Year: 1866

acts, and, and many more Of like character
thep would have us believe that they resIl,
did not mean it, and that negro suffrage i
MT in issue. Gentlemen they were II
earnest, and mean WHAT they do, If not wha
they now say. Have they changed theil
views? Or i. it party policy that now con
trols them? | understand that the Secre
tary Of war yielded has views on negro suf
frage to the superior arguments of the Presi
dent against it, but have yet to learn that
! Thadeus Stevens, or any other Congress.
men has done 80. We have their speeches
votes, and acts, and they acknowledged nc
chage in their views. But in order to de.
ceive the people, and carry the elections.
they have concluded, as Wendell Phillips
says, to keep negro suffrage IN the back
ground, and carry it into effect after they
get new lease Of power. / understand the
| people to have some rights in this country,
and to be the source of all political power.
And before this political power shall be
infused and dcbased with negro suffrage,
they have a right to be consulted by their
servants. Let the issue be fairly made.
and ifthe people want it let them have it
but it ought not to be insidiously thrust
upon them, without their consent clearly
given, or indeed against their consent as in
the case of the District Of Columbia. We
believe that the people at present exercising
the political right of suffrage in this coun-
try, and should continue to occupy this
superior position.


Such was the opinion of President Lin
coin. He said that the Almighty had
made the negro different from the white
man, the one inferior and the other superior;
and as this difference did in fact exist, he
was in favor of the white man holding the
superior position, and was opposed to negro
suffrage.


We must continue to hold this superior
position, unless we wish destroy the proud
position we occupy before the nations of the
world, and degenerate into mongrel races,
like those of South America and Mexi-
co.


Now, the very men who have heretofore
complained that the elective franchise was
debased by the ignorance of many white,
so much as they claimed as to enlanger the
liberties of the Country, are willing now,
for mere party purposes, to stultify them
selves by further debasing it by the admis-
sion of several hundred thousand southern
negroes, the most of whom now know no
more about government than the Hottentot
in the wilds of Africa. When convinced
tn t we need the services to make laws for
us, or to help us govern the Country, | for
one will be willing to accept their services,
but not before.


Those who are best acquainted with them.
the soldiers who know them aud seen them
in the South, are almost unanimously op-
posed to their being made voters.


But some say that VIC are cruel and hard
Al. - n II;
best for him as well as for us. And he
seems to know it and does not complain =
At the cost of Billions of Treasury and thou
sands of lives of the white men of this coun-
| try, the negro has obtained freedom, the
greatest boon in the world, if properly used
and enjoyed. AS one of the results. of the
war slavery was abolishea; eSd by the con-
sent of the States themselves is never more
him now go TO wnrk and enjoy the fruits of
rights and contracts, and like the poor white
man, if he have capacity, work his way to
elevation and distinction He should be
satisfied for time at least, and if he have
capacity. time win develop it, through his
own efforts and energies.


The home burdens upon the white race





we cannot agree to shoulder the burden of
other States. Shall we be forever taxed to
support and educate not only our own poor
but also to support and maintain in 'dleness
the negroes in Georgia and Alabama?


| think we begin to find oIt that We have
enough to do at bone. Let each county,
and each State, attend to its own unfortu-
nate classes, and the education of its own
L - hnu b
do.


What say you citizens? know that you
will submit to no such tyranny-to no such
degradation; and these Constitution tinker
ing bureau makers had better know the fact,
and govern themselves by it.


There is another matter wish to call you
attention to briefly, and that is the attempt
of this Radical Congress to deprive the peo-
pie of their just right of local selfgovern-
nlent, and transfer the same into the hands
of Congress Now Congress may be wise
enough to attend to our home interests bet
ter than we can ourselves, but judging by
the past, I think they will have enough to
do if they properly attend to their own
egitimate duties. From the very founda-
ton of our government, till of late, the
received doctrine of all parties has been,
that the General government has such pow
ers and no others, as were delegated to it,
by the Constitution. That all powers, not
this delegated, were reserved to the States
and the people. And it certainly was very
proper that it should be so. These dele
gated powers were given for the external
and National interests of the people. AS
to them local interests, they supposed they
understood those better then strangers at
distance, even though theyheld high office
in the land, and that they had right to
attend to these matters in their own way.
Then it would be we'll done for the nearer
you bring a matter home to any people, the
greater will be then interest in it. The very
heart and soul of our institutions consist in
this right of local self government, OBJ
serving this distinction the general govern
ment, until of late, attended to the great
nation all interests, which were common to
all the states, and wccould not fail to pros
per.


Government is at best necessary evil,
and the nearer the people are left free to
the better for ALL They will certainly pur-
snc their own interests if left untrammel-
cd.


Now look at the conduct of the radical
party. 1t would seem that all wisdom was
born and to die with it. They have invent
ed machine called National Bureau, to
swallow up these local rights. Every Bu.
reau must have, at least, ten thousand Off
GERS to be quartered upon the people, which
will necessarily add new and heavy burdens
Hitherto unknown in the history of our
country. We must have Bureaus of Edu-
cation, Stevens and Sumner must be our
school directors; Freedmen's Bureaus tor
the Southern negroes. and we must be taxed
here to maintain in idleness, the negroes of
Florida and Alabama; bureau Of Despot.
ism. miscaed Civil Rights Bill; Telegraph
Bureaus, Insurance Bureaus. and l don t
know how many more Their name is le-
gion. They cover the whole land with off