Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-01-17
SATURDAY. .. JANUARY II, 1891.
Republican NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

Returning TO the subject of our leader of
Thursday. we are reminded at once OF one
Of the most arrogant and inexcusable OF the
assumptions habitually acted upon by the
Republican party-namely, that the cen
sus reports, and not the ballot-box, are TO
determine the results of congressional and
presidential elections. When these re-
ports, made by ignorant and partisan emu
merstors, show so many male adult ne
groes, that fact is held to be final, sufi-
Gent, and indisputable evidence as to
time, place. and manner Of elections; OF re-
gistration OF voters; Of civil competency;
of absence OF disqualification; of payment
of required taxes: Of compliance with
every possible prescribed condition OF ex-
ercisine the elective franchise; of pres
ence at the votins- place, and of participa-
ton in the election. The history Of repre-
sentative governments can show no more
glaring usurpations and outrages than have
been perpetrated by the present House of
Representatives in contested-election
cases. and in the adoption of arbitrary
rules of procedure TO stife and render
powerless the Democratic minority.
BY the reconstruction acts the Republi-
can party sought TO put the South under
the control of the negroes. The law pre-
sumes that man intends tho natural con-
sequences of his acts, and as no one sus-
poets the Republican party Of stupidity or
excess Of scrupulousness, We argue that
when that party deliberately enfranchised
the negroes il must have intended the sub
jugation of the Caucasian and the domi-
nance of the Negro. This was reckless
experiment in free government, the new
citizens being ignorant, unframed, ind
totally unfit to vote. II was cold, ranco-
rous revenge. II was ferocious savagery.
DIR. MAYO. of Boston, ms quoted by Senator
GIBsoN, says that the loyal southern people
in shaping the reconstruction acts acted
under a solemn sense of responsibility to
God. humanity, patriotism, and republi-
can institutions" Could sectional Gre
dulity go beyond this2 Whatever might
argumontatively OF apologetically be said
rs 20 Tennessee, Texas, or Virginia, no
sophistry, nor evasion, nor explanation
can find anything noble or humane in the
adroitly-contrived scheme to terrorize
the Caucasians in South Carolina, Missis-
sippi, and Louisiana, and place them I'M
der the feet of their lately-emancipated
slaves.
Much is said about the need ofreconstruc-
ton in the South as a means of bringing
law and public opinion into harmony with
the new condition Of things So far as
there is any unwillingness to accept the
legitimate consequences of the war or TO
recognize rs binding valid amendments to
the Federal Constitution, we yield to none
in the desire to bind our people of all sec
tions into one consistent, harmonious
unity. But there is often greater need
Of reconstruction elsewhere than at the
South if the country is TO live under the
government and the institutions which
our fathers framed and intended to es-
tablish. No candid sane man can believe
that the trainers of the Constitution ever
expected the introduction of the present
elements into the body polite OF that the
Government could have been established
or even begun in 1889 with negro suffrage
and citizenship.
One word as 10 the negro in another re-
lation. Senator HoAR boasts that the Re-
publican party conferred the highest
earthly distinction of full American citi-
zenship on a nation of newly-emancipated
slaves" The boast would SAVIOR less of
emptiness and folly If the party had followed
their daring experiment by an honest at
tempt TO qualify these recent slaves for the
high prerogatives TO which they had been
suddenly dragged up. The Republican party
before tho election in its platform com
mitted itself in unambiguous language to
national aid for the cure of illiteracy, and
the Republican Senate passed three bills
looking to that end. II did 50 always and
only when there was no probability that
such a measure would receive the support
OF the House of Representatives. Now,
when II is known that the House favors
such proposition the Republican leaders
reject the measure, and the negroes may
possess their souls in patience until an
other presidential election approaches.
But enough. The last elections by their
results tell us IN plain terms that the Re
publican party has but one chance for
life. 1t is buried beyond the hope ofresur-
rectioh unless il can save itself by passing
some such measure as the force bill. To
prevent the country from being ruined by
this desperate party let the Democrats in
Congress give no sleep to their eyelids
until after the 4th Of March next.