The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-06-11
THE POLICY OF PRESCRIPTIONS

NAyS.
"rSnlod That The sons OF Rebels will all be
KeIIels 1t takes for granted that six years
will see politics and parties just as they aye
arithmetic The Rebels, disfranchised for
six years, will be unable to embarIass tho
work OF Reconstruction during that time,
and then 1t will be SO efTectually accomplish
ed that there could be no objection to L nj
versal Amnesty. Mr.. GreeIey's policy OF
was not wise, when it was offered, and IS
not " lSe now; for we shall have the SuufaEe
without the Amnesty. the great ais5ra3s
chise the Rebels. 1t vas the most ettectual
and the least Objectionable OF all punlsh'
ments for treason: The disability couid 9e
removed at any time. And, until 1t could
bs removed, the loyal men would nave as
they ought TO have, the sole contfoI Oh Po4lI-
lcal affairs"
Mr.. Greeley then comments uponthe
matter as follows:
1. The Wing, after all, does not seem
able to take distance as 1t desires. II
holds to Universal SuHrage-atter
little. 1t would enfranchise the Rebels
but not just yet. 1t would disfran-
chise for a purpose-tO secure the
triumph of Raconstfuction-afte that,
il we understand 1t, it would let every
one vote. Our objections are briefly
these:
l. If Congress had DISTINGUISHED all
who aided the Rebellion, it would have
DISTINGUISHED nearly every white in
several OF the States. leaving none but
Blacks-most OF them just released
from S!avery-tO exercise tho Right OF
Suffrage. Many OF them did not then
even know what vote meant. They
could not have held an election that
WAS not grotesQue farce. Officers and
legislators thus chosen, judges and
courts thus constituted, could not haYe
commanded public respect.
=. Had COngress-say in 1865 6-dis-
I - = "a
several States completely into the
hands OF their eX-slaves, the next cleo
lion would have upset Hs and chosen
Democratic House of Representa-
tives. But for the New Orleans massa-
ere and JohnSou's "SwinEing round
the circle" we should probably nave
been beaten AS it was; but to have dis
frarctIiSrd the Whites, and thrown the
Southern States completely into the
hands III the Blacks, would have in
sur.d our WhelmlDg defeat. The
Wing seems TO forget that every john
seymour Democrat was SO TAR in
sympathy with the Rebels as to Insist
that they should all be enfraDchiSed
aud the Blacks left 20 their tender mer.
cies, without even ciUH rights guarRn-
teed them by Congress, much less pol1t-
ical. And these Democrats were at
least II OF every % voters in the States
of New Hampshire, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Ohio,
Indiana and West Virginia. Had we
done what the Wig would have, they
would have been thirteen out of every
twenty live, and we should have gone
under to stay. Then we should have
had all the Rebels enfranchised and
the Blacks put under their feet. That
is just where the Wings policy would
have landed US.
IL. 1t is always essential in determin-
ing what you anil do to consider what
you can do. How are you to distin>
guish Rebeis-that is, those who 1Ccre
Rebels years ago-so as to disfranchise
them? West Virginia tries to do it
her Constitution and laws are strin-
gently proscriptive-yet she pOlled last
Fall 22,2lS votes for Camden, Demo
cratic' candidate for Governor lone of
the bitterest old Clay Whigsl to 26. 935
for Stevenson, Republicans: Republi-
can minority, 4,7l7. Does any one inn
agine that so many as 10000 OF those
votes for Camden were Unionists in
our late struggle? We doubt if there
were 5 600. Yet they vote, and there is
no help for it. Missouri, in spite of the
most stringent prescription and iron
CLAD oaths and registrations, pOlled
last Fall g., $50 votes for the Democratic
Governor, and SO, 7SS <for Seymour for
President. We presume at least two
thirds of these We're at heart (and many
of them lndeed) Rebels in 1861 4. They
| carry twenty odd of the COunties-some
| of them by ten or twenty to one. What
do you propose to do about il? Why
| even in Tennessee, where no one could
vote except such as Gov. BrOwnlow
considered loyal, seventeen counties
gave maiorities for Seymour, who re-
ceived &c. 81 vOtes-not less than 10000
of them cast by men who had been red
hot Rebels. And now we have two Re.
publican candidates running for Gov
ernOr, one of them openly for Universal
Suffrage. We insist that facts shall not
be ignored, and that they prove the
inutility and imPossibility OF persistent
prescription.
III. The Wig says we "take for
granted" that "the sons of Rebels will
be Rebels" Well, we do take for
granted that, SO long as the fathers are
DISTINGUISHED, the sons will vote with
the party that seeks to enfranchise
them. Isn't that a reasonable presump-
tiOn2
Nv. The Wing says wo further as
sumo that there will be no loyal immi-
grafton TO West Virginia. No. We
take noting for granted except that the
Democrats are all opposed to the fur
Their prescription of the late Rebels. Is
that denied? And who can say that
more Republicans that Democrats mi
CRATE to West Virginia? just look at
the vote: