Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-12

government are not citizens of any State, and
are not, therefore, allowed voice in the
electoral college or representation, in the
councils of the nation, they are, nevertheless,
American citizens, entitled, as such, to every
guarantee of the Constitution, to every bene-
fit of the laws, and to every right which per-
tains to the citizens of our common country.
In all matters, then, affecting their domestic
affairs, the spirit of our democratic form of
government demands that their wishes
shOnld be consulted and respected; and they
ought TO feel that, although not permitted,
practically, to participate in our national
concerns, they are, neverthelessy under q fra
ternal government, regardful of their rights,
mindful of their wants, and solicitOuS for
their prosperity. IL was evidently contem-
plated that all local questions would sbe left
to their decision, at least to an extent that
would not be incompatible with the object
for which Congress was granted exclusive
legislation over the seat of Government.
When the Constitution was yet under con-
sideration, it was assumed by Mr. Madison
that its inhabitants would be allowed mu-
nicipal legislature for local purposes, derived
from their own suffrages. When, for the first
time, Congress, in the year 1900, assembled
at Washington, President Adams, in his
speech at its opening, reminded the two
houses that it was for them to consider
whether the local powers over the District of
Columbia, vested by the Constitution in the
Congress of the United States, should be i'm
mediately exercised, and he asked them to
consider it as the capital of a great nation,
advancing, with unexampled Tapidity, in
arts, in commerce, in wealth, and in popula-
tiOn, and possessing within itself those re-
sources which, if not thrown away or Ia
mentally misdirected, would secure to it
nf tu nd
ment.
Three years had not elapsed when Congress
was called upon to determine the proprety
of reoeding to Maryland and Virginia the
jurisdiction of the territory which they had
respectively relnquished to the Government
of the United States. 1t was urged ON the
one hand that exclusive jurisdiction was not
necessary or useful to the Government that
it deprived the inhabitants of the District of
their political rights; that much Of the time
of Congress was consumed in legislation per-
tanning to it; that its government was OK
pensive; that Congress was not competent to
legislate for the District, because the menu
bers were strangers to its local concerns, and
that it was an example of Government
without representation, an experiment dan
gerous to the liberties of the States. On the
other band it was held, among other reasons,
and successfully, that the Constitution, the
acts of cession of XiEginia and Maryland,
1.-THE acts of Congress accepting the grant,
all contemplated the exercise of exclusive
legislation by Congress; and that it's useful
ness, if not its necessity, was inferred from
the inconvenience which was felt for the
want of it by the Congress of the confedera-
tion; that the people themselves, who, it was
said, had been deprived of their political
rights, had not complained, and did not de-
cira T.atrn fhat axril ,t.rhf hn
Temedied by giving them representation in
Congress, when the District should become
sufficiently populous, and, in the meantime,
a local Legislature; that if the inhabitants
had not political rights, they had great pO-
ltical Influence; that the trouble and ex-
pense Of legislating for the District would
not be great, but would diminish, and might,
in great measure, be avoided by a local
and that Congress could not ret
rocede the inhabitants without their con-
sent. Continuing to live substantially under
the laws that existed at the time of the ces-
sion, and such changes only having been made
as were suggested bythemselves, the people of
the District have not sought by local legis-
lature that which mas generally been will
lingly conceded by the Congress of the ma.
tion. As general rule, sound policy re-
quires that the legislature should yield to
the wishes of the people, when not inconsist-
ent with the Constitution and laws. The
suited to one community might not
be well adapted to the condition of another,
and the persons best qualified to determine
such question, are those whose interests
are to be directly effected by any proposed
laws. HHiu3}' t... ''-
In Massachusetts, for instance, male per-
SOUS are allowed to vote without regard to
color, provided they possess q certain degree
of intelligence In q population in that
State of l,23l066, there were, by the census
of 1860, only 9,6O2 persons Of color, and of
the males over twenty years of age, there
were 339, ,0S6 white, to 1902 colored. 'n"'i'
BY the same official enumeration, there
were in the District of Columbia 60,764 whites
to A,316 persons of the colored race. Since
then, however, the population of the District
has largely increased, and it is estimated at
the present time, there are nearly 100000
whites to 10000 negroes, The cause of the
augmented numbers of the latter class needs
no explanation. Contiguous to Maryland
and Virginia, the District, during the war,
became place of refuge for those who es-
capped from servitude, and it is yet the abiding
place of considerable proportion of those
who sought within its limits shelter from
bondage. Until then held in slavery and de-
MED all opportunity for mental culture, their
first kno wledge of governnIent was acquired
when, by, comforting upon them freedom, it
became the benefactor of their race, The
test of their capacity for Improvement began
when, for the first time, the career of free in
dustry and avenues to intelligence were OPEN
ed to them. .....-.-..r r..t .. -.in
Possessing these advantages but limited
time, the greater number perhaps having en-
tered during the later years of the war, near
its termination, we may well pause to inquire
whether, after so brief probation, they are,
as class, capable of an intelligent exercise
of the right of suffrage, and qualified to dis
charge the duties of official position. r5eyoo,,
The people who are daily witnesses of their
mode Of livingjand who have become familiar
with their habits of thought, have expressed
the conviction that they are not competent to /!
serve as electors, and thus become eligible for,
office in local governments under which they
live. Clothed with the elective franchise,
their number, already ylargely in excess of the
demand for labor, would be sOon increasedG C
by an influx from adjoining States; and
drawn from fields where employment is
abundant, they would in vain seek it here,
and SO add to the embarrassments already
experienced from the large class of idle per-
sons congFegated in this district! a17qo
Hardly yet capable of forming correct
judgments upon important questions that of
ten make the issues of q political contest,
they could readily be made subservient to
the purposes OF designing persons. While In
Massachusetts,, under the census of 1860, theI
of white to colored- males over
twenty years Of age, was one hundred and
thirty to one, here the black race constitutes
nearly one-third of the entire population,
while the same class surround the District Oh
all sides, ready to change their residence at o
notice, with all the facility of o