The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-16

limited to the suffrage, concerning wbioh
there Is general agreement among the Repub-
l!caDs. That OF the Senate, on the other hand
superadds an affirmation of the negros eligi,
bility to Office, about which there ia notbino
like agreement; and, moreover, takes from the
States the power of determining in any degree
the conditions Of their own government wbe-
ther in reference TO the franchise or the mali
fcations inciden. to office.
For change 10 the laws regulating suffrage
the country is to large extent prepared.
While eonoeding to ths States their full CON
stitutional control over the subject, the de-
sirableness of seour ng substantial uniformity
on a basis harmoni2ing reconstruction has
forced itself upon the Republican party. The
ability to justify negro enfranohisement
throughout the South depends somewhat
upon the readiness of the North to abate its
own hostility to negro enfranchisement. There
can be no prOpriety in insisting that the
blacks shall have their full share OF power in
States where their numbers make them for
midable, so long as we refuse them the privi-
lege in States where their political influence
must always be insignificant. Having made
the freedman citizen, we cannot without
gross inconsistency deny the fitness of his
race to participate in the ballot.
The reasoning which conducts to this con-
clusion is however, satisfied with an assur-
ance of general political equality. 1t does not
require the universal enfranchisement of the
colored people; it only declares that they shall
be subject to no condition in respect of voting
which does not equally apply to white citi-
zens. Impartial suffrage meets the equity of
the oase--obliterating the distinctions origin
atipg In the slave system, and at the same
time leaving the suffrage question still in
some measure subject to the States. 1t makes
the black man politically the equal of the
white man-which certainly should satisfy
the special friends of the former; but without
offending needlessly State pride, or necessi-
tating the abandonment of qualifications
which some States have established in the
interest of their people.
But the Senate amendment travels over
new ground, dictates terms for which the
country is not prepared, and goes far towards
extinguishing the vital forces of State au-
thority. 1t deprives the States of the power
Of regulating qualifications for local office, and
declares that neither on the ground of color,
nativity, education, or property shall citizen
be debarred admission to the highest positions
of trust and distinction. The interference is
rendered more flsgrant by the fact that the
limitations of the Constitution touching
Federal offices are allowed to stand. The
Senate does not object to the qualification
applicable to its own naturallzed members or
the exclusion of foreign born citizens from the
Presidency. 1t proposes to take from the
States authority to enact conditions akin to
Federal Government, and to reduce their ex-
ercise of self-rule to the smallest possible
dimensions. This sweeping project, too, is
gTatuitous. 1t aims at objects to which public
attention has not been directed, by means
which will provoke the most formidable
opposition.
The House amendment, if now submitted to
the States, may receive the approval of the
requisite number. II is designed to satisfy
the national sense of justice, without any
wanton violation of State rights. The Senate
amendment, even if concurred in by the
House, will assuredly be rejected by the
States, which will see in it an attempt to revo-
lutionize the character of the Government,
and to make important local concerns subject
to the will of Congress. A suffrage amend
ment thus incumbered with odiou5 provisions
would not have the slightest chance of ratif-
cation.
On this subject, then, the House appears
as conservative body; the Senate as the
author Of an aggressive and centralizing policy.
The anomaly is pregnant with peril to the
Senate itself. Its own continuance on the
present basis of State equality will not long
be possible when the States shall have been
deprived of the attributes of sovereignty
which are assailed by Mr.. Wilson's amend
ment. If the balance of power welded by the
States, speaking through the Senate, is TO be
preserved, the right of States to regulate
the conduct of their local governments must
be respected.
The Approaching Struggle ia Europe.
From the ". Y. Herald.
| Europe is Just now under conditions which
have had no parallel since the time when the
States system began to struggle into that Pc
| culiar kind of existence which, with certain
notifications, has lasted for some centuries.
The first Napoleon disturbed it for brief