Year: 1865

men might know and none forget, that
the influence of slavery sinks human
character into lower abyss of depravity
than it ever reached before?


And then shall we be rational, shall
we not utterly fail in our duty to Him
who has permitted this fearful revelation
shall we be safe, if we do not use the
most persistent efforts and all the means
in our power to exterminate and annihi
late the influences Of slavery upon the
character of our country Not the men
who have yielded to this influence, them
we cannot exterminate, and no one de-
sires to. It is characteristic of our
age, that while principles are of more
consequence than ever before, men are
of less. And what we should extermin-
ate, without one thought of mercy, are
the principles Of slavery and the infu-
ence of slavery.


And how is it possible for us to say
that all white men shall vote because they
are white, and that no black man shall
vote because he is black, without at once
adopting princi pie Of slavery, and yield
ing at once to its influence, and doing
our best to recognize as right, and con-
form and perpetuate this influence ?
There is no objection whatever to re-
stricting suffrage to him who pays poll
tax, or who can read or write, or afixing
it to any limitation intended to project
this important franchise. if bearing equal
" On the whites and the blacks. But
what is there besides influence Of slave
ry which could ever suggest to US, that
he who is white, be he what els he may,
shall vote, and be who is black, be be
what else he may, shall not vote? What
else than slavery, reaching in its inhu-
ence beyond the boundaries Of its legal
existence, ever suggested this distinc-
tion to those Of the free States in which
it is found Is there anything we could
do to-day which would be more eficacious
to make the influence Of slavery opera
tive and triumphant than precisely this
distinction


We certainly hope that every State
which was in rebellion may become a
loyal State. A State means the men
who are in it, and State is not loyal
State unless it has within its boundaries
loyal men enough to make loyalty the
prevailing character OF the State We
can find these, however, in only one or
more Of three classes; for they who do
not belong to one or other Of them are
too few to be OF much Importance.


These three classes are, first, white
men who have been owners of slaves and
still hold the wealth Of the country sec
ond, white men who owned 10 slaves
because they were too poor to buy one,
and who are commonly described as the
"white trash" Of the South third, black
men who have been slaves. Now, in
which Of these three classes s--remember-
ing what is never to be forgotten, the
fatal influence Of slavery on human char
acter, an influence bad enough fer the
slave but infinitely worse for the white
may we find the men to whom we should
be most willing. or least unwilling, to
intrust the right Of suffrage? What
slavery has made the slaye-owner needs
not now one single remark, for proofs
far more significant than auy word, are
before the world And what has it made
the poor whites? TO say no more, it
has made them despsers Of labor it has
engrained into their very natures the
: feeling chat usefulness is at once a mis-
fortune and degradation and that it
is right for them who do not work to
feel unlimited contempt for all on whom
rests the necessity or the habit Of labor.
It was this contempt which, as near as
can find out, was meant in the South by
"chiValry."


The very first and most essential re-
quisite for them who are to be the citi-
zens Of loyal State, is loyalty. The
most decisive evidence of unfitness is
disloyality. Tried by this test, to which


of the three classes above mentioned
should we give the franchise? ? from which
should we Withhold it?


The negroes of the South are wholly
untaught; /; the bulk of them are proba-
bly, wanting in all, or very nearly all, Of
what we regard as the beneficial fruits
, Of education or culture. Hence their
unftness to become voters. Some per
| sons may think them so far distinct


and inferior race Of persons that they
should be kept permanently in a lower
position, and can never become what cit.
, izens Of republic should be- do not
think So Their present unftness adj
, nit. But [ believe it has been caused
by slavery. And | believe that the slave
, ry which has made them unfit has made
the slave owners and the poor whites at
least as unfit. And yet if South Carroll
ma is to be recognized as a republican


State, there must be somewhere on it
, territory citizens with the power to vote
And it is perfectly plain that all VIZ
: can do is to give this right to those O
t the inhabitants of the State who are leas
Q unfit, and withhold it, if at all, only from
: those who are disqualified by distinctly
{ greater unftness,