Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-18
JAMAICA'S EXAMPLE.
A Leading English Journal ON the
Friction of Races I'm America.

OatNAOal AONACWs
The final issue of the struggle has never
been doubtful. II is impossible to main
tain, except by external force, the suprena-
cy or even the equality of an inferior race,
which is also in the whole of the Southern
States a minority of the population. Dis
passionate critics, who were condemned Dy
p~hilanthropists as heartless partisans OF OPP
preston, from the first warned Republican
Legislators in vain that the ambition when
they strove to implant in the negro was
dangerous if not suicidal. 1t was certain
that the Northern community would ultl-
mately ~sympathize with tits own country
men rather hal with the objects Of tempo
rary patronage and benevolence. The
Southern whites will have no difficulty IN
re-establishing their predominance when
they and their political allies form the ma
jority in the Union. Some political symp-
toms seem to indicate the approaching de-
cline of the party which has now directed
the policy Of the United States for thirteen
years. The return ofthe Democratic party
to power would not be an unmiXed adyan-
tage; but a coalition of Democrats and
Liberal Republicans might perhaps not be
found so useless in 1876 as it proved
through the absurd selection of MIR. Greeley
in 1872. A Republican convention which
has nominated Mr.. Hartranft as Presiden-
tial candidate also denounced the project OF
a Canadian reciprocity treaty and the prin-
ciple of free trade. The large section Of
the Republican party which is interested in
the removal OF protective duties can scarcely
cooperate at the next election with the
Protectionist manufactures of Pennsyl-
vania and New England. New political
combinations will facilitate a change Of
policy toward the Southern States; but,
even if the Republican party should retain
its unity and its predominance, there is no
danger that a second Hayti will be eStab-
lished within the territory of the Union.
If the Americans are rash in mourning
political risks, they have also a remarkable
aptitude for redreSsing the evils which they
have carelessly produced. They have APP
parently not been cured of their superSti-
tious belief in universal suffrage, either by
the condition of the city of. New York un-
der the rule of Fisk and Tweed, or by the
spreading anarchy of the South, with its
Kelloggs, and BrOokes and Moseses, but it
was found possible to send Tweed to the
penitentiary, and in all probability the nu-
isance of negro domination will ultimasely
be abated. 4 large proportion of the diff
culties with which il will be necessary to
grapple wa inherent in the relation of the
two races after the inevitable abolition of
slavery. By.a long succession of costly ex-
experiments the true medium between cha
otic equality and oppression may, perhaps,
be ultimately discovered. Enthusiasts who
disregard all distinctions of color are not
aware that they supply a p6sthumous justi-
fication of the slave trade. Negroes who
are supposed to be equal to the best citi-
zens of European descent ought to rejoice
in tine v~icarious sufferings by which their
ancestors purchased the extraordinary ele
walton of their race. More temperate Oh
servers acknowledge that the cOlored poll
ticianS of the Southern States have made a
great advance on the condition of their in
digenous kindred. Jobbing, and repudi-
ating, and riOting are more civilized Occu-
patiOns than slave hunting for the Fan
Zibar market or participation in Asian
tee customs. Even the right of voting
might be comparatively innOcuous if the
negroes elected rulers only for themselves,
aud not for their betters. Universal suf-
fra0e, which is a rude and cumbrous in
strument, even when il is unavoidable, be
comes absurd and intolerable when the
constituency is not practically homOgene-
GUS. The example of Jamaica illustrates
the inconvenience of representative insti-
t~utions, when the franchise is either con-
fined TO a white minority or extended to a
colOred majority. 1t remains to be seen
whether order and civilization in the South
ern States can be reconciled with the re-
tention of any share of electoral power by
the cOlOred population. The politician
who may provide for the security of the ne
grOes against oppression, without allowing
them a mischievOuS and unnatural pre-
dominance, will deserve a high place among
American statesmen and legislators.