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SUFFRAGE AND REORGANIZATION. 
 
 THE SUBJECT EXAMINED BY A VOTER OF OHIO. 
 
 Every Government onght to contain in it- 
 self the means of its own preservation. 
 — Hamilton. 
 
 The paramount idea of the Constitution 
 is to preserve the Union. — Lincoln. 
 
 Four years of bloody and terrible war bas 
 totally overthrown armed rebellion. The 
 country rejoices, and says its work is done. 
 It ought to be so. A people who have done 
 FO much ought not to be asked to do more. 
 Statesmanship should now do the rest. But 
 passing events show that the people have 
 another great work to do. Having destroyed 
 the Rebellion as a military power, it yet re- 
 mains for them to put it down as a political 
 power. Statesmen and politicians should de- 
 vise the means to do this; but the most 
 casual observer has already discovered that 
 there is neither harmony of views nor unity 
 of purpose among them. Some seem to have 
 plans partly matured, and some have none. 
 All seem to be waiting for events. The old- 
 time leaders who,boldly declared their views, 
 and lifted up thiiir standards, and called upon 
 the people to rally under them, seem to have 
 passed away. There is a cowardly evasion 
 of live issues among the leading men of the 
 country. The courage to grapple with the 
 real difficulties of our situation is wanting to 
 an alarming extent. 
 
 The people must move. All things seem 
 to be waiting for the formation of public 
 opinion. While it does not take definite 
 shape on the subject of the reorganization of 
 the governments in the rebel States there will 
 be no safe progi-ess toward a final solution of 
 our difliculties. Delay long continued may 
 lead to the same ruin from which our patri- 
 otic ai-my and people have so far saved our 
 country. 
 
 The noise of battle has scarcely died away ; 
 our slain heroes are not all yet buried ; thou- 
 sands of their wounds are still bleedin* ; the 
 kind hand of nature has not yet had time to 
 wipe the tears from the eyes of the widows 
 and the fatherless, made so by the war ; and 
 yet we see the rebels, lately so defiant of our 
 power, and so determined upon 'the destruc- 
 tion of our country, with the bloody garments 
 of rebellion still upon them, seizing political 
 power throughout the South. 
 
 It seems incredible that men who have 
 fought four years to destroy the Government 
 should have the audacity to claim the highest 
 right of American citizenship, — the right to 
 vote. If it should surprise us that rebels 
 should claim this right, is it not passing 
 strange that the Government should concede 
 the claim ? 
 
 Any evidence that such a state of things 
 exists, short of witnessing the fact, woulfl be 
 incredible. 
 
 No loyal man regrets the war to put down 
 the Rebellion, if, through it, the Union can be 
 placed on a secure basis. But if we have 
 saved it from rebel armies only to deliver it 
 over to the keeping of rebel voters, and their 
 allies, the copperheads of the North, then in- 
 deed have the people reason to fear that their 
 patriotic sacrifices have been in vain. 
 
 That the fighting is ended is cause of re- 
 joicing with every patriot ; but, that fighting 
 may be no more for all time to come, the 
 questions out of which the Rebellion grew 
 should be so settled that hereafter there can 
 be no cause for trouble about them. 
 
 It should be the first and highest aim of 
 every American claiming the title of patriot 
 to secure now such a settlement of all ques- 
 tions which have heretofore caused division 
 and dissention among us, or which may here- 
 
the different plans proposed I desire to ex- 
 plain, that, for the purposes of argument and 
 illustration, I shall assume that the entire 
 population of the loyal States is twenty mil- 
 lions ; that the white population of the rebel 
 States is six millions, and that the total black 
 population of the same States is four millions. 
 I shall likewise assume that there is one male 
 person of the age of twenty-one years in 
 every five of population. These assumptions 
 are so near the actual facts that any discrep- 
 ancy that may exist cannot affect the argu- 
 ments to be deduced. 
 
 With these remarks I proceed to the 
 examination of the several plans, making 
 such remarks as seem necessary to put each 
 in its proper light before the reader, and leav- 
 ing him to fill up and amplify from the re- 
 sources of his own knowledge and thought. 
 
