Year: 1867

to save itself upon some othej
issue, to consolidate it's power


upon some other basis. Then tht


question of seIfgovernmont Of tht


enfranchised race will be put t


the test. Then it will be seer


whether the elective franchise


when extended to the descendant:


of the African race, ignorant anc


uneducated as they are, will con


tribute to the preservation Of tht


liberties Of the American people


TO the stability oftheir institutions


and to the progress Of civilization


Then the ideas Of the age, the pro


gressive age in which we live, anc


Which have so long striven fol


mastery and conquest, will be


submitted to the second sober
thought" subjected to the crucibI(


Of truth, and stand or fall in tie


trial. Then: and not till then: may
We hope that q reaction will take
place, that the past will be review


ed, and its errors corrected that
these humanitarian theories vii


be dissipated by the more en!ight


encd reason Of the times, like the
mists and vapors Of the morning
by the rising sun.


Universal suffrage being in my
judgment a fixed fact, I shall not
offer an argument as to its eXpedl
cncy-whether it will promote the
general good. or whether it is in
tended or will lead; as President
Johnson says, to ''Africanizing the
southern part Of our torritory.'
vii! merely say that l DO not be-
l;eve that it will lead to this result
-thatI l believe the eyiIwill correct
itself in the future-that property
and Intelligence will finally assert
their supremacy and control ovtl
this power in the State. l also re,
fer to It again as additional proof Of
the progressive spirit which char.
acterizes the party who now insist
upon it. President Lincoln was
certainly: during his time, the ex,
ponent Of the anin'us and opinions
Of this great party. In his last
public speech, made at the White
House, when the news had reached
Washington Of General Lees sur
render, he stated that it had beer
objected to his policy that in tho
Louisiana Government, which
had been established in pursuance
Of it, negro suffrage had not been
allowed. And in answer to this
objection he said, Il would myself
prefer that it (the elective fran.
chise) were now conferred on the
rery intelligent, and on those who
serred our cause as soldiers" This
was as far as he was willing to 60
a stride has his party
since taken on this subject!


The PROVISION in the Military
Bill which disfranchises, in the
elections to be held in pursuance
of il, the classes Of persons who
are disqualified from holding office
by the terms Of the Constitutional
Amendment, is considered, ard
Justly too, as very Objectionable on
the ground Of the injustice Of the
discrimination which it makes.
The object Of this provision was to
punish the leaders, as they are
called. of the rebellion, and it pro-
ceede1 upon the assumption, that
those who had been in public life,
who had held offices which required
that they should take the oath to
support the Constitution Of the
United States, were the leaders.
Ordinarily this proposition may
hold good. But when I say, that
such was not the fact in this case,
the remark is made particularly in
relation to the secession Of South
Carolina. Here, there were no
lpadprs in the movement, or it
there were, they had nearly all
passed from the stage Of action.
The principles which led to this
result had been deeply implanted
in the minds and hearts Of the
people by the great men Of the
State, who came into public life
during the first quarter Of the pres
ent century-the contemporaries Of
Webster and Clay, and their anti
podes in politics. These men, of
whom Mr.. Calhoun was the ableSt
thinker, educated our people in the
political faith that in Our compound
system of government, the States
were the sovereigns and were
united by a compact Of union, the
Federal Constitution, which when
violated by Congress, each State,
Judging for itself, had the right
to annul, and withdraw from the
Union. These men also taught
our people that Northern majori-
ties had for a long series Of years
legislated for the peculiar interests
Of that section, to the neglect and
injury oftheirs, and were aiming
to abolish slavery in the States,
and would do so whenever they
had obtained control Of the gov
ernment. Under the influence Of
these teachings, when Lincoln was
elected President, they believed


. Il