Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-07-21
Governor Hampton and the Negro.

Nnen ne aNerre0 that the WnlU6 men
Of the South were bound by every
moral and legal obligation to pro-
Iect the negro in all his rights.
He did not conceal, however, his
belief that the intelligent property
class are best fitted togOVern,
and that without their supremacyn
honest administration of govern |
mental functions, shedding its ben
efits alike upon poor and rich, could |
be expected. To secure such gov
cooperation is necessary, |
but until the black man shall be in |
telligent enough to share in its adj
by official position, and |
is, in fact, able to protect himself, he |
must look to the whites for protec-
ton. He has the right to elect a
field hand to the Legislature or the |
Bench, or carpet-bagger to handle
the public funds. This will not be
denied; but if his suffrage is thus
perverted it is at his own peril. AT
present not one negro in thousand
1--WE speak of those who compose the
bulk of the population of the cotton
and sugar States) has any of the JEFF
fersOnian qualifications for office
holding. Let them wait, therefore,
until they are qualified for official
position otherwise than by mere
manhood, and in the meantime
choose their legislators and judges,
taX-gatherers and school boards from
among the whites, taking care to
elect only those by whom their con-
fidence is not likely to be betrayed.
This guardianship may be distaste-
full, but experience shows that it is
wise. The negro has never done so
well as when he appealed to the
honor of his old master, when he
shows fight he goes to the wall, and
and when he looks to strangers for
protection he leans upon broken
reed. 1t is Hampton's policy to ac-
cept this guardianshipin good faith,
to fight for the negroes rights as for
his own, and to bend every effort to
fit the newly enfranchised race for
the discharge of the high duties to
which they may in time be called.
This does not, however, mean the
absolute exclusion of the negro from
office on the contrary, by way of
encouragement, point is to be
strained in his favor. An example
of this was seen in Charleston last
week, where, in nominating candi-
dates for the Legislature, the Con-
serVatives put three cOlOred men on
their ticket. Men of paSSable at
tainments being found, they were
pressed into service, and the wisdom
of such action was seen at the cleo
ton yesterday, which resulted in the
success of this composite ticket in
the face of large republican major
ity in the city.
of course the cry will be raised
that the rights of the negroes are i'm
periled because offices are not
allotted to them according to
their census strength but this is
absurd. In no Northern commune
ty are three fifths of the offices given
to the Irish because the voters of
Irish descent form that proportion
of the population, nor are the Ger
mans dealt with by either political
party in accordance with any such
theory of Office-holding. Neither
color nor nativity, nor descent, nor
religion in itself qualities a man to
receive an office either by appoint
eral characteristics of a citizen color
is perhaps the least entitled to con-
sideratiOn. Honesty and capacity
! are avOwedly, if not in reality, the
qualifications other than citizenship
for office, and good government re-
quires that when man fails TO bear
these passports he shall take back
seat. In this matter we cannot
make one law for the North and an
other for the South. That expert
ment has been tried and failed. The
| bottom may be placed on top; if
rotten it cannot be kept there. The
/ intelligent cOlOTed men in Louisiana
and South Carolina showed theira APP
probation of the situation when
! they deserted the carpet-baggerS and
supported Nichols and Hampton
in the last campaign, and the result
has justified their course. They
have placed their political fortunes
! in the hands of the best of the old
| slaVe-hOlding class. We cannot be-
lieve that their confidence has been
| misplaced. Hence we observe with
pleasure action like that Of the
| Charleston Conservatives and SINH
lar action in Luisiana in fulfilment
| of campaign pledges, and entreat
! honorable Southern men to walk in
the same path to the very end. Only
! by confidence mutually bestowed
and mutually respected can good
! government be assured to the South
and the ties between the races be
welded into lasting friendship.-E.c.