The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-09-30

lJOVefnllouI, OOuElS 7Ail1i SSiOOAo 1Ol
the eolored race were established ;and
negroes fed, clothed and educated at
the National expense; and that too in
the midst of States that had never Sc
ceded. Passive obedience being yield
ed TO this usurpation, these mlnions of
Imperialism have taxed one step for
ward, and propose now by gaining
control of the suffrage, TO undermine
the very foundations of the States.
They know that the States are the
great bulwarks of popular rights, and
unless their walls are dismantled and
the people will ultimately
take refuge behind them, and defy the
advance of the Imperial revolution.
What means the unblushlng violation
not only of the Constitution, but OF
every civil right, the immemorial her.
itagei of the American people, which
has for years Irampled liberty under
foot in the South ? What means the
apathy with which an Imperial jour
nal is now received, which, but q few
years ago, " lid have been greeted
with the indignant hissings OF scorn
and contempt !? | warn you, my fell
low citizens, if YOU ever surrender
those constitutional ramparts,. the
State Governments, your personal and
political liberties are gone! q Repair
every breach, man everv gun, strength
EN- every outpost, drive back every
corps Of sappers and miners; be de-
luded by no siren songs Of National
grandeur; be eolulled to sleep by no
soft, Whispering there lis no danger;
rbe vigilant, be- active, be sleepless. -a,.
But, my fellow citizens, we must
not overlook the Immediate practical
purpose of this amendment. 1t ma
-tionalizes negro suffrage. l1This ques-
tien. of negro suffrage has been 50 Of
ten and fully discussed before you,
that repetition of it jill detail would
be.a work. of supererogation. Two
wears ago it was the direct issue be-
fore the people of Ohio, and was voted
down by a majority of fifty thousand,
On this issue you elected a Legisla-
tufe, and last winter that Legislature
rejected the Fifteenth Amendment.
But now the Radicals make it the issue
again i'll a more Objectionable. shape.
As an amendment to the State consti-
tuition, it is competent for Ohio, if she
choose, to legaliZe negro suffrage but
as an amendment to the Federal con-
stitution, tits usurpation unless adopt
ed by every State in the. Union. If
you, my fellow citizens, rejected it by
so overwhelming majority as part
of your constitution, when you could
have umdone yourWork if you became
dissatisfied with it,. why should you
now aid to make tia part of the Fed
eral constitution when your act alone
can never revoke it, and when one
tenth of the whole American people
can prevent it ever being revoked ?
Why should you aid in forcing it OH
Kentucky and other Southern States
AS to you, the evil would be compar-
atively small, for it would eHfranchise
few in Ohio of that class ofpopulation
who are not already voters under the
decisions Of our courts. But in the
lately slave-holding States you every
where give to the late slaves the polit-
ical balance of power. Is this right
on the principles of comfy and good
neighborhood which. ought to animate
lsthe sister States j? But, if my Radical
friends will not acknowledge any allie
gience to the spirit of brotherly amity
towards the South, will they not be
moved by their own interests? Do
they believe that the negro of the
South can be long controlled to vote
the Radical ticket? 1t is too clear
for argument that this whole scheme
of negro suffrage is intended to place
the control of the Southern States in
the hands of Northern adventures,
who are to manipulate the negro vote
and make the South an appendage to
Northern Radical power. But let
Radical ambition take heedI The
scheme will fail. La very few years
the native ,Southerners will control
the negro vote; for it is preposterous
to suppose they will be, during tliis
generation at least, any thing more
than pawns on the chess board of pol,
itics puppets in the hands of politica
wire e-werkers. They will be used il
the South to elect Democrats before
the ink is dry that writes the ratifying
proclamation. L do not oppose The
amendment, therefore, because it,
adoption will operate against my par.
ty, nor ask you to do so; but because
it is wrong in principle, and policy
These rude children of nature are un
fit for suffrage. They know nothing
; of our institutions. Thousands o
them to-day believe in the Voodoc
worship of heather Africa, and coule
be taught its rite sooner than mad,
to understand the duties of a voter
Though far moro Intelligent in th'
Northern States, who does not know
that the great body of them have NJ
enlightened sense of the great and re
sponsible duties of citizenship? Til,
voter is a law-maker, a ruler, a politi
cal sovereign. 1t is from no ill-wiI
toward the colored race; from no dis
position to Cypress them, or to rol
them Of the civil rights Of men, tha
we Withhold from them the. priYileg,
: of suffrage. No more titan these ,rea
sons prompt us to oppose conferrin:
suffrage on women and children, +.
will not detain YOU now to discuss th,
: true basis on which the right of suf
: ffage rests. | have in past years don,
il at length, and must not repeat my
self. Time has but strengthened MY
former conviction, and events intensi
fed my former, opposition, ~, H.
Il, Fellow citizens, let me remind yo,
that have ever since the war, close.
CulIS GU upOii ihC 1lCpuOllOdLE pdl Z,
the design to retain power by enfran
chising the negroes. In 1866, whel
canvassing for Congress against Gen
Schenck, L everywhere charged j
home upon him, and everywhere hi
friends denied it. He evaded the issue
| insisted that the Radicals would vi
timately force it on Ohio and the ma
3 ton. Any such purpose was, in. til
!, West, Indignantly denied in Radica
,, speeches to the people; but, having
: succeeded in obtaining another leas
, of power in most of the States, tn
: party proposed negro suffrage Wher
7, ever they thought it would succeed
! But the people voted it down wherev
er .proposed-in Connecticut, Ohio
: Michigan, Minnesota and Kansas
I, But. so eager We're these leaders to &C
,, possession of this coveted engine @
. power which they. supposed woul
make them omnipotent and their rul
Z perpetual, that they, in the face c
q these defeats, proposed the Fifteent
Amendment, hoping to have it adopt
;. ed while their creatures held powe
a in tho Soqthern States, You viii OF