, 1868-12-04
me Negro Suffrage Question.

II
the reelection of large majority Of Iadicals
it is quite certain that the policy heretofore
! adopted will be adhered to. Referring to
this verdict of the people, the S. F. Dispatch
says that Wade Hampton aud other Southern
leaders accept the decision as fnai, and de-
clare that the only remedy left the South is
the peaceable adjustment--of public affairs
through the ballot box. As we have said
the issues involved in reconstruction are set
tied, and tSe policy of the general govern
ment fixed and determined. The States are
to be readmitted on the basis Of negro suf-
frage. They will be allowed to enter in no
other way. Those that have been recognized
BY Congress, must remain under their recon
structed constitutions, whilst Virginia, Mis-
sissippi and Texas must soon come in under
similar ones But while all this is definitely
settled, still the struggle Is far from over.
The States once admitted by Congress are
invested with as complete control of their
domestic affairs as those of the North.
The power of Congress over them ceases,
and the people of each State will direct and
control its internal affairs The Freedman's
Bureau ceases to exist on the first of January
next, and the army must be speedily with>
drawn. When this happens, there can be
no doubt as to who will be the ruling power
in those States. With all the unnatural
props placed under the negro in the forcing
process of the Government, he has proved a
failure. He cannot by any artificial process
be forced permanently into a position for
which he was not designed by nature His
power must inevitably yield to that of the
superior race, and when left 10 take care Of
himself he will be completely at the mercy
of the whites. The question of suffrage be-
ing left by the Constitution with the several
States, negro suffrage cannot by any means
be regarded as permanently fixed on the
South. When the whites obtain coutrol of
those States, as they inevitably will in q few
years, the question will be reopeued, and the
result may be the holding of Constitutional
Conventions, the amendment of the several
State constitutions, and the exclusion of the
negro from suffrage. They have the clear
and unqueslioned Constitutional right to do
this, the negro constitutions to the contrary
notwithstanding. When that time arrives it
is not certain that the white people will be a
unit as 10 the proper policy to pursue The
18th amendment to the Constitution provides
that, if any class of citizens in State are
deprived of, or denied the right of suffrage,
its representation shall be curtailed in pro,
portion, aud hence, if the negroes are excIur
ded from the ballot box, the representation
of the South in Congress will be reduced
one third. 1t is known that Wade Hampton
and others are in favor of qualified negro
suffrage They would erect some standard
of qualification and allow those to vote who
could reach it. Others (and doubtless much
lhe most numerous class) will favor their to-
tai exclusion from the ballot box However
this may be, and whatever NAV be their de-
cisiOn in the matter, it is certain that sooner
or later the whites will be complete masters
Of the situation and will regulate it as in
their wisdom seems best. 1t will be seen
from the foregoing that the success of the
radicals mBy yet result in their overthrow,
and that their dearly beloved measure, negro
suffrage, may vanish like a summers dream
-
WORDS oP SENsE.-The Charleston Mer.
cury says: Is there such fool on this
side of the Pacific as to suppose that an at
tempt to rule the white race, who conquered
the Southern States from the wilderness, BY
the black race, who were their former slaves