Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1868-03-26


insidious teachings are INDUCED, which
their authors will never permit to see the
light, unless perchanee they are revealed
In the fierce encounters of war of races. =
If this IS q good school, Why not open to
all +? IF its teachings are right and com
mendable, Why not promulged in open day
The secrecy Of this institution, the time Sc
lected for It's sessions, the mode in
which it undertakes to manage and con-
troll this race and the extent to which it has
succeeded, all show that the class it thus
nanipulates are not 1T to he endowed With
the elective franchise. Men who are led,
controlled and driven like cattle, give ev-
idencc Of discipline and sa9jectio,s. but MOI
of independence, intelligence and ySrtuc =
! Where is their common permanent interest
IN and attachment to the community p
Echo answers, where
". protest against his measure be-
cause its tendency, indeed it's immediate
effect, will be to degrade the suffrage.
How can it be otherwise when YOU confer
such power upon poor, ignorant, inex-
perienced and unfortunate race, possessed
by nature of but limited capacity and de
MED by circumstances all opportunity of
improvement and Developments DO you
put tools into the hands of men who are
destitute Of a knowledge of their use and
expect them TO use them judiciously? Do
you call upon man who has never served
an apprenticeship Or learned the trade to
act the part of carpenter and build you
a house? Do you hire man to act as
clerk who has never learned to read or
write, or cipher? Do you seek out the
men have never studied medicine and who
have no experience in diseases to admins
ter to you in sickness? Do you ask advice
in matters Of law Of those who have never
Ganliliarize1 themselves with it as science?
Do you enSlast your watch for repairs to
the hands Of a man unacquainted with its
machinery or the relations of the several
parts of that machinery to each other 3
I need not answer these interrogatores
for you in relation to matters of the most
ordinary concerns. And yet you would
entrust the most delicate. the most COM
plicated of all machinery, the machinery
of the Government Of Republican State
to the uncultivated, inexperienced, untu-
tored negro
Our complex system of government.
constructed with so much labor, rescar Oh,
skill, by the great minds Of The revolution
airy era. is to be oomprehended, grasped
ard administered without any previous
training or experience by this race The
mere statement Of he proDos;ssi ion carries
with it its own refutation. When you
make such race the depository of the
hitherto comparatively sacred right of suf-
frage, how Can 1t be otherwise than degra-
ded, regarded s. thing too common and
too debas2;i to be worthy Of possession ?
But on this matter we aye not left TO mere
reasoning upon given facts. We have ex-
ample and experience to guide us. Let
Us take warning and fly from the danger
before us, before it is too late =
Look atthe result Of the general extern
sion of suffrage in the City of New York,
although that was only to non-property
holders and foreigners Of the white race,
with larger opportunities of information
and knowledge by far than the negroes
among US. There the general extension
Of suffrage has taken place under circum-
stances far more favorable than those
which surround US. and yet what is the
weil-known fact in regard to that great
metropolis? Why simply this, that By
running the suffrage idea too far, it has
been run into the ground" and the very
principle Of elf-government has been to
great extent overthrown. That is the key
which unlocks the secret Of the appoint
mont Of Police Commissioners for that great
city by the Governor of the State under d
law Of The Legislature passed by Republi-
caus. The people were regarded by them
as being too ignorant and too vicious" to
govern the city wisely. and the power has
been in a great measure taken out Of their
hands. IN addition, the same Legislature
has been considering the the policy Of
establishing commissioners to build the
markets, manage the schools. and even to
open the streets and take charge Of their
piers and whsrycS for them
Thus VIC soa tie right Of local sef-gov-
ernment inpcriled by an unwise extension
of the franchise, and the government of
the city is gradually passing cut of the
hands Of the people.
The property holders prefer this as a
choice Of evils ''Thus in pushing the
idea Of liberty too far" we lose that which
is possible. We grasp at the shadow and
lose the substance. We ''make men ru-
lers who have not the capacity to rule,
and then gladly welcome any usurper who
will thrust aside Councilman Log and AL
derman Stork,' and manage matters with
at least an approach to honesty and COM
mon sense.
We have said thus much as to the effect
of the undue extension of suffrage to white
people; let us now see what has been the
result upon the negro.
Unfortunately for the purposes of illus
tration, but .fortunately for mankind. the
examples Of attempts at negro government
after the republican form are very few
Monarchy ard despotsm in their own land
and elsewhere, wherever they have exist
ed, have been the favored methods by
which they have been controlled.
We have. however, one notable instance
of an attemnt to set m a negro colonial