Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-12-10

| might manage their own affairs in their own
way, it would become grave question wheth-
er we ought to do so, or whether common
humanity would not require us to save them
from themselves But, under the circum-
stances, this is only speculative point. 1t
is not proposed merely that they shall govern
themselves, but that they shall rule the white
| race, make and administer State laws, elect
Presidents and members 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 III such hands2
The peculiar qualities which should char
acterize any people who are fit to decide upon
the management of public affairs for great
! State have seldom been combined. 1t is the
! glory of white men to know that they have
| had these qualities in sufficient measure to
| build upon this continent 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 if anything can be proved by
known facts-if all reasoning upon evidence
is not abandoned, it must be acknowledged
that in the progress of nations negroes have
shown less capacity for government than any
other race of people. No Independent gov
ernment of any form has ever been success
full in their hands On the contrary, wher-
ever they have been left to their own devices,
they have shown constant tendency to re-
lapse into barbarism. In the Southern States,
however, Congress has undertaken to confer
upon them the privilege of the ballot. Just
released from slavery, it may be doubted
whether, as a class, they know more than
their ancestors how to organize and regulate
civil society. Indeed, it is admitted that the
blacks Of the South are not only regardless
of the rights of property, but so utterly
ignorant of public affairs that their voting
can consist in nothing more than carrying a
ballot to the place where they are directed
to deposit it. [ need not remind you that
the exercise of the elective franchise is the
highest attribute of an American citizen, and
that, when guided by virtue, intelligence,
patriotism, and a proper appreciation of our
free institutions, it constitutes the true tasis
ola democratic form of government in which
the sovereign power is lodged in the body of
the people. A trust artifcially created. not
for it's own sake, but solely as means of
promoting the general welfare, its influence
for good must necessarily depend upon the
elevated character and true allegiance of the
elector. It ought therefore to be reposed in
none except those who arc fitted morally and
mentally to administer it well; for if confer
red upon persons who do not justly estimate
its vlaue and who are Indifferent as to its re-
salts it will only serve as a means of placing
power in the hands Of the unprincipled and
ambitious, and must eventuate in the COM
plete destruction of that liberty of which it
should be the most powerful conservator. [
have therefore heretofore urged upon your
attention the great danger ''to be apprehen-
ded from an untimeiy extension of the cleo
tive franchise to any new class in our coun-
try, especially when the large majority of
that class, in welding the power thus placed
in their bands, cannot be expected correctly
to comprehend the duties and responsibilities
which pertain to suffrage. Yesterday, as it
were, four millions of persons were held in
condition Of slavery th, had existed for gen.
erations to day they are freemen, and are
assumed by law to be citizens. 1t cannot be
presumed, from their previous condition of
servitude, that, as class, they are as we'll
informed as to the nature of our Government
as the intelligent foreigner who makes our
land the home of his choice. In the case Of
the latter, neither residence of five years,
and the knowledge Of our institutions which
it gives, nor attachment to the principles OF
the Constitution, are the only conditions upon
which be can be admitted to citizenship He
must prove, in addition, g good moral char
acter, and thus give reasonable ground for
the belief that he will be faithful to the obll-
cations which he assumes as a citizen OF the
Republic. Where people-the source OF
all political power speak, by their suifrages,
through the instrumentality Of the ballot-box,
it must be carefully guarded against the con-
troll of those who are corrupt IN principle and
enemies Of free Institutions, for 1t can only
become to our political and social system
safe conductor of healthy popular sentiment
when kept free from demoralizlng influence
Controlled, through fraud and usurpation,
by the designing, anarchy and despotism
must inevitably follow In the hands Of the
patriotic and worthy, our Government will
be preserved upon the principles of the Con
stitution inherited from our fathers. 1t fol-
lows, thes sefore, that in admitting to the bal
lot-bo new class Of voters not quallhed
for the exercise of the elective franchise, we
weaken our system Of government, instead
of adding to its strength and durability. =
81 yield to no one in attachment to that rule
of general suffrage which distinguishes our
policy as a nation. But there is limit,
wisely observed hitherto, which makes the
ballot privilege and trust, and which re-
quires of some classes time suitable for
probation and preparation. To give 1t In
discriminatory to a new class, wholly unpre-
pared, bv previous habits and opportunities,
to perform the trust which it demands, is to
degrade it, and finally to destroy its power
for it may be safely assumed that no politi-
cal truth is better established than that such
indiscriminatc and all-embracing extension
of popular suffrage must end at last in its
overthrow and destruction.
I repeat the expression of my willingness
to Join in any plan within the scope of our
constitutional authority which promises to
better the condition of the negroes of the
South, by encouraging them in industry en-
tightening their minds, improving their NOR
ais, and giving protection to all their just
rights as freedmen But the transfer of our
political inheritance to them would, in my
opinion, be an abandonment of a duty which
we owe alike to the memory of our fathers
and the rights of our children.
The plan of putting the Southern States
wholly and the General Government par
TALLY, into the hands of negroes, is proposed
Il 4;r,o ,oouIiorlxy I1pDrOnitiOus The