Litchfield enquirer., 1868-04-23
SUFFRAGE AMONG THE NEGROES OF THE SOUTH-LETTER FROM ! s'f:fasa SENATOR HARLAN.

F ssssa SENATOR HARLAN.
 s UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER,
 WASHINGTON, March 16, 1S68
 JAMES VINCENT, Eso. o.-Dear Sir; I have received yours of the 9th inst. I remem- Der your allusions to Andrew Johnson : then Vice-President-i a former letter. Y have felt the force of your suggestion ! on the subject of suffrage of colored men. And yet 1t seems to be difficult, if not ab- soiutely impossible, to secure reconstsuc- .tlon m the rebel states on Union plat form without permitting the Union men. s whether white or black to vote. If suffrage should be confined to white men alone. a majority of them being honest Secession .l ists, they would select Secessionists to fill all the offices, to make and enforce all the laws, State and national and would prob- ably select the snlartest, keenest. most in- huential of their number-such men as withdrew from the hall of Congress and from the army and navy of the United States to aid in destroying the Union. In fact, we are not left to conjecture on this point; we know that they have selected this class of men for Governors, Senators, 2 Judges, &c., to the absolute exclusion of Union men. l fear this is not consistent
  r only mode which has yet been suggested to prevent this and 10 secure the election of Union men to State and national offices ? is to permit all to vote, Union and disun- ion, black and white. This will secure a majority of union votes in every State; and as a consequence, the election of majori. ty of Union men to offices of every des- cription.
 -Lknow it is dangerous to clothe ignorant men with political power; and the colored men, recently in slavery, have not had an opportunity to obtain ''book learning" I 3 have thought Of this maturely, end lave :. been forced to conclude that while being able to read and write Is favorable to ntel- ligence-wlilei 1t opens up a door or ar avenue to knowledge-it is net tine only door or avenue to intelligence; and men and communities, doubtless, often become civilized and highly intelligent in relation to ali the business affairs Of fife, who have not learned to read. This; am pelsua- ded, Is true Of many of the colored people of the South. They have in some way, either through their intelligence, the in- stincts, or by divine interposition, obtain ed a just comprehension of the question in controversy between the friends of the Union and it's enemies. They have never been at fault or defcientin comprehension on this subject. They have aided the Union men always and everywhere at the peril of their lives, with their humble charities They have fought and voted everywhere and all the time on the right side This inspires me with great confidence in them for the future. But on the other hand we know that it is not safe to trust the white men alone and exclusively with the power to govern in the rebel states They brought on the recent war; they did all they could to de- stroy the Government; and, failing in this, have done all ill their power to drive white Union men from their states, and to reduce colored men to a condition of serfdom. Now, fit is not safe to trust the whites ex- clusively, it leaves us to the option of two courses only-to govern the rebel states by the military, or to introduce enough Un- ion voters so as to secure to them the con- trol of these states. To defer this for five years. or until the next generation shall be old enough to participate, or to confine the right to vote to only those of colored con- plexion who can read and write. would be subject to this objection. It would place the Union men, white and black, for five years or longer Jas the case might bel un der the control and at the mercy of the dis loyal class, which would, I fear, be dan gerous to them and to the Union. And to % require the black man to learn to read and write before voting: unless applicable to white men also, would be unjust, and fur nish a motive to the secesh element oppos- ed to their franchisement to withhold from them an opportunity to learn. And if none were permitted to vote, either white or black, who are able to read, &c., it would necessarily create an aristocracy-for it is true that very few of the poorer classes of whites in those states can read and write. .-.. .
 You will perceive therefore, that it is a difficult subject to settle-that we are con- pelied to run some hazards-and, on the whole am inclined to thing it safer to trust ignorant people who are honest and patriotic, than educated knaves and con- fessed traitors
 do not recognize that this question has any necessary connection with the natural ization of foreign born citizens If, in the judgment of the American people, five years residence previous to becoming Q citizen is unnecessarily long, we can short 2 en- the period. - = 1t will ever be pleasure to me to hear from you, especially for the purpose of 8 comparison of views of the great questions that agitate the public mind, as desire to represent fairly the wishes of the people @ of the State, and so far as possible to pro- mote their interests while continue to be one of their representatives at the nation al capital
 T do not think it proper for me to either form or express an opinion at present on the subject of impeachment. I remain, yours truly, ~ JAMES HARLAN.
 Gen. .Sickles, in his speech at New York