Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-10-03

and styling the President, TMy
dear General
The days of tyranny are well
nigh over. The dawn of genuine
Republieanism is near at hand.
THE FIFTEENTH AMEND nENT-
WILL THE CHINESE BE VOTERse
The st. Louis Republican an
swers the question whether the
Chinese will be voters under the
fifteenth amendment, if it shall be
ratified, as follows i.-at s1e
"Ths object of the proposed fifteenth
amendment is to force negro suffrage on
all the States, aud make it universal. 1t
is not. however, to make suffrage universal,
for that would admit Chinese who should
become citizens, to the ballot-box. 1t is
carefully worded to confer this franchise
on negroes, and debar from it Chinese.
Here is the proposed amendment:
I" sArt. Is. The right OF the citizens Of
the United States to vote, shall not be de-
QleQ Dl TIC OHtbId CsosSC1 AOA ahy AtHhS1
on account of race, color, or previous con-
dition Of servitude. iE
"fSec. 2. The Congress shall have power
to enforce this article by appropriate legis-
lation.' a.- .-r
at will be seen that if this amendment
should be adopted, citizsn cannot be de-
barred from the suffrage on account Of
race or color, or previous condition Of
servitude. But it does not forbid State
to debar on other accounts, religion for
instance. No sacrilsgious hand shall be
laid on the race of a citizen, nor on the
color of a citizen, nor on the previous
condition of servitude Of citizen. Thee
thre things are sacred. But sacrilegious
hands NAV be laid on the religion of.
citizen. The doctrines Of Confucius may
be made disqualification, and those who
entertain them may be debarred from a
franchise which all others enjoy. If We
are correct IN our Interpretation OF the
constitution and the proposed amendment
to it, it shows how jealously Radicalism
regards a mans color, ard how little 1t
thinks Of his religion" ..- e..
The California people fear that
this fifteenth amendment, if it shall
be ratified, will be the gap through
which the Chinese will enter the
baIlot-box. They base their oppo~
sition to the pending amendment
upon this very ground. In an adj
dress to the people Of California by
the Democratic Executive Commit
tee, this question is argued very
fully. The committee admit that
the Chinese are not yet citizens,
except those born here, but say 1--WE
are not sure they cannot become
SUCH" and they add: every law.
yer knows that it is q mooted ques-
ton whether they may not, as the
law stands, be naturalizad. But ad-
hitting that they cannot, how easy
it is to strike the word white out of
the naturalization laws. Nay, how
easy it is, when it shall be necessary
to the party in power, for Congress
to clothe them with the suffrage by
the wholesale, as it did the ne
groes." The address continues:
ave know that their press and speak
ers generally disavow such intentions.
But what confidence can we place in the
assertions and good faith of those who have
30 often deceived us? Not q year has
elapsed since they proclaimed throughout
| the Union that il was not their intention
| to force negro suffrage upon any OF the
States, except those recently 10 rebellion.
| Yet no sooner had they succeeded in the
| object which such false representations
were intended to promote, than they pro-
| mulgated the fifteenth amendment, which,
| il ratified, will make negroes voters in
every State of the Union. They may
possibly be sincere in their present
avowals and mean what they say,
| but we have no reason, we repeat, for
| trusting them. Nor can we believe
| that the party which, for selfish purposes,
| by wholesale legislation, conferred the
elective franchise on four million of nea
1 RTOE5, Will ne I6SlI dlHSu ny any sCIHBACo
of conscience from repeating the expert
ment with the Chinese, should it deem
their votes necessary 10 vanquish the
white sentiment of the country and hold
| it in subsection. And here let us remark
that, however Objectionable negro suffrage
may be, it is preferable to that Of the
Chinese. The negro is at Leaf an Ameri.
can by birth, language, religion and hab-
lis. What little measure of civilization
he possesses he derived from III. Here
tofore he has manifested strong affection
for his white protectors, and it may be
that not even the violent disruption
of the ties which bound him to them
has entirely efacsd it. The Chi
nese, on the contrary, can never
be Americanzed or become at.
tached TO us and our institutions. But
| although they cannot be Americanized
in sentiment, they will only too readily
accept American citizenship if offered to
them. they will at once perceive the i'm
mediate and collateral advantages Of hay-
ing vote and Of holding Office in our
midst. Their support at the polls will
become a part of their stock in trade
upon which they can speculate dd Hbjtum,
l
them out in gangs to the candidate who
will pay the largest bride, as they now dc
to the employer who gives the best wages
To those who know aught Of the charac'
ter Of the people, all this will certainly
not seem an exaggeratioD, and we cannot
imagine greater calamity befalling our
country than would result from arming
these Asiatics with the elective franchise
The Californians regard this as
one of the great questions of the
day. They fear and not without
reason, that if the fifteenth amend.
ment shall be ratified, the ballot
box will be opened to the Chinese
in order to carry their State for
| the Radicals. If Chinese continue
to be imported, in a few years there
will be many millions Of them,
not only in California, but in all
the Southern States, and they will
be invested with the rights of citi-
zonship, just as the negroes were, il
it shall bo necessary to do so in
order to continue Radical rule in
the South.
The original purpose of the au-
| IL. = A. GFtaoDth amendment