The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-08-29
QhpJatpIl1qtnHr
wstYnrinia und The word "Whits',

West Virginia aHd the word fWhite''
fgf1a tas Chicago TrbaEsJ
The dispatches IRON West Virginia
s.m that tue ciaHss u tie prGpasel new
Constitution restricting Tue right " hold
Office % white pcfsDns Only, which was
IHm.iitl " n separate vote, Sss al.
most uhGnlmDusly voted down" pfobs.
Uy the new Constitution ineli Il also
voted d0En, but TIA, "a matter ot only
local Interest Il "a also matter Of only
zeal Interest who received tho largest
number Of votes Tor Governor, since both
candidates Tere Democrats, and since The
election iLseli 10 VOID II tic Constitution
rejected.
!, Is Of great importance, however, %
learn that 10 a former slayehOIling State,
where the R9pUbliCaDs had no ticket,
where the ContendIDg parties were two
Democratic iscliOns, and where large
element Ot tho population had been re.
1cutly admitted 10 the suffrage thaylng
been hitherto dislrAHchied by State law
lur participation In tho Rebellion. there
was hardly anybody lDund desiring to OK.
ruIg the blacks from the right Of holding
Office. This fact Is worth a thousand ar.
pgncnts, and viii ret NJ rest multitude.
ui hlschOOdB which are now Issuing from
the mouths oil stump orators and from the
columns Oi tho press, implying that the
whites Of the Sdulh are intent upon dc.
priying The negroes Of their political
rights, II Is a complete answer 10 the
luitimmalnry appeal Of Wendell Phillips
20 the negroes, 20 farm, organize, and
concentrate" aud OughttO bring blush
20 the check Of that reckless agilalOr. 1t
Affords striking contrast 70 the intOlerant
nnd violent splnt Of Of the BcgtOes them
selves, who are everywhere ysililg ter.
fUrisn and coercion upon those o. their
own color who dare 70 support Horace
Greeley.
But apart from any bearing which tnis
West Virginia vote may have upon the
Presidential campaign, nothing can BE-
more gratifying 10 the lover OF free insti-
tutiOns than the fact that the spirit OF
class.rulG, and the prejudCGl based upon
color and scrvilude, have so Tar disappear
cl that no party, even In the former slave.
holding States, cntertains or RyOws them,
even under thoprOteCtiOn Of secret ballot
II Is only few. years ago that the people
ul the tree State Of Illinois voted, by more
than one hundred thousand majority, Tor
geiies Of black laws which could not
now muster CopOrars guard OF Gdvo
Gates In any Southern State 1t Is only a
lew years ago that Senator Underwood, Of
~. Clair county now warm supporter Of
Grant and Wilson, proposed new fugi,
tive slave law ia the Illinois Legislature,
which was 50 abhOrrent TO the spirit Of
liberty that even the Democrats declined
TO DO responsible for it, and smOthered It
in Committee We hail all these changes
in public sentiment rs the unmis,akAbe
signs Of u better and higher national life;
md we hope they may soon penetrate
through the thick mist Of Ignorance which
envelopes the African race in the South
rrn States, enabling them to see that the
boon Of freedom and equality before the
law which has been conferred upon them
Is not sounding brass and tinklinI Gym
bal which Speaker Blaine represents it
10 be, dependent upon tho mutations Of
popular elections, but au incildceable
reality, which no political party and no
influential person dreams Of assailiug