The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-02-09

| hand, 1. must be remembered that when Mr.
Bingham proposed an amendment provid.
ing that white men in the South engaged
on that side in war should have the right oil
voting, Mr.. Boutwell,. the mover of the
proposition which has been adopted, op-
posed Mr.. Bingham's amendment, saying he
thought it better the House should address
itself to the general proposition of confer
ring suffrage upon those disfranchised on
| account of race or color, and While he look
ed forward to the time when ''ex-rebels'
would be enfranchised, he ,cas not prepared
to do that get. In the same vein Mr.. SEQ
field, of Pennsylvania, said he believed the
people were ready for the question of col
ored suffrage, but rs to MIR. Bingham's pro-
position to enfranchise the rebels, they had
not thought Of that uery much. That the
question presented affects colored men, and
only them, appears plain from careful pc
rusal of the article proposed for amendment,
which is as follows:
tARTIcLE :. Sec. 1. The right of any
citizen of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United
States, or any State, by reason of race,
color or previous condition of slavery, of
any citizen or class of citizens of the United
States.
"SEc. 2. The Congress shall have power
to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article"
The terms of this article. concurring, as
they do, with the purpose of it as expressed
by its author, show that it is only race
color or previous condition of slavery
which, under this article, is not to be per-
mitted to prevent the exclusion of men from
voting. AS it now stands, the Southern
white man, who should offer to vote under
Mr. Boutwell's amendment, could be told
with truth, that it only operated for the
benefit of the classes expressly specified
in it. And all this in the face Of the "uni-
versal amnesty" which has been advocated
by some Of the moro tolerant class of Repub-
llcans, neither of which is extended, by this
amendment to the Southern whites. It is
simply q proposition for constitutional
reversal of the political and social relations
of the two races in the South, by confirm
ing suffrage in the hands of the black race,
and depriving the white of it. and also, for
providing for colored suffrage in the North
ern States is, whether negro suffrage shall
be provided for in those States, confirmed
by the Constitution to those in the South
while Mt the same time neither amnesty nor
suffrage is to be given to the whites of the
South. Most sincerely is it to be hoped
that the Senate of the United States will
not consent to offer to the American people
such q narrow and ineqnitable proposal.
In regard to the operation of the suffrage
upon the blacks, as provided by this amend
mcnt, an examination of it's phraseology
will show that, while it forbids citizen to
be denied a vote by reason of race, color,
or previous condition of slavery, it possibly
leaves the door open to exclusion on account
of the absence of educational or other quail
fications, that under this amendment,
these might still be required in order to suf-
frage This view of the effect of the amend
ment, is confirmed by the objection which
was made by Mr.. Butler to the proposition
of Mr.. Shellabarger, that its effects would
be to take away from the States the power
to make an educational test, and also to pre-
vent them from making registration law
Formerly, in regard to the exercise of suf-
frage, it was thought that to qualify peo-
San, they must not only be intelligent and
virtuous, but must be trained and in nstructed
in the principles of liberty and in the prac-
tical workings of free institutions.