Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-10-16
Negro Suffrage 10 he Forced on
OhiO-President johnson to be

OhiO-president johnson to be
DepOsed. a 4 r. ? \ - O.
The Associated Press dispatches Of Mon
day night, brought us the following from
Washington.:s
Letters have been received here from
Thaddeus Stevens, in which he declares his
intention to urge upon Congress, as soon
as it meets in November, two great mea-
sures essential to the safety of the county
The first is a general impeachment law, de-
fining offenses upon which an officer may
be impeached, and expressly declaring
that no officer. shall continue to exercise
the power of his Office during his trial.
The second law which Mr.. Stevens intends
to urge will provide under the authority OF
the Constitution, and upon the principles
of the Declaration of Independence. that
no State shall have power to prohibit citi-
zens of the United States, whatever their
race, color or religion, from voting for
President or Congressman.
''Tnis law sDill establish impartial suf-
frage throughout the Union.
Leading Republicans Affirm that Mr..
Stevens will be sustained by Congress-"
The intention was, if Negro Suffrage
failed in Ohio, to force it upon the State, il
it could be done by Radical malice, but we
must confess that we were not prepared for
STEVENS attempt to do it by law of Con-
gress. Since the day that the troops of the
Confederate LEE invaded Pennsylvania,
and among the property destroyed, was
some that belonged to THADDKUs STkvENs,
he has been a monomaniac. Not that his
loss was " eat, or that it essentially i'm
paired his large fortune, but it made him
so rankle with revenge that he is forgetful
of all things save the fact that he lost prop
erty. To punish the South and to punish
all who will not join him in his crusade
against the Constitution and against all
men who stand in his way, he will make
the attempt to force Negro Suffrage on
Ohio, and on all other States who are op-
posed to it, that he may punish the Con-
servative Republicans and at the same time
inflict the same evil on the South.
Such is the governing principle of the
chosen leader of the party now in power.
Where he leads the party must follow.
The programme is one that if persevered
in and carried out, cannot but lead to vio-
lence. lof oh t7ae l"5-t f.
Negro Suffrage, by law of Congress, will
not be submitted to in Ohio. The State,
and the State alone, has the power to regu-
late the elective franchise. The Constitu-
tion provides that none but free ,ohite male
citizens of the United States, over the age
OF twenty-one years. shall vote, and Con-
gress cannot alter the Constitution OF Ohio
The people have just decided, by an i'm
mense majority, that Negroes cannot vote
in this State, and the attempt to force their
votes into the ballot box, will be resisted.
Outside of the Western Reserve, every
Congressional District decided against it.
and if the Radical members of Congress
from Ohio, thus instructed, dare to obey
THADDEUs STEVENS, instead of the clearly
expressed will of the people, and vote for
his projet to make Ohio Negro voting
State, their reception at home will be any
thing but pleasant one. Equally revo-
lutionary, and equally infamous would be
the attempt to deprive the President of the
Uni.ed States of his office before he is
tried, or to try him before Senators who
have already declared him guilty, in order
to put Senator WADE in his place. to the
end that he, and the party leaders who
gave him power, may perpetuate their ILL
gotten power.
These plotters may as well understand
now, as hereafter, that the Constitution
can no longer be violated with impunitl;
that persistence in this Jacobin effort to
subvert the Government will end in max
ing s'treason odious." .-.. .le-!
The special of the Cincinnati Commercial,
in noticing the programme laid down by
Mr.. STEVENS, says: ..s.l- ---
Thad Stevens pronunciamento to-day is
a political bOmbshell, which fills the pub
lie mind with apprehension. If impeach-
ment is proposed; if Congress shall enact
laws to fasten negro suffrage on the people
in defiance of their wishes, it will undoubt-
edly precipitate conflict. The President
cannot submit to the one or the people to
the other, and all the testimony is concur
rent that Mr.. johnson will resist by all
proper means the attempt to depose and
degrade him by an arbitrary and uncon-
stitutonal act.
s-Several Republicans of conservative
tendencies declare they can't act with Ste
vens in his extreme measures. Neverthe-
less they may be driven to sustain them by
party discipline and exigencies. 1t may
become necessary for the Executive to i'm
peach the impea hers, and, if the latest
programme remains unchanged, his new
Cabinet will have nerve as well as ability.
| have high authority for stating that he
selecting some of these advi-
serS from among those who fought for and
won the great political victory last week."
If STEVENS cracks his whip over the
shoulders of fsuch men as SCnENCK, Shell
LABARGER, EGGLEsToN, LAWRENCE and
BINGHAM. they will do his bidding, tor they
dare not disobey.