Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-01-02

; evils resulting from the plan began 10 de
velop, in black codes that substantial,
r restored slavery, did the people and poll
ticians begin to move forward 10 universe
r suffrage. But when the white vote organ
| lied State and city governments that elect
, ed none but rebels 10 power, such a
General Humphreys in Mississippi, Mayo
Monroe In New Orleans, Raphael Semme
! in Mobile, and the like: and when the ex
rebels, coming together In Legislatures
, enacted that no negro should own lald ol
hire house, thus practically breaking ~
his home, and compelling him to work a
! a menial; when they required him TO hirt
; out for year during the first weeks o.
|. January, and in default allowed him 10 b,
sold for q term of years; when they adopt
ed systems Of apprenticeship for blacks
which were not applied to whites; wher
they provided the lash and whipping -posl
for blacks but not for whites; when they
excluded colored witnesses from courts OF
Justice; when they organized rebel regi
nents, which surrendered under Lee, en-
na0ssc. into State militia, who disarmed
the black troops that conquered under
Grant; when they revived the fugitive-slave
law for blacks who did not wsrk out their
tcontracts, but no punishment for whites
who did not pay the wages due on the
same contracts; when they reluctantly. and
only under impudent protests, assented to
the repeal OF the ordinances of secession;
when they drove out Northern emigYants,
assailed the Freedmen's Bureau, organized
bands of negro killers, and finally culmin-
ated these Outrages in the massacres of
Republicans and negroes at Memphis and
New Orleans, and evinced general readi-
ness TO perpetrate the same Outrages all
over the South; when the President imper-
iously demanded that the Freedmen 8
Bureau, the only protection the negro had,
should be abolished: when he denied the
power of Congress to enact laws for recon
struction, and enforced his denials by
scurrlous exhbibitions which excited con-
tempt and removed all fear; when South
ern courts were deriding the Civil Rights
bill 10 be unconstitutional, and Southern
Stale officers were trsmpling upon its pro-
visions, and defying the Congress that en-
acted it; then, finally, the Republican Con-
gress began 10 move towards reconstruc-
| ton, on the basis of universal suffrage
But they moved slowly. Their first step
seemed even step backward. II merely
provided that unless the South grant suf-
frage TO the blacks. their number of repre-
sentatiyos in Congress should be diminish
ed in proportion 10 the number of blacks
disfranchised. The inference was, that by
accepting that limitation, the Southern
States might return TO the Cnion with the
blacks still unenfranchised. 1t was dan
gerous offer 10 make, and would have
been fatal to our future peace had il been
accepted. But, fortunately there was allied
with this Indifference to justice, in Congress
as q people, sentiment of hostility to reh-
els, which was useful. not for its own sake,
but for what il accomplished for the cause
of the blacks. The clause of the offer, cx-
cluding leading rebels from Federal Office,
caused it to be rejected with scorn. Not
Southern State acted upon it, though
several Northern States passed it as con-
stitutiOnal amendment.
The rejection Of this proposition. with
the other cooperating causes alluded TO, at
length brought Congress up to the great
work ofenacting that reconstruction should
take place on the basis of universal suffrage,
excluding only y few leading rebels. The
first workings Of this plan. which is now
ON trial, have been all that could be ex-
pected. The moment the right of the bal
LOT was conferred, and even before it was
exercised. the South was at peace. The
Freedmen's Bureau, backed by the nation
al bayonets, was far less adequate pro-
lection TO the negro than the simple
promise of the ballot. In the Gulf States,
the whites have held aloof from the regis
tration and the polls, knowing that the
blacks would out vote them, and hoping
against hope that the reconstruction policy
of Congress would in some way, by Demo
cratic victories in the North, be reversed.
The effect Of this conservative policy
would be to throw the government of those
States almost wholly into the hands Of the
white and black Republicans. This would
fulfil the prediction Of De Tocqueyille,
made thirty years ago, that the cotton
States would one day form State govern
ments administered mainly by the black
race. In Virginia the whites voted, and
were beaten by a small majority. AS the
whites vote for tie disfranchisement of the
blacks, of course. the latter have no choice
but TO vote in solid phalanx for the con-
tinuation of their right of suffrage. No
violence has characterized these elections,
but such q result on future occasions Is not
improbable. AS question of statesman
ship, however, the problem Of reconstruc-
ton is solved. What remains Is mere
detail. When the ballot was given to the
negro, the races were assured the same
harmony which exists between them in
Brazil and Mexico, where, whatever
causes OF dissension may exist. the races
have ever remained at peace with each
other. They were s.ved I om the wretch
ed social struggles, between whites and
II cDl- n.
of the West India Islands The majorities
ofthe Republican party in the Northe n
States have been shaken slightly by the
suffrage question. but TO nothing like the
extent they suffered Immediately after
emancipation. The votes against granting
suffrage 10 colored men in Northern
States, indicate no dissatisfaction with the
Congressional policy, because none claim
that any great end OF political statesman
ship could be subserved by the extension
of the ballot to few scattering negroes at
the North. 1t will eventually be done, not
from necessity, but for consistency.
The Republican party, which has thus
overthrown slavery, and in whose hands
Is the restoration of the Union. is in the
ascendant in every Northern State; not
withstanding the apathy of portion ofthe
Republican party in the recent elections
an apathy which. will vanish under the
visibly safe and beneficial workings of
universal suffrage 1.-THE South, and will be
electrified into enthusiasm long before
their reinforced majorities will be required
for the next Presidential campaign BY
the reconstruction Of the ten Southern |
States, on the basis of the equality of all
loyal men, most of those States will
speedily range themselves under its BAN
ners. Under these circumstances, the
Republican party, which is now empbaii-
cally the Democratic party of the country,
not only in its principles, but in prestige |
and power, is liable to the dangers which |
always attend power, viz, corruption and
venality. But under whatever influences |
II may hereafter rise or fall, IFS future des-
TIMES cannot erase from the page Of history |
is hxill;ssax a<ls;os.assaasas e.