The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-09-05
RirI,nrond nispatrlr,
SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 5, 1868.
Eligibility of Negroes to Office.

Eligibility of Negroes to Office.
The action of the Georgia House Of Dele
gates in excluding negroes from that body
on the ground that they are ineligible to
official position will doubtless occasion
much excitement among the negroes OF that
State, and perhaps of the whole South, ana
may exercise considerable influence upon
the Preside ntial election. We confess thas
we do not understand the motives which ac-
tuated the House in this action. IL seems
to be certain, judging from the large major
ity in favor Of the exclusion OF the negroes
that many fthe Radicals voted for the reso-
luton. They are generally supposed to be
governed by their northern friends IN their
votes upon all questions which are calcu-
lated to affect either favorably or unfavora-
bly, the fortunes of the Radical party and
hence it is fair inference that these gen.
tlemen of tender hearts and unbounded love
for the negro have advised the vote which
has thus driven Sambo from the halls
of legislation in Georgia. At any rate, the
deed is done, and the northern Radicals
will be compelled upon the stump either to
denounce or to attempt to justify it. The
northern Democrats cannot but applaud it.
They denounce the clothing Of the negro
with the right of suffrage; and they will
scarcely be so inconsistent as to maintain
that he ought to be allowed to hold office.
The Radicals, on the contrary, have made
him voter, and it might be esteemed incon-
sistent for them to deny to him what would
appear to be consequential right. We do not
for moment suppose, however, that any
question of consistency will be permitted to
influence the course of the Radicals upon
this new phase of the reconstruction ques-
ton. They will first ask themselves how
any given line Of conduct will affect the
Presidential election, and, having come to
conclusion upon that point, will govern
themselves accordingly.
We have repeatedly argued in these CO.
lumns that the negro is not eligible to office
under the reconstruction acts. He is GER
tainly ineligible under the Constitution and
laws of Virginia. All parts Of that Consti-
tuition and all of those laws are just as GER
lainly in force here now as they were be-
fore those acts were passed, except such
parts of the Constitution and such laws as
are repealed by virtue of those acts of Con-
gress. Therefore, when Congress declared,
rs it did in those acts, that The negro should
be allowed to vote, and omitted to say that
he should be permitted to hold office, it did
in effect declare that the law of Virginia as
respects his ineligibility to office should re-
main in force.
But the HOWARD amendment does not
confer upon the negro the right to hold
office. On the contrary, it expressly and
in its very terms, admits the right Of every
State TO deprive him even of the right of
suffrage. We quote its language once more:
"SEcTIoN 2. Representatives shall be ap
portioned among the several States accord
ing to their respective numbers, counting
the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the
right to vote at any election for the choice
of electors for President and Vice-President
Of the United States, representatives, in
Congress, executive and judicial officers of
a State, or the members of the Legislature
thereof, is denied to any of the male in
habitants of such States being twenty-one
years OF age and citizens of the United
States, or in any way abridged, except for
participation in rebellion or other crime,
the basis of representation therein shall be
reduced in the proportion which the num-
Der Of such male citizens shall bear to the
whole number of male citizens twenty-one
years Of age in such State"
The meaning of this language is so eyi-
dent that We need not point it out. 1t is an
express admission, not only by Congress but
by three-fourths of the Legislatures of the
northern States, that each State may, if it
think proper, exclude negroes from the bal
lot-box. And surely no one will contend
that an amendment which thus in terms
admits the power of State 10 deprive them
of the right to vote confers upon them the
right to hold Office.
We maintain that the Radicals ought to
stand up for the eligibility of the negro to
Office. They have made him voter. Let
them be logical. If he is fit to be a voter
he is fit to hold office. GREELEY will doubt
less face the music.'' But as for the
mass of that corrupt and detestable faction,
we shall not be surprised if they come out
in their speeches and writings in justifca
ton of the exclusion of the negro from all
positions of trust, honor, or emolument.