The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-01-07
The Wrong OF Negro Suffrage Must
Be RcmcGied

The Wrong OF Negro Suffrage Must
Be Remecied
The most monHrous political and
social crime ever committed in the
history Of the world was the disiran
chising at the close of the American
Civil war Of the great body ofthc white
men Of the Southern States of the
Union, and the freeing and investing
with paramount political rights Of two
million negro slave men in these states,
and placing them over the whites
This shameful crime was perpetrated
on white men. by white men.
When any enslaVed and oppressed
people are able by their own courage
enterprise. force Of character and in
tsllsct, to rise against their masters
and free themselves, and show by Their
achievements and conduct that they
are worthy Of citizenship and lit for
self,government3 they will always do
serve sympathy and assistance bnt
in the matter Of TIE enfrnnchisng OF
tho American slaves it was not done
because Of any worthincss on the part
of a people stepped from the very
dawn Of history to the present time,
in their own country, in ignorance, sn
perstition, moral degradation and hope
less savagery, and inbrntcd in this
country by more than two centuries OF
slavery, They were not converted into
freedom and citizens with the intention
OF benefting them, but with the dia'
bolical object of humilating and
t1mpling under foot the white people
u these Southern States, whose power
had been overthrow In n colossal
var.
This unparalleled and nnutterable
ontnge upon civilization has recoiled
upon the people who perpetratsd II,
and those of them who recognize the
wrong they committed, and the blow
they struck at the political, moral and
social welfare Of their country, do not
hesitate to acknowledge the fact A
very striking expression of this effect
Ia made in the Globe Quarterly Re.
view for December. 1897, by its editor
William II Thorne, Mr.. Thome, IN
An article entitled, Must the Negro
Cor argues that the negroes are q
dcr,,...sr.T7'-''''r tsagd degrading inenlAe
anu nrT5tT tho white people OF the
American republic, and declares that it
il the concurrent opinion Of prominent
white and negro philanthopists that the
negroes must go, either out of the
country or into a virtual state Of bond
age, lest worse hhfalI
Nj Thorne, who was nm original
aloitinnist aud negrophilist writes
thus on the subject to which attention
has been directed
During the spring Of the year 1898,
and after more than thirty years of sin
cere and old fashioned abolition sympa
thy with the negro race, made two
visits to several of our southern states
with results M follows:
First All my old abolition sympa
thies, which had been weakening fol
over ten years in view Of the insulfer
able self assertion Of our negroes since
the day Of their emancipation, vanish
ed like so many scattered sophistries
for which | had no further use.
Second On returning to New York
published in the next issue of tho Globe
Review my conviction that in spite o
emancipation and socalled education
Of the negro and perhaps aided by
these nl,rurditoe- the negro OK Thu
country were more than ever shiftles
untsachable immoral race incapable
Of any true civilization in our land, anC
unworthy of American citizenship.
Third That without mincing mat
tiers, or any longer writing or thinking
on the basis of sympathy with the ne
gro, | was convinced that inside thu
next thirty years the South would h'
obliged to ire enslave, kill or export thu
bnlk of its negro population,
Mr., Thornc has come to understand
that wherever in the West Indies, o
any other part of the world, the Negro
or half breed has come into freedom
and political control, commerce, enter
prise, morality, every true evolution o
civilization, has decreased in proper
ton, and that though the white rac
everywhere may be bad enough, shift
less, wasteful and immoral enough, /
has certain inherent qualities that vii
not allow lower a more immoral an
a more shiftloss race to dwell in it
midst on any equal political or soci0
footing This being fact demon
strated by the experience Of the worll
the negro race must be sent out of tn
country. or else definitely fixed in p'
sition of established subordination an
subsection,
The elective franchise in every ap
and in every country where its impor
ance and responsibility have been rev
ognized has always been conditioned G
the qualitie, of preparation, fitness M
worthiness for SO high trust becan'
It involves the official care of the bod
polite, the making of laws for Il
adjustment and regulation Of the RICH
Of the people and for the protection
se~'ct, and The lives and property
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