New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-07
SOUTHERN SOCIETY.

The true nWardness of the late Southern
policy of the Republican party was bellet
that the good of the country required the
elevation Of the colOred voter to the control
of the reconstructed States. Disguised perhaps
under cover of demand for race equality, for
free elections, for the protection of the wards
of the nation, and the ratification of the result
of the war, there was sincere conviction I'D
the mind Of the average Northern Republican
that il was essential to the prosperity OF his
marty and the peace OF the South to make the
freedman uppermost in politics.; rebels could
not be trusted; the negro would be remanded
to slavery unless he controlled the legislatures
the courts, and the executive Offices. 80 for
eight years the carpet-bag Governors and the
Administration party in Congress tried TO make
the pyramid stand on its apex
The result is before the world In one way
or another by fair means or foul, the
control of several of the States has been
secured to the colorcd race. They have Occu-
pied the bench and the jury-box made the
laws, collected the revenue. voted the appro-
priations, handled the money-dOne everything
except pay the taxes. They have had ample
opportunity to develop their own latent capacl-
ties to get an education, to make fortunes, to
acquire land, to rise in society. What have
they done of all these things9 Our CORE
spondent in Charleston drew picture OF the
condition of the colOred people of South Caro-
lima, and it is about the same in every State
where the negro has held sway. As race they
are idle ignorant, and vicious. They neither
learn nor save. They were fond of their
books in the first novelty of freedom, but
they care for them no longer. They were
eager to get their little farms, but they have
let them fall to ruin. Why should man 90
to school, asks the usual type of South Caro-
lima freedman, when it is 50 much nicer to go
to the Legislature or get elected justice of the
peace7 Why should man work when he can
make living by stealing chickens, and sit on
the fence for amusement Let us face the
truth Our Southern policy has not only been
curse to the whites, but it has been curse
to the freed people for whose benefit 1t was
adopted. 1t has not made them good citizens.
1t has not taught them how to Use the ballot
1t has introduced among them a demOraliza-
ton more dangerous to the country than the
violence of the White League, for no rcpub-
lcan government can stand which is not
founded upon the suffragcs of the vrtuous
and intelligent.
Everybody knows that the negro, left to
himself, would not get the mastery until he
had acquired some of the qualifications for it..
Even where he had a numerical majority of
the population and was perfectly free to vote
as he pleased, he would naturally take sub
ordinate position so long as he had neither
money, nor education, nor habits of thrift and
foresight, nor comprehension of the art Of
government. And it is proper that he should.
Universal suffrage would be an absurdity ex-
cept upon the theory that it generally results
| in the advancement of the intelligent and re-
spectacle. A majority Of the voters, whether
vrtuous or not, are supposed to understand
that self-nterest requires them to intrust the
Government only to those who are able
to control it. But the Grant policy
was based upon different principle.
1t assumed that the great secret of
reconstruction was to take the negro out of
the cotton field and put him in the State
House, send HIM a company of soldiers to
hold him fast in his seat, and trust to luck
for the rest. The natural results have followed.
| The negro has learned nothing good In his
elevation, and is no better able to carry on a
State government to-day than he was six
| years ago.
The only way to reform Southern society is
70 stand aside and leave the voters free and
| unembarrassed. Then if these communities
are not utterly corrupt, all things Will soon
find their natural level, and the rule OF the
| r,oioritv will act as il acts elsewhere.