The New York herald., 1870-04-01


tire Day.
The restoration of Texas, the last remaining
Of the late outside States, aud the proc'sma-
ton Of the fifteenth amendment az part and
parcel Of the national constitution, "thc
supreme law Of the land" are events which
mark the opening OF a new chapter and new
dispensation in the history Of the United
States.
In 1850 the law OF African slavery was the
law Of the cons ituion; In 1870 The supreme
law is universal liberty. In 1860, under de-
cision Of the Supreme Court the negro wss
not a citizen. and though born on the soil
could not be citizen Of the United States
and had ''no rights which u wh,o man was
bound to respect" In 1870, under The eons,i-
tuition, the negro Is citizen, invested with all
the civil and political rights of the white man.
In 1860, as one Of the prescribed race, the
| distinguished Revels, OF African descent, could
rot poke his nose in the gallery Of the United
States Senate; in 1870 he occupies on the floor
the seat In 1860 held by Jef Davis. Wihin
the last ten years, in short, beginning with the
abolition of slavery Ia the District Of Columbia
and ending with the fifteenth amendment.
| four millions of the African race In this ccun-
| try have been relieved from tho most degrading
bondage and clothed with the general civil
| and political rights of the President OF the
| United States. This Is q greater revolution
than that Of l77G, which detached fiom Great
Britain her rebeIlious American colonies;
/ greater than the great revolution Of 1859,
which swept away the Bourbons and the
landed aristocracy OF France. We concur
with the President in his message 10 Congress
on the subject, that the adoption Of this ff-
teenth amendment completes the greatest
civil change and constitutes the most impor-
tant event that has occurred since the nation
came into life."
1t is an event, we say, which marks new
order Of things, new departure In our politi-
cal history. For thirty years and more our
political parties were directly organized upon
and controlled by the slavery question; yes
from the adoption Of the federal constitution
down to 1860 the Southern slaveholding oil
garchy held and shaped the policy Of the gene
raj government in support Of slavery. Then
the rebellion, as the last resort of this South
ern oligarchy for the perpetuaiion and extension
of slavery, brought about Its extirpation; but
then came the important question, what is to
be henoeforth the civil and political status OF
this prescribed race? The settlement Of thiD
question, In the constit Ition, on the broad
basis Of equality is as the President defines 1t,
''the most important event that has occurred |
since the nation came into life." And in that !
word 'naton" we have as great a revolu-
ton from the old fallacy Of State sovereignty
as in that affecting the African race; for in
this fifteenth amendment, and in the four
teenth and in the thirteenth, Congress is made
the sovereign power, as representing the
national authority Of the United States.
Here, then, we have universal negro suffrage
established, with the power to Congress to en-
force il ''by appropriate legislation" Nor can
we doubt that Congress will 30 enforce it, even
in Kentucky. Throughout the country, then,
with the probable exception of Connecticut,
where The registration has been completed, the
negro vote will be brought into the coming State
elections, which embrace their elections for the
next Congress. From present appearances,
too, the republicans, with few exceptions, will
secure these negro voters. The message of
General Grant looks in this direction, and is
calculated to have q marked effect among the
blacks of the Northern States. From the
results Of the late election in New Hampshire,
indeed, as well as from the Introduction of this |
negro element into all the other Northern |
States, the prospect Of the democracy for !
revolutionizng the next Congress is not very
encouraging.
In New Hampshire the democratic party |
was drawn upon in the late election to such |
an extent by the new labor reform party as to |
suggest the approaching disintegration and
dissolution of the old concern. And why not,
when all the old issues upon which the party
has been fighting SO iong and so disastrously
are all dead and gone, including State
sovereigntys The republicans, as things now
appear, are good for second term Of four years
under General Grant. His administration
holds aud will hold them together, while the
democracy, without recognized leader and
without platform on the practical, living
issues of the day, are all adrift. On the
money question, the labor question, the negro
question, the public land question, annexation
and our foreign relations, there is margin
enough for reconstruction Of the democratic
party, which will absorb all the floating ele-
ments Of the country, and it is the floating vote
which settles our political elections.
THE CoLoIED TROOPS FoueHT NoDLY.-
Of course they did. But they can't vote in
Connecticut on the 4th Of April.
JAoKKNlFE NONSENSE. Both the organs Of
the jackknife democracy denouncc the new