 First playi. — Loyal white men only shall 
 vote. 
 
 Estimating one voter in five of the white 
 population, we have one million two hundred 
 thousand voters in the South. 
 
 The estimates of Gov. Pierpont, in a 
 late message, allow that nineteen in twenty 
 of the population of Virginia have actively 
 aided the Rebellion. But admitting all that 
 can be reasonably claimed for the South, let 
 us allow that only nine in ten of the white 
 men actively aided the Rebellion. This would 
 give us in all the rebel States one hundred 
 and twenty thousand voters who have not 
 actively aided the Rebellion, and for whom 
 some claim of loyalty can be made, though 
 the claim must be of doubtful validity. Es- 
 timating that one in five of the population of 
 the loyal States is a voter, we have four mil- 
 lions of voters in the North. 
 
 All the blacks of the South are now free ; 
 and, in future -apportionments of representa- 
 tion, a black man will count as much as a 
 white one. The South has one-third of the 
 population of the whole country, and will 
 have one third of the representatives. 
 
 It will thus be seen tlyit one hundred and 
 twenty thousand voters, many of them of 
 doubtful loyalty, in the rebel States, have all 
 the voting power of two millions of voters in 
 the loyal States. In other words, one South- 
 ern voter is equal to thirty-three and a third 
 Northern voters, under this plan. 
 
 I suppose that no elaborate argument is 
 needed to convince an American, who always 
 loves equality, that a plan of adjustment 
 which would produce such an inequality of 
 power would be totally inadmissible. 
 
 An insuperable practicable difficulty in this, 
 or any other plan which renders it necessary 
 to distinguish between the loyal and disloyal, 
 is the utter impossibility of distinguishing be- 
 tween them. 
 
 Other objections could be urged against 
 this plan, but it seems hardly necessary to 
 say more. When the loyal masses, with 
 whom this plan of reorganization is very pop- 
 ular, learn that its effect will be to give a 
 voter in the South, for years to come, many 
 times the political power of a voter in the 
 North, they will cease to favor it, and will 
 seek for some other mode of settlement. 
 
 Second plan. — Loyal men and rebels, ex- 
 cept certain excluded classes of the latter, 
 shall vote. 
 
 What proportion of the rebels are dis- 
 franchised by the President's Proclamations, 
 there is no satisfactory means of determining, 
 but it cannot exceed probably one in nine of 
 the entire white male rebel population above 
 the age of twenty-one years. Assuming that 
 one in nine of the rebel men are disfran- 
 chised by the proclamations, we have the white 
 men thus divided, — one-tenth loyal; eight- 
 tenths voting rebels ; and one-tenth disfran- 
 chised. In other words, we have one hundred 
 and twenty thousand voters whom we call 
 loyal ; and nine hundred and sixty thousand 
 rebel voters, holding in their hands one-third 
 of the voting power of the nation. 
 
 If there be any genuine loyalty in the 
 South it cannot fail to have arrayed against it 
 at the ballot-box those who are only lip-loyal, 
 and who have taken the oath, not because 
 they were friends to the Governraewt, but to 
 save their political power under it, that they 
 might throw embarrassments in its way. In 
 case of antagonism at the polls, it is easy to 
 foresee that the truly loyal would be out-voted 
 by the quasi loyal. The loyal would un- 
 doubtedly be in a hopeless minority under' 
 this plan ; and, so far as practical results are 
 concerned, the one hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand loyal voters had as well bo disfranchised 
 by law, and rebels only allowed to vote. 
 
 By the freedom of the blacks, there is add- 
 ed to the representative population of the 
 South, about one million six hundred thou- 
 sand. The' number of members of Congress 
 from the South will be largely increased in 
 this way. Before the Rebellion, the South, 
 with its six millions of whites, possessed as 
 much political power as eight million four 
 hundred thousand at the North ; hereafter, 
 under tais mode of adjustment, the six mil- 
 
lions would possess all the power of ten mil- 
 lions at the North. 
 
