The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-06-03
From the Providence IL. L. Herald.
e The Negro Supreme.

mittee upon the petition of some four or!
five thousand of the white citizens of Rhode
Island asking that they may be put upon a.
political equality with the. negroes Of this,
and every other State Of the Union has been
already laid before our readers, That report
declares, in effect, that foreign-born citizens
have no rights that the Radical party is
bound to respect, and that they are, and
must remain, inferior to negroes, however
dense the ignorance of the latter may be-.
The committee claim that the fourteenth
amendment cannot be construed as giving;
the foreigner who becomes citizen the right
to vote, for if it did, according to the astute
and profound argument of the report, luna.
tics, children, criminals, and women, could
alao claim the right to vote under the same
provision. This is the weakest and silliest
quibbling Of which the records Of a grave
legislative body furnish instance, we. GER
tainly believe. 30: 90 $50.
e.. What was the purpose of the fourteenth
amendment? To prevent any State from
making or executing laws t"abridging the
privileges or immunities of citizens Of the
United States."' Nobody, so far as we
know, ever proposed to abridge the priYi-
leses or immunities of lunatics and crimi-
nails, but certain States did desire to deny
to their negro inhabitants various privi-
them-the right of voting and holding Office,
among Others. 1t waSto protect the south
ern negroes in. the enjoyment of these inn
munities that the fourteenth amendment
was concocted, US everybody knows, and
for the Radicals to dwarf or expand the
meaning Of the word citizen to suit their
interests i'll Rhode Island is eminently
mean and prominently characteristic. The
fifteenth amendment is also shorn of all sig.
niticancc, except so far as elcvating the
negro is concerned, and. the remarkable
assertion is made that "nO man or party
has ever questioned the right of the people
Of Rhode. Island and of every other State
to establish such aco1lstitutlon or govern.
ment as may be agreeable to their views Of
public welfare in that State, although its
provisions us to suffrage may not conform
to the opinions of citizens of other States"
1t almost surpasses comprehension that q
committee of the United States Senate, i'll
the face of what has trarspircd within few
years past, could seriously make declara-
tion like that. Do these men suppose that
the people have forgotten that every one of
the Reconstructed States aCaS prevented and
prohibited from establishing such consttu-
ton oIgovernmcnt as was most agreeable TO
the people of such State, and for the very
reason that their opinions did not conform
to the views of the people of Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Illinois, and other Radical
States? And do they suppose that the peo-
pie of New York, Connecticut, Ohio, and
other States that had positively declined to
eniraehise the negro because such entran-
chisement was not "agrceable to. their
views of the social welfare Of their State, y
have forgotten that they have been forced
to allow the negro to vote, and to econ.
form to the views of the citizens of other
StateS?" 4s"t -s-...
In the face Of these facts, known to all
men, the affirmation Of the committee is !,
palpable untruth, and can deceive no one.
The truth is, that the Radical party has
made the negroes voters because that party
believed it could use them for its own pur-
poses. 1t hampers the foreigners in every
way 1t can, and denies them the ballot
whenever q pretence for doing it can be
found, for precisely contrary reason.
/ Let the lrishmen, Germans, Frenchmen,
and all other foreigners throughout the
country, understand, therefore, that, their
countrymen here in Rhode Island are kept
under ban by Radical demagogues, who
abuse them because they cannot use them,
and deny them those privileges and immu-
mites that are enjoyed by negroes every.
where. We call upon the Democratic and
Conservative press everywhere to spread
these truths throughout the land. n