The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-09-29
Have White Mon NO Rights Z

Have Wllte men NO t4k2ER
How Ialnentably tho Constitution Of
the United States has been tinkered up,
to give political superiority to negroes,
appears in tho following confession Of the
Wheeling INTEIIGENCER, OF yesterday
morning: .-
"Howl about It as Democratic organs and
speakers may, the Constitution Of the United
States does provide for Congres9ional le 1sLat!on
TO protect the right OF c0lored citizens to the
suffrage, who have but recently had the Suffrage
conferred upon them and need such protection !
and It does not and never did authorize ConTes.
slOnRl legislation for the protection OF white
citizens FL that right who haye always possessed
It and need no such protection"
The Constitution Of the United SAtes
protects the rights Of negroes, but does
not protect white men! The acts Of Con-
gress guarantee suffrage to negroes, but
white men arc beyond the pale Of Con.
gressiOnal legiSlationl What confession
Of negro superiority before the law, and
what an illustration Of the beauties OF
Radical legislation !! !-RNiSrcr. ,t,t
The Register goes on ut length, in about
this style, to anathematlze the cnormity
Of legislating for the protection of the
blacks aud not Of the whites. The merits
oI that question arc fully understood by
all intelligent people, The blacks hay
ing until quite recently been denied the
suffrage by the laws OF the country, and
1t being denied them still by the laws and
local prejudice Of many States, it was OBJ
viously proper and necessary for the Fed
eral government, in comforting tile ballot
on them, to lcgislate for their protection in
the use of it. The white people Of the
country having always exercised the suit
frage without question, no provision for
their protection in its exercise has ever
been necessary. A portion Of them a
few years since renounCel this and all
other rights Of citizenship by engaging in
n war on the Government, but tho ballot
has been restored to the great majority OF
even them; and the right Of the States to
withhold 1t from others, where It is still
withheld from them, is not questioned by
any branch oI the Government Those
whites who are entitled to the ballot under
the laws Of the States vote without qucs-
tion. They do not need Federal intervcn-
tion to protect them. Those whites who
are vet denied tho ballot by State laws,
not being entitled to vote, certainly need
no Federal intervention to:protcct them in
privilege they do not possess.
But we have not proposed any elaborate
discussion as to whether tho Constitution
and laws of the United States ought %
provide alikc'for protecting the suffrage Of
whites and blacks. ThcQucstion we have
submitted is one of fact, What do the
Constitution and laws provide, not what
ought they? The Constitution does by
express provision authorize legislation to
protect the blacks against State suffrage
laws. 1t does not, either expressly or in
directly, authorize legislation interfering
in any way with the suffrage laws of the
States Us affecting the whites; and legis-
latlon of the latter description is not "in
pursuance" OF the Constitution Of the
United States and therefore not the su-
preme law Of the land. Can our neighbor
abate his holy horror long enough 70 deal
with this question Of fact,