The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-05-01

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!. the minds of the new suffragans such
: ideas as they imagine will best subservG
: the interests of that party.
1t is to thwart the plans of these
schemers, and place the South securely
Q under influences conservative of the
rights and welfare of all classes Of her
: people, that we haveurged those who
have heretofore given direction to
public affairs, to interest themselves
in the matter of reconstruction, and
laying aside passion and prejudice, to
reason kindly and calmly with the
negroes in. reference to the novel duties
which have been devolved upon them,
To treat the subject of negro suffrage
with indifference is idle; to say that
you will not go to the polls and vote
J because the Government has decreed
that the negro shall do so, when every
} vote cast has direct bearing upon the
destiny of your country, and affects
not only your own welfare but that Of
unborn generations, is madness. You
will inhict an irreparable injury on
yourself; and crafty no one so much
as the Radicals themselves. Patriot
ism dictates that you should not only
vote yourself. but that you should
disarm your adversaries, not by the
display of resentment to the negro for
what he has had no agency in bring
ing about, but by continuing to deal
with him justly and by resort to calm
and dispassionate reasoning as to his
true interests.
The negro is less than human if he
does notjoyfully accept the privilege
ofsuffrage. He may not comprehend
the vast responsibilities which attach to
it, but he cannot fail to know that it
invests him with an Importance which
he did not before possess and it is not
to be expected that he will listen pa
tiently to an argument that he ought
not to exercise the privilege, or that
in exercising it, he should vote to de-
feat the Reconstruction policy. He
cannot be expected to vote against
holding a Convention, nor against
candidates pledged to reorganize the
State in compliance with the eondi-
tons Of. the Military Bills; nor against
the Ratification of the revised Consti-
tuition, when it shall have been sub
mitted for final action. But having
accomplished this much, it is reason
able opinion that if correctly informed
ofhis true interests, he will attach
himself tono party or faction which,
in the administration of State affairs,
will seek to carry out the proscriptive
rule of Brownlow; or in national af
fairs, will follow the teachings of
Thad. Stevens and Wendell Phillips;
in word, that satisfied with these re-
suits, he will not be led into a position
of antagonism to the great body of the
people with whom his destiny is cast.
1t is very easy to convince him, that
the party which would endeavor to
place him in such an attitude is really
his worst enemy. The futility of such
an attempt, if our people are not blind
TO their welfare, is only equaled by it's
/
But there are other points in which
The judgment of the new voter can be t
as to his true friends and :
his real interest. They are well pre- s
Jented in the following extracts from !
he Chicago Times, paper by the I
way, which declared in favor Of negro >
outrage in advance of the action of L
congress. Referring to the efforts of :
he Radical leaders to secure his sup s
,ort, it proceeds TO say: 4
'It seems very strange that party which /
certainly possesses men who, if not remark D
able for honesty, have at least sagacity =.
and foresight, should calculate, in any Il
event, upon the support of southern ne t
groes. Even admitting all that is claimed s
by the radicals with reference to the graft +
tude of the negro for his freedom, it is not a
then a possible supposition that the negro
can support that party. y
"Let us suppose the south reconstructed, q
and the negroes all allowed to vote; upon t
what ground will radicalism ask the sup
port of the negro9 The negro is a south 9
erner; his interests are identified with the 4
south. Can radicalism ask southern men Il
to support high tariff policy which bene- 81
fits only New England? Will it ask them v
to aid it in continuing the onerous cotton n
tax? Will it plead with them to assist in d
the present outrageous exemp- tt
lion of a bond-holding aristocracy from +
share in paying our enormous taxation and W
assisting in liquidating our vast indebted OIL
ness To suppose any of these things y
possible is to suppose what is simply an ~
lrrant absurdity. al
"'An appeal of the Jacobin speakers for the III
negro vote must be something as follows
Gentlemen of color, you must tax your a. a.
selves to bolster up New England by W
higher tariff; you must do it from graft
Jude. We gave you freedom, therefore 10 -
you must assist us in continuing this cot NJ
ion-tax. 1t is true, its payment will fall I'll
mainly upon you, but then, we freed you OF
md gratitude will compel you to assist in VI
yourselves. Colored voters we n,
# the north, few of us, hold bonds upon er
which we draw interest in gold. We pay sa
10 taxes on these bonds, We form a class. r.
We control legislation. Our interests mill ed
ate against those of the masses. But this ne
lass, these interests must be sustained w
You must help us. 1t is true that it will fa
ost you good deal of money. 1t will be til
rom the sweat of your brows and from di
our hard and scanty earnings that will
oma that which secures our exemption W.