Year: 1867

. way, It would become grave question whether we ought to do SO, or whether ] common humanity would not require us to save them from themselves. But under the circumstances, this is spec ulative point. It is not proposed mere- : ly that they shall govern themselves, but that they shall rule the white race, , make and administer State laws, elect Presidents and members of Congress. , and shape, to a greater or less extent, . the future destiny of the country. ] Would such trust and power be safe ] in such hands? The peculiar qualities : which should characterize any people , who are fit to decide upon the manage ment ofpublic affairs for great State !; have seldom been combined in any race. It is the glory of white men to know that they have had these qualities in sufficient measure to build upon this continent great political fabric and ninety years, while in every other part of the world all similar experiments have failed. But if anything can be proved by known facts, if all reasoning upon evidence is not abandoned, it must be acknowledged that in the pro- gress of natians negroes have shown U other race of people. No independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the con- trary, whenever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into bar barism. In the Southern States, how ever, Congress has undertaken to con- fer upon them the privilege of the bal lot. Just released from slavery it may be doubted whether as class they know more than their ancestors how to organize and regulate civil society. Indeed, it is admitted that the blacks of the South are not only regardless of the rights and property, but so utterly ignorant of public affairs that their vo- ting can consist of nothing more than carrying ballot to the place where they are directed to deposit it. l need not remind you that the exercise of the elective franchise is the highest attri- bute of an American citizen, and when guided by virtue, intelligence, patriot ism and proper appreciation of our free institutions, it constitutes the true basis of the democratic form of govern ment in which the sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people. A trust artificially created-not for its own sake, but solely as a means of pro- noting the general welfare-its influ- ence for good must necessarily de- pend upon the elevated character and true allegiance ofthe elector. It ought, therefore, to be reposed in none except those who are fitted morally and men, tally to administer it well for if con- ferred upon persons who do not justly estimate its value and who are indif- fereEt as to its results, it will ouly serve as means of placing power in the hands of the unprincipied and am- bilious, and must eventuate in the complete destruction of that liberty of ! which it should be the most powerful conservator.

 have therefore, heretofore, urged upon your attention the great danger | to be apprehended from any untimely extension of the elective franchise to any new class in our country, especial l ly when a large majority of that class, in welding the power thus placed in their hands, cannot be expected to cor rectly comprehend the duties and res possibilities which pertain to suffrage. Yesterday as it were, four millions of persons were held in state of slavery that existed for generations. To-day they are freedmen, and are assumed by law to be citizens. It cannot be pre- stunned from their previous condition of servitude that as a class they are we'll informed as to the nature of our Government as the intelligent foreign CT who makes our land the home of his choice. In the case of the latter, neither a residence of five years and knowledge of our institutions which it gives, nor attachment to the principles of the Constitution, are the only con- ditions upon which he can be admitted to citizenship. He must prove, in ad- dition, a good moral character, and thus give reasonable ground for the belief that he will be faithful to the cb- | legations which he assumes as citizen of republic.

 Where the people, the source of all political power, speak by their suffrage through the instrumentality of the bal lot box, it must be carefully guarded against the control of those who are corrupt in principle, and enemies of free institutions; for it can only be- come to our social and political system safe conductor of healthy and popu- lar sentiment, when kept free from de- moralizing influences.

 Controlled through fraud and usur- patton by designing men, anarchy and despotism must inevitably follow. In the hands of the patriotic and worthy our Government will be preserved up- on the principles of the Constitution inherited from our fathers.

 NEGRO SUFFRAGE.

 It follows that in admitting to the ballot box new class of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elec- tive franchise, we weaken our system of government, instead of adding to it's strength and durability. yield to no one in attachment to that rule of gen. eral suffrage which distinguishes our policy as a nation but there is limit, wisely observed hitherto, which makes the ballot a privilige and trust, and which requires of some classes time suitable for probation and preparation. To give it indiscriminately to a new cless wholly unprepared by previous habits and opportunity to perform the trust which it demands is to degrade it and finally destroy its power. for it may be safely assumed that no political truth is better established than that such an indiscriminate and all-embra- cling extension of popular suffrage must end in its overthrow and destruction.

 I repeat the expression of my will lingncss to join with any plan within the scope of our constitutional author ity which promises to better the con dition of the negroes in the South, by encouraging them in industry, the en- Ilightenment and improvement of their morals, and giving protection to all their just rights as freemen but to transfer our political inheritance to them. would, in my opinion, be an abandonment of duty which we owe