The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-08-12

the COnSGtuQ0n OF IQ6 UulVeu Stdtos epoisu-
ing slavery, and when they. were ready, as they
Certainly were, to adjust their legislation and
customs to system Of free labor, our further
interference would be both unnecessary and
mischievous. 1t was clearly unnecessary, be-
cause there was no oppression, and no feennR
that ranked in the bosoms OF the whites
against the blacks. II was certain to prove
South we were utterly incompetent to deal
with problem so far removed from us, 80 To-
cal, so peculiar, and involving go many de-
tails of which we could know nothing. We
were completely ignorant OF the race for whose
benefit we undertook to act. We were ig-
norant Of the processes and necessities OF the
great agriculture which depended upon their
labor. What kind OF contracts the owner oi
the soil could make with the freedmen, what
contracts could be enforced, how subsistence
was to be provided, how the laboring popula-
ton we're to be kept at work and kept IN
health-that population being one just eman,
cipated from the absolute Will OF an owner and
no more capable in general OF self-drecnon
than 30 many children-these. were matters
ment to deal wisely which entirely lacked rep
| resentative men belonging to those communl-
| ties. and assumed the relation OF sovereign
that had auelled political revolt. We did the
very worst thing that we could have done: We
sent military power to deal with social pro.
blems that required local knowledge and
the experience which generations of the
acquired In dealing with the negro; aud
the agents Of that military power we're
Northern strangers, very poorly qualified to
leeislate for people whose interests and whose
wants they could not understand, and against
whom they carried with them strong pJiiti.
cal prejudices. The Freedmens Bureau was
founded upon tho idea that the blacks needed
or, nj -.k1,
this came Another stupendous mistake, that il
| they had been ''rebels," and to proclaim the
blacks to be the 'ioyalists" and ''Unionists'
because their former masters had engaged in
a political revolt against the Federal Govern
ment. This running Of political dlstlnct!ons
| into problems that were purely social, ieg1sla'
| tive and local-the problems Of free labor
where slave labor alone had produced the great
staples Of very peculiar regon.soon e1cltee ue
| of politicians who have had the predominant
control Of the Federal Governm ent since com
| paratiyely early period in President Lincoin'f
| administration.
These men conceived the idea that il the bal.
lot could be put into the hands Of the negro
they could control the political character Of
the Southern States, and by means OF ,popu:
lation which they could handle as they pleaseo
the Southern States might be made, politically
Republican; as they would certainly become
Democratic II the whites were left IN posses;
sion Of the political power. But how the Dalol
was to be got into the hands Of the blacks was
| q question not easy to be settled. The instltu:
tions and the fundamental law OF the Unlteo
States did not admit Of any interference by
Congress with the right Of suffrage. The max,
ing or unmaking OF voters by an aet o. y
| Congress was q thing unheard OF; ano
even the most radical Of our Radicals
did not at first see their way to this as
sumption of power. They proposed an amend
ment OF the constitution which would deprive
the Southern States OF their proportion OF
representative population unless they CONFER
red suffrage upon the negroes. This amend.
ment was rejected by the people on whom It
undertook to force change which they knew
the freedmen we're not ft for, and for which
there was no kind Of honest necessity. What
was to be done2 Negro suffrage must be had,
or the political power OF the Radical party IN
the North was in danger of being lost by the
reaction naturally to be expected after owl
war. Reconstruction was the only remaining
resources scheme which meant that tne
Southern States, as they, then existed
and always had existed, should be sup
pressed; that the whites who would MOI
consent to negro suffrage should. be dis
franchised by the direct force Of an act
Of Congress-; that suffrage should be con-
ferred on the blacks by the same power; and
that the State should thus become an en-
tirely new body Of people, majority OF whom
are destitute Of even the rudiments of educa-
ton, and are less At for the exercise Of the
right of suffrage than any corresponding popu-
lafion in any country OF Christendom; II, in
deed. there is any other population OF u dis
tinct race, situated in the midst OF the lntell-
gent and educated Caucasian races, and with
which the negroes Of our Southern states can
be compared. Governments that are thus paseo
upon the most ignorant and degraded CLASS
that class being an inferior race and being
made by the disfranchisemepto OF great num-
bers of the superior race the actual holders OF
the political power, can possibly accomplish
nothing but mischief. The scheme could not
have originated in any other motive than q
design to obtain the political control OF those
States in the elections which relate to the omces
Of the Federal Government. The idea that the
blacks needed protection against the whites has
been honestly entertained by the masses OF
the people Of the North, whose erroneous con i
yictions have thus furnished TIE pohtlc1ans
with pretext; whereas we should all have
seen and admitted that the best protectors Of
the blacks in their new condition OF freedom
were those who had always lived with them,
who were born on the same soil, who pest nn,
derstood them, and whose strongest interest II
WAS to raise their condition as fast as 1t could
be raised by prudent and honest Legislation;
No good has vet been done in the relations OF
the two races by the interference Of Congress.
AZ the same time the state Of things which has
been produced, politically, is deplorable. A
race OF adventurers from the North, OF the
worst type Of politicians, appropriately dubbed
baegers.a are assuming the most important
Offices Of those States and are swarmine
into Congress as representatives OF the
Southern people; while the Legisla-
tures Of the new negro governments
are composed of the least intelligent,
the least capable, and the least honest o1
the white race, with an intermlxture OF olacKs,
most of whom cannot read or write. Inc ne"
governments, too, are started with the funda'
mental condition, imposed by their constltu-
tions and enforced by the terms Of their admis.
sion into the Union, that the universal sui
fraee shall never be changed. What future
then, is before those States Bound for ever
If the scheme is capable of lasting-to an IT.
reversible and unchangeable condition OF &c.
ciety, that condition being that gross lgno'
rance and absolute poverty shall hold more
political power thau intelligence and property
that laws shall not be made by those who are
best. but shall be made by those who are least
qualified to make them; and that no man shall
hold Office or cast vote who does not nrst
take an oath that he believes in the political anc
social equality of races on which the hand OF
Heaven has stamped indelible marks OF rels-
tive inferiority and superiority which have al:
wsys vsy been developed and always operated
whenever they have been brought in contact
The prospect is melancholy enough; One
thing, however, appears to us clear, whether
the one party or the other prevails in the iap.
preaching Presidential election. 1t is, that
this condition Of things in the South cannot
continue. It is kind Of legislation that is
impracticable for any. but temporary and nc.
titious purpose. It is q scheme. which may