The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-02-12
RATES OF ADVERTISING.
NEGRO Suffrage.

Inc eQllOE Oh Lie cOUfHUt ~ COUtUtef Ct
is answering strong letter from one Of
his Radical friends, who had insisted that
emancipation without the ballot would
leave the negro in worse condition than
he was in state of slavery, and that the
Federal Government, through whom his
emancipation was obtained, was bound to
protect him in his new character of q
afreedman." To this the editor says:
1--WE must be pardoned for suggesting
that our correspondents plan of atfording
protection to the black race is, to use
the mildest term, exceedingly strange and
nnlntelligible How Will giving them the
ballot give them protection? Is it not
rather throwing them ineo the very vortex
of destruction? Would it confer any
superior advantages ON the present in
habitants of Dahomy to give them sut-
frage? Tie idea is admitted to be ridicu-
lous. What nations of the earth are at
present to be found to whom even intclli-
rent Americans would recommend giving
the right of suffrage and self-government
instantly, without preparation, without
other education than they now have? 1T
is a burlesque on free government to make
its blessings so cheap, rto regard 1t as so
easy of management that any race or
nation may be at once entrusted with 1t.
Mould any one consent toimport into this
country to-day some millions OF educated
Frenchmen, Germans, Russians, Turks
even Englishmen and 1rishmen, and give
them the right Of suffrage at once? Would
our correspondent think it right, either
IL hn,,
selves or the old citizens of tho country :?
The gift. of suffrage to the black race is the
gift of.a curse they are wholly unfit Tor
It, and i. is like casting your children
into the sea before they have learned to
swim. 1t it like turning men into room
full of oxygen gas, which is very good
thing in its way, and for few moments
produces brilliant life, with ali the APP
pearanccs OF health and prosperity, but
which Will result in swift death.
s.But, says our correspondent, mere
emancipation, withou, the means of pro
tecting themselves in their new condition,
world be curse aid not a blessing to the
negro race Tue as gospel. 1t is a;
truth often stated in these columns, and
equally. trac substituting Suffrage tor
.tin:nci;mtun Suffrage is not protec-
lection. Millions ot' ei;i i; ;.',;;s have resided
in this country for years IN prosperous
condition without tl.c right OF suffrage.
Millions of womei, ana children reside here
in that state The Lai.rt Is not necessary
TO their protection. Better neiliS arc de-
Ni>ed, na.neiy, wise laws wi.!ci recognize
their inferior poiicai c!,st.t:o, ald there
fore protect them. We Know not how
many thousand paurers arc this winter Ill
New ngland pyor-iivuses, deprived OF the
right OF suffrage, their labor sold at auc-
ton for. what it is worti, or themselves
put up at auction to tic bidder who Will
lake them at the cheapest rate. These
are. perhaps as jwdicous laws for the pre-
lection of the " lite poor oi New England
as could be devised. They rest on the
recognition Of the plain truth that there
are large numbers OF men who cannot take
care of themselves, who must be protected
and cared for, but who, OF course, cannot
expect the right Of suffrage or selt-goycri-
,nent. Yet, to quote our correspondent,
these epaupers have the same moral
right to suffrage as he or We. This notion
of q moral right to suffrage is untcnable.
40 such right exists. The right Of suf-
iraee is derived by grant, not by nature.
1t IS the creation of law, and in this coun-
try it is possessed only by small minority
of the population. 1t should be granted
only to such men as are fit to be governors
of themselves and their fellow men.
"But, says onr correspondent, We
cannot, in common justice, leave them i'll
the hands of their late owners Why
not :? They will be better taken care OF by
the laws which Southern men will make
than by the devices OF legislators IL thou
sand miles off They will be i'll the same
position with millions here at the North.
'rhe experiment of a few years has proved
this for certainty, that no conceivable
condition can be worse than they arc III
now, with Congress lcgislating for them
and spending millions TO keep them. Has
the terrible contrast never occurred TO the
mind of our Intelligent correspondent,
that few years ago there was not a
moor house in those States, and every black
man. woman and child had employment,
and was. paid for that employment sup
port from birth to death, incnding medl-
cine and nursing in sickness, with careful
attention in childhood and old age; where.
rs now, two years of peace have succeeded
the war, and Congress has to appropriate
millions annually to feed the negroes, and
vet they perish by thousands from misery,
starvation and neglect. This is not an
argument for returning to slavery, but it
is strong, aud unanswerablc argument
AGAINST entrusting them with the ballot,
and imagining that this will prove IL the
medicine for this awful disease. The
truth may as we'll be faced first as last. 1t
will become plain ina few years. it it's not
already plain. Instead of seeking to save
.,oerroes trnrn starvation bv furnishing them