty of no inconsistency and no in
justice--they had inflicted neither proscrip-
ton nor negro suffrage on the South-as
far as it had been executed, ii was the act
of their public servants, and they, by their
vote, refused il their sanction. This was
the response of the forty thousand major
ity who voted against the constitutional
amendment. They disapprove proscrip-
tion for past political or military offense,
and they disapprove of the attempt to
force negro suffrage upon an unwilling
people"
THE POSITION AND DUTY OF CONGRESS.
81 have no doubt a large majority OF the
Republicans in the two houses of Congress
are Conservative in their opinions aud
teellngs-that, as a matter of choice, they
would perfer, for themselves and their
neighbors, white to negro rulers, and would
rather soothe and heal the wounds of the
Union than to aggravate and inAame them.
Fortunately, for them and for the nation,
the Ohio election has shown, before it was
too late, that it will consist with the will of
ho vaa1t,la - ~ sr Il
feelings and convictions. Therefore most
earnestly hope that The Conservative Re
publicans of Congress will dethrone their
despotic leaders keep out Of those pens Of
political bondages called Congressional
caucuses, and take control of the two
houses for they can do it readily, If each
and all will but keep themselves free to
vote and act according to their convictions,
and represent each his district, instead OF
all representing a caucus. And they
should at once rescind all measures which
operate as mere insult and ANNOYANCE to
intelligent men of the South give over the
effort to establish negro government by the
acknowledgements of the whites; repeal their
ordinances placing the Southern States
under military government, and make
the military there again subordinate to the
civil power, and replace it where the cons
siiution places it, under the control of the
Executive-admit at once the loyal and
legally qualified Senators and Representa-
tives from the ten excluded States, not
making party adhesion a test of either
qualification or loyalty. They will then
have the aid and counsel of the wisest and
best men of those States, and reconstruc~
tien will be possible, and, in time, efec-
tusl. There viii still be, for a while, dis
tuTbance, riots, crimes of violence, and,
perhaps, local Instructions; for the public
mind which tended to settle down in peace
after the close of the war, and under the
Presidents plan of restoration, has been
again greatly agitated, aud, unhappily, the
men most interested in re-establishing or
der, the men Of intelligence, men of prop
erty, men who, by their position in society,
had influence over the ignorant and I'M
reasoning masses, are placed under the ban
of the Union aud thus rendered powerless
and all Is left in the hands of disorder
ly multitude, except in so far as they are
restrained by military force. There never
can be permanent reconstruction until the
intelligence of those States is released from
political bondage.
THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS or NEGRO sU-
PREMAcY--THE PRESIDENT RIGHT.
The President also disapproves of the
reconstruction acts, now in process of being
forced upon the Southern States and con-
cur with him. The measure strikes me as
neither wise nor just. Admit that the
Rebels are treated in il with mercy; that
they all deserve death as punishment for
their treason, without regard to the means
by which they came or were forced into il !;
that instead, they are merely placed in po-
litical bondage, under their former slaves
Still the punishment is arbitrary and IN
lawful il has no constitutional warrant,
and no one is bound TO submit to it any
longer than constrained by actual force
and il is not likely to conciliate the kindly
feelings of the men of the South whom it
proscribes and places in snbiection The
measure, as / view it, is urwise and
unlawful as to them, and unjust and de-
grading 10 us of the North who never re
belled. Garry it into effect and it gives to
the plantation negro Of the South a large
excess of power in the government Of the
Union over that enjoyed by one of our
Northern citizens. For example, the pro-
scripiion Of the whites gives 10 the negroes
in Louisiana, efficiently, the power of the
State in the local and also the general gov
ernment, and the State is TO have power in
the Union due 10 its whole population,
| white and black. The census of 1850 gives
Louisiana an aggregate population Of
! 708,000 composed of 357 900 whites,
, and 351, 900 blacks. The State, there
fore, will be entitled, under the recon
struction resolutions, to seven Representa-
tives in Congress, of which 35l, 600 blacks
will be the whole efficient constituency
the white men who can read and write and
cipher as far as the rule of three, having
no more to do with it than their mules and
horses. So that $4,000 manumitted slaves
send q member to Congress, and 100000
citizens cf Ohio do the same thing, and nc
more. One manumitted plantation negro
in Louisiana will, therefore, have political
power in the House Of Representative:
equal 10 two citizens OF Ohio, and the pre-
ponderance viii be considerably greater
in the electoral college, for President The
35l 600 Louisiana negroes will be entitled
to two Senators-2, 800, 600 citizens of Ohio
are entitled to two. One Louisiana negro
will, therefore, have political power ia the
Senate more than equal to six Of our citt
sens. To prove the reconstruction scheme
a wrong against us, citizens Of Northerr