Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-05-18
THE AFRICAN BALLOT.

nv NhlAhi VI AhN " A0hAHSN'h ~
public, in cracking some nuts on the
suffrage question,gi this as his view
Of the case;
"There are many curious nuts to
crack presented by history to the
statesman who believes in the four.
teenth amendment | um not going
into any argument about the question
in such small compass; but every
one knows that Imperialism in Rome
would have been impossible but for
the enfranchisement of the plobs, or
common people, and the subsequent
grant of citizenship to freed slaves A
vast purchasablc throng was thus let
loose with dangerous weapons in their
hands and the Caesars came along and
used them. By degrees the sons OF
the freedman became sole possessors
of the city, and meanwhile Rome was
leaving the bones of her free.born citi.
zens on every foreign shore and get.
ting millions of slaves in return for
them. We are told by Mitchelet that
in the time of the Gracchi these freed.
men almost filled the forum, monopo.
lized every public highway and under
the name OF the Roman people gave
laws TO the world. On ono occasion
this rabblo interrupted Scipio Emilia.
nus in the course of speech, when
the old soldier thunderod out "Silence,
ye stepchildren of Italy Think ye
that will respect these whom ! led
in chains to the city because they are
released from their bondagc2" The
most appalling silence followed this
remark. The crowd knew its force
and justice, They feared that the
conqueror of Carthage and Numantia
might come down from the tribune
and display the scourge.marks on his
African and Spanish slaves, If that
eloquent Eternal City speaks anything
from her ashes she tells the world to
be careful about an indiscriminate
grant of the franchise. We may as
well be candid enough to admit that it
opened an avenue for rascality right
after the war in the South, and that
many INSCRIPTIONS adventures from
the North made use of the illiterate
freedman to advance their own selfish
schemes Of plunder.
"Now, just as the opening of these
ballot-gates was fatal to the public
spirit and to the liberties of Rome, so it
was to the Italian republics, and he is
but a poor student Of history whose
eyes are blinded by the wealth and
prosperity that for time went hand.
in-hand with the change. Rome was
the treasury of the world and its mis-
tress in power and the arts when Au.
gustus was spreading couchos of lux.
ury for the populace on which they
might slumber away the memories of
their vanished freedom. The greatest
commercial glory OF Florence was the
period when Lorenzo was riveting
more firmly the shacllles with which
Cormo had bound the Florentines
Venice was in her maratime spleudor
when Francesca Foscari had wiped
out the last vestige of Venetian free
dom by dispensing the popular parlia-
ment. Modern Italy as an unit was
never more distinguished for her com.
merce, scholarship and arts than when
the body of the patriot Porcari was
hanging from the battlements of st.
Angelo in the middle of the fifteenth
century and the last spark of Roman
liberty was extinguished in his blood.
Spanish power was at its zenith in the
same century when Ferdinand had ro.
duced Spanish independence to as ab.
solute a myth as freedom always has
been under the Russian Cars. Let
us not deceive ourselves. National
wealth and prosperity do not imply
the unmixed glory and success off free
ballot or the perfect realization of pop.
ular freedom"