The national leader., 1889-01-19

perfect as that of debtor and creditor,
and the obligation arising therefrom
binding upon every government that
claims the right to govern. For a
government to grant the right of Suf-
frage and deny itself the power to pro-
tect that right is to confess itself sham
and fraud, and so would the political
doctrinaires make the fedora. govern
ment in its relation to the colored voters
of the south.
sat the north we sometimes hear
that the negro should assert himself,
and fight his way to the ballot box.
How inexpressibly mean is this sug-
gestion in view Of the utter helpless
ness of the negro citizen as against a
power that held the armies Of this ma
tion in bloody and deadly conflict for
four long years, and how subversive of
all government if this doctrine were
sarried out. 1t is cowardly for one
great government to remand It's citizens
to violence and anarchy in order to ex-
ercise right guaranteed by the consti-
tuition Of the United States. and this l
believe will be the view taken of it by
Mr.. Harrison when he shall come into
power"
"Was the southern question promi-
nent factor in the last campaign?"
81 know it is said that the suppress
sion of the colored vote in the southern
states was not made prominent factor
In the election by which Mr.. Harrison
was made President, but this if it were
so, which deny, will furnish no reason
against an unfinching and inflexible
determination upon his part to do all he
can to put an end to the reproach and
scandal which is now resting upon us.
1t is not true, however, that the evil
complained of was not an important
factor in producing the result of the
late election. A fair vote and an honest
count were primary and fundamental
principles in the platform adopted by
the great national convention of the
Republican party at Chicago, and upon
that platform Hon. Benjamin Harrison
has taken his stand. In the mind of
that convention it's words were things.
They meant all they said, and were as
real as bullets or bayonets. In the hope
of translating these words into life and
practice of the nation many voters sup
ported the candidates of the Republican
party in the late election, who, but for
this, would have voted with the Demo
cratic or with the Prohib ition parties.
know this was so in the state of In
diana. The American people are
always in advance of their government,
and 1 believe they will support Gen.
Harrison in whatever measures or
ha 1N,.iy1c ord
to enforce constitutional requirement
and to secure an establishment and
maintenance of genuine republican
government in the SOUTH"
what do you think in relation to
the cry of negro dOminatiOn?"
81 am not troubled by the cowardly
outcry that comes to us that suffrage to
the negro means domination oyer the
whites. It means no such thing. Nor
should suffrage to the whites mean
domination over the negro. 1t was not
the negro, but the white people of the
south whose want of patriotism led
them to rebel against the best govern
ment upon earth, and the country to
day has vastly more to fear from this
same class, which is now hanging only
upon the verge of government and talk
ing of its section as country separate
from the north, than it has to fear
from the loyal negroes of the south.
But it is not the negro merely whose
rule these southern aristOcratS profess
to fear, but it is the ignorant negroes.
They put the emphasis on ignorance.
To me this is the veriest affectation.
When did we ever hear in any of these
southern states of an alarm of this kind
because of danger from the ignorant
white voters of the south. There is
nothing in it. But the thief thinks
each bush an officer and there is always
a lion in the way of him who has no
heart to do this duty. If it is the
negroes ignorance that is feared the
remedy is education. If it is said that
you cannot educate them, that they are
hopelessly ignorant, then there need be
no fear of their domination. Where
MacGregor sits there is the head of the
table, Intelligence needs no arbitrary
or extraneous appliance to give it vic
tory over ignorance. 1t is manifest
that the white citizens of the south, by
their wealth, intelligence. and by the
dependence of the colored people upon
them, have the means in their own
hands of attaching to themselves the
colored voters of the south and of Secur-
ing their support to such wise measures
as are necessary to the welfare of the
whole country.
From my point of view 1 see no
reason to doubt that, under our Repub-
lican rule, we shall yet see the colored
man voting and acting as freely in Mis-
sissippi as he now does in Massachu-
setts. We have given the dignity of
the nation in support of equal political
rights; the trend OF our civilization is
in that direction; the growth of popular
sentiment, the spread of education, the
improvements in the means of locomo-
tion, the diffusion of intelligence, the
tendency of solidity of the nation as
against distraction and isolation, make
the triumph of political equality and
equality before the law inevitable.
The election of Gen. Benjamin Harri-
son is an advertisement to the American
people that we are to have one country,
one law, one liberty. and a common
destiny for all the citizens of the United
StateS,''