Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1870-01-07
EvrBLLIGEvT sUFFH.sGB.


written and hear so much said upon the
subject of universal suffrage and so little
upon that Of intelligent suffrage. II SUR
prises me for this reason-because the
friends Of progress who write and speak
understandingly upon this very subject are
themselves living examples of the fact that
knowledge is power. The influence which
they are exerting upon society to-day is but
the result Of the intellectual cultivation they
have received; 1t is education that has Civ
on them their power to reason logically and
discriminate closely on all the great ques-
tions OF political and moral reform. Then
why ignore the fact, or attempt to pass it by
and jump at results, without first consider
ing their causes9 Why forget the fact that
so far as we are individually concerned
birth is merely accidental, and that had he
who forty years ago stood by the great old
Fireplace in New England school-house,
Webster's spelling-book in hand, laying
the foundations for his present power to
reason and talk of the rights of his country
| women; had he been born in the cabin Of
a poor southerner, he tpo, like thousands of
his fellow-men, would have been to-day
| powerless, except as a tool in the hands of
some willy demagogue. One of the first
principles of philosophy is, that everything
else being equal, like causes produce like
effects; and the history of the world comes
forward with every page full of facts show
ing this to be as true in political life as in
natural science. And not to pass out of the
present newspaper history, with which all
the reading public are acquainted, let us
take note of our own rebellion, and what
are the facts developed? On the one hand
there was system of almost universal ig-
norance among the masses and laws that
made ii high crime to attempt even to en-
| tighten the black portion of them. The
second element in this society was aristo-
cratic, and that element, although in the
minority was the ruling element, and this
grasping desire to extend their power over
more territory and more people, brought
on the war with all its dire calamities. So
now many jump to the conclusion that the
great panacea for all future political disease
is universal suffrage, and woman, because
of her high moral tone must come to the
rescue. Now it strikes me that the facts
slavery out of the question, we still find
that the southern gentleman not only does
not oppose the universal voting of his whole
white constituents, but scrupes at no de-
vice, however low, to turn that ballot to the
furtherance of his own particular inter-
csts; but when you proposed to educate
and enlighten THAT population by general
system of schooling for all, you became al
once a scourge and an incendiary firing his
castle; you were as a burglar breaking int
his safe, and why, because you were sap
ping the very foundations of his power ant
laying deeper and broader ones for Others
to build on and become his opponents ant
rivals, and when the spirit of general in
telligence and equal rights had so far shap
ed itself into political form as to presen
Abraham Lincoln to the people as candi
date for the Presidency of the United States
then it was that the hot-blooded aristocracl
bolted; then it was that we saw and fel
what "A terrible engine of destruction an ig
= noTaut voting populace can become wheI
led by few aspiring, unprincipled men
Then, taking the matter nearer home, w,
have simply to behold the ignorant vote o
New York city, and the picture, in a polit
ical point Of view, is complete. 1t is no
suffrage alone then that makes this nation
the home of the free, there is another ele
ment in the structure, and that element il
the free school principles that sprung from
the old puritan fathers of New England
Wherever those principles are most thor
oughly incorporated into the community
there life and property are safest. Thes
were the people-the intelligent, principlet
men of all parties that came to the nation
rescue in the hour of her peril. France
Spain, the South American republics an,
Mexico all testify to this one fact-that gen
eral ignorance in society is the one grea
source Of discord and stripe, it is only il
such communities that the conceited, jeal
Gus demagogues can take root in the heart
, of the people and flourish. With so man.
facts from history, and all backed by on
own life experience, l must confess that
am at loss to understand how it is tha
there are so many intelligent men pleadn
to have the flood gates of ignorance opene
wider still upon the ballot-boX, instead {
pleading first for the extension of the schoC
house and the spelling-boo l use til
term flood gates of ignorance because W
all know that the intelligent mothers an
sisters of New England and the West cor
; stitute but a small minority of the fou
D million voters that would come to the ba
I lot-box, were universal suffrage withol
regard to sex, the law of the land. Thel
@ arc as many ignorant "biddes" as Mike
o add to this the other emigrant element, wit
I =. Al
south, and how vast becomes the uncult
G waited field of political power. If the aboN
@ facts indicate anything, it is that the ballo
box, to make a nation truly great, wan
@ not numbers alone, but combined, un
versal intelligence. Then let us endeav
d to shape the present foundations Of our II
II tions future by the light of actual expel
7, ence. Let us, instead of trying to absoi
is numbers, first vitalize them with the tru
life-giving element that makes matte
N strong. Plant the free school and harvest
nation of noble freemen; let the ballot b
come type of knowledge on the part of
D. holder; let foreigners first learn to read al
N writo our language, and be able to read 4
:. fundamental law of our land as set forth
n the constitutions of the States and the Un
ne cd States; let that or some other high
in standard be the intellectual goal to whit
f. all, both native and foreigner, must arri
ps before taking the ballot into their hant
k. and we should then be fairly on the road
GO true and permanent freedom and greatne'
Or then this question Of women's sufira
IL would settle itself, like every other que
O. ton of moral reform and social advan'
IN but as we are to-day the facts seem to inc
er cate that We are in no condition to take su
al a step with any degree of safety to our !
20 tional prosperity.
an Yours, &C., O.
of ------