New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-01-08
cporyDs OF IMPARTIAL SUFFRAGE.

virtue, morality, intelligence, education, creed,
or race, whom of lis would our neiGhbors allow
to votes Virtues become vices when the
vicious are judges. Morality is q moral stencil
in the nostrils of the depraved; and which are
the depraved depends on who are the moral
critics. Most mems morality
Compounds FOR sins they are inclined TO
By damning those they have no mind to-
| We all have cOnsciences keenly alive to the
sins committed by others And, as to intelli-
gence fool always looks upon philosopher
as an ass. A knave insGnctively holds man
Of picty to be hypocrite. A thief, whether
in or out Of our legislatures, winks at
| honesty as the last pretense OF q
scoundre. And q drunkard hiccups in
his maudlin stupor that tho only differ
renee between saint and him is, that one
gets drunk on rum and the other on religion.
The Shareholders, whose property IN the slave
was daily theft of his wages, honestly scorned
tho hero who gave the slave his freedom as on
q moral par with the thief who steals horse.
None are so conceited in estimating their Wis
dom MS the intensely ignorant; none so appre-
ciative of the intelligence of the humblest In
their sphere as the very wise. A sailor would
despise Newton who could not tie a mariners
knot. But n Newton would find everything TO
admire in the skill with which the sailor full
filed the functions of his narrow but useful
sphere of life. Contempt for men OF any kind,
class, or race, is never felt by the best
men nor the highest races for the lower
but always by the lower for the
higher. 1t is not the Christs who cruelty the
rabble, nor Socrates vino administers hemlock
Col,
bigots, nor the reformers who burn the sensual
lists at the stake. So it is not the higher classes
of the American or English nation who object
to universal suffrage, but they whose right to
the suffrage is as doubtful as that of those to
whom it is proposed to extend it, Ask the first
man you meet who cannot read whether the
right to vote ought to be limited, and he will an
swer Yesl Not of course expecting the limitation
will exclude him, who cannot read, but that II
will exclude some foreigner or negro who per-
haps cam But ask the Chef-Justico of the
United States if oil men ought to vote without
limitation, either ns to education or property,
and he answers, Certainly: voting is the SIM
"plest of all matters men do not vote for
measures, nor even for principles, but only
for one of two political parties, and the
his immediate interests lie.p The popular
vote is not designed TO teach statcsnl"nship'
nor to solve intricate questions OF any kindj
for those are never submitted directly TO
the mass of voters. 1t Is designed to tie states
men and politicians TO the peoples interests,
not to supply them with the knowledge how
those interests can best be served, for that Is
in all cases better understood by those who
make a special life-study Of it than by those
who give their time to a thousand other kinds
of business, and are prevented thereby from
becoming experts in craftsmanship. But all
men know what their personal interests demand.
All poor men want freedom TO labor, and the
power to recover their wages, protect their
families, educate their children, sue in the
courts, sit on juries, and enjoy the benefits OF
the government which taxes them. What
ever party most literally and sincerely
offers these benefits, not to others, but
to their own class, workingmen will vote
for. In the better days of the Demo
cratic party it offered these to foreigners,
and thereby secured their vote. The Re
publican party now offers the same to the
Freedmen, and thereby secures theirvote. The
Democratic party is most earnest In securing
the same to the ex-Rebels, and thereby Is more
assured than il should have been OF securing
their vote. 1t does not require much intelli-
pence in any man to know which OF tho two
political parties is most devoted to the inter
ests of the class to which he belongs. The
Freedmen of the South bavefdistng uished be-
tween the party that would complete their
emancipation and that which would restore
their serfdom. They have seen clearly and
voted solidly in the direction in which their
largest liberty lies. This demonstrates that
they have sufficient intelligence to vote, and
leaves the problem no longer an open question.
Let all men, in discussing this question of
Universal Suffrage, bear in mind that voters
only require TO know which party most SIN
cerely favOrs the class to- which they belong.
They do not vote on questions of policy or
craftsmanship, but only for one or the other of
two, seldom three, political parties The gen.
eral principles to which the parties are pledged
always emanate from the most experienced
minds in the country. The particular steps in
legislation by which those principles are to be
carried out are discussed by the ablest minds
in both political parties. The two parties tone
their platforms and policies sufficiently toward
each other that the general difference between
them is moro one of time than of principle
The Democratic party fayors to-day what the
Republican party advocated year ago, and
the extreme Radicals were advocating two years
ago.
Thus, in Finance, the position Of the Demo
cratic party was originally for hard money
and against State banks; then for State banks
and opposed to greenbacks; and now it is for
greenbacks and against the National Banks;
and, should any improvement be suggested In
the National Banking System, it would be for