The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-01-25

| themselves. :.
AS a general rule, sound policy re-
ouires that the Legislature should
WELD to the wishes of people, when
not inconsistent with the Constitution
and the laws. The measures suited to
one community might not be well a.
dapted to the condition of another;
and the persons best qualified to deter
mine such questions are those whose
interests are directly affected by any
proposed law. In Massachusetts,, for
instance, male persons are allowed to
vote without regard to color, provided
they possess a certain degree of intelli-
gence. In a population in that State
of 9, ,231, ,O66 there were, by the census
of 1850, only 1902 persons of color,
and of the males over twenty years of
age. there were 339,086 white to 1902
colored. By the same official enumer-
alton, there were in the District of Co.
lumbia 60, 764 whites to 1876 persons
of the colored race. Since then, how
ever, the population of the District has
largely increased, and it is estimated
that at the present time there are near
Iy a hundred thousand whites TO thirty
thousand 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 ref
uge for those who escaped from servi-
tude, and it is yet the abiding place of
a considerable proportion of those who
sought within its limits shelter from
bondage. Until then, held in slavery
and denied all opportunities for men
tai culture, their first knowledge of
the Government was acquired when by
comforting upon them freedom, it be-
came the benefactor of their race, the
test of their capability for improve
ment began, when, for the first time,
the career of free industry and the av-
enues to intelligence were opened to
them. Possessing these advantages
but a limited time-the greater number
perhaps having entered the District of
Columbia during the latter years of the
war or since it's termination-we may
we'll pause to inquire whether after so
brief a probation, they are as class
capable of an intelligent exercise of
the right of suffrage, and qualified to
discharge thelduties of official position.
The people who are daily witnesses of
their mode of living and who have be-
come familiar with their habits of
thought, have expressed the conviction
that are not yet competent to serve as
electors, and thus become eligible for
office in the local Government under
which they live. Clothed with the E.
| lective franchise, their numbers, al
ready largely in excess OF the demand
for labor, would be soon increased by
an influx from the adjoining States.
Drawn from fields where employment
is abundant, they would vain seek it
here, and so add to the embarrassments
already experienced from the large
class of idle persons congregated in the
District. Hardly yet capable of form
ing correct judgments upon the impor-
tant questions that often make the is
sues of political contest, they could
readily be made subServienttO the pur-
poses of designing persons. While in
Massachusetts, under the census of
1860, the proportion 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, whilst
the same class surrounds the District
on all sides, ready to change their res
idence at moments notice, and with
all the facility of nomadic people, in
order to enjoy here, after short resi-
dence, a privilege they find nowhere
else. 1t is within their power, in one
wear, to come into the District in such
numbers as to have the supreme con-
troll of the white race, and to govern
them by their own officers, and by the
ex 9rcise of all the municipal authority
I-among the rest, of the power of tax
alton over property in which they have
no interest. In Massachusetts,, where
they have enjoyed the benefits of a
thorough educational system, a quail
fication of intelligence is required,
while here suffrage is extended to all
without discrimination, as we'll to the
most incapable, who can prove resi-
dence in the District of one year, as to
those persons of color who, compare
lively few in number, are permanent
inhabitants, and having given evidence
of merit and qualification, are recogni-
Zed as useful and responsible members
of the community. Imposed upon an
unwilling people, placed by the Consti-
tuition under the exclusive legislation
of Congress, it would be viewed as an
arbitrary exercise of power, and as an
indication by the country of the pur-
pose Of Congress to compel the accept
ance of negro suffrage by the States.
1t would engender a feeling of opposi-
ton and hatred between the two races,
which, becoming deep rooted and in
eradicahle, would prevent them from
living together in state of mutual
friendlinesS.