 What have the rebels done that they should 
 receive back into their hands all their old po- 
 litical power, and this large increase ? Where- 
 ever they have been allowed to vote, they 
 have shown their old hostility to the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 If these men are to bo restored to power, 
 what has been done to make rebellion odious, 
 or to show that it is any thing more than a dif- 
 ference of political opinion ? 
 
 In the South, so far as shown by the re- 
 cent elections, the best rebel gets most votes. 
 Repudiation is a very popular political doc- 
 trine with the people who are now engaged in 
 reorganizing the governments of the South. 
 
 The restoration of slavery is believed in, 
 and worked and voted for, by most of the old 
 slave aristocracy. 
 
 Let the rebels of the South grasp political 
 power and instantly the copperheads of the 
 North spring to meet them, and do their bid- 
 ding. Who can doubt, from the course of 
 the copperheads during the war, that they 
 would join the South in repudiation, and 
 every other diabolical scheme they might pro- 
 pose. 
 
 The bare possibility that rebels and copper- 
 heads may get control of the Government 
 should chill the blood in every patriot's veins. 
 Yet under this plan of reorganization, se- 
 curing, as it unquestionably will, the political 
 control of every rebel State to them to begin 
 with, there is great reason to fear, that, through 
 tac cry of oppressive taxes, and a promise of 
 low ones, and other schemes of demagoguery, 
 they would gain control of the country at no 
 very distant day. 
 
 This prospect, now dimly seen by the cop- 
 perheads, is beginning to infuse life into the 
 dead carcass of their party. * In Vermont 
 and Maine, they have declared themselves in 
 favor of the policy of the President ; and the 
 executive council of their party at Washing- 
 ton see many things in his policy which they 
 commend, and nothing which they condemn. 
 They see plunder afar off, and hope to seize 
 it through this plan of re-organization. 
 
 Christians of the Bunyan and Baxter 
 school used to consider it safe to go for'what- 
 ever the Devil opposed, and to go against what- 
 ever they found him for ; and we have no ac- 
 count, that, in following this rule, they were 
 ever misled. It would be a very safe rule to 
 apply to the copperhead party. That they 
 
 approve Mr. Johnson's policy is no sign that 
 there is any good in it. 
 
 Third plan. — All loyal men, white and 
 black, shall vote. 
 
 Under this plan there would be, according 
 to our estimates, one hundred and twenty 
 thousand white voters, and, counting one in 
 five of the blacks a voter, there would be 
 eight hundred thousand black voters, making 
 an aggregate of nine hundred and twenty 
 thousand voters. 
 
 Under the rules of computation wliich I 
 have adopted, the entire voting population of 
 the rebel States, before theRebelHon, was one 
 million two hundred thousand ; and, under 
 this plan, they would liave only two hundred 
 and eighty thousand less than before the Re- 
 bellion. 
 
 By this plan, one voter in the South would 
 have a fraction more voting power than two 
 voters in the North. 
 
 This would be objectionable, because eveiy 
 departure from absolute equality of power is 
 objectionable ; but the difference between a 
 Northern voter under this plan, and the plan 
 of Pre'sident Johnson, is insignificant; but it 
 should be borne in mind, that, under this 
 plan, power is in the hands of men who are 
 the friends of the Government; and, under 
 his plan, it is in the hands of men who have 
 given no evidence of loyalty, but every evi- 
 dence of disloyalty. 
 
 Besides this, inequality between voters in 
 the South and North would diminish every 
 year, as the young men of the South became 
 voters, and it would almost entirely disappear 
 in the next thirty years. 
 
 Under any plan which proposes to disfran- 
 chise the blacks, this inequality would always 
 exist, unless remedied by an amendment of 
 the Constitution, basing representation on the 
 number of voters, as suggested by Gov. 
 Boutwell. 
 
 I confess my inability to see how this is to 
 settle the negro questio^i. He is not a voter, 
 and it has not been proposed by the advocates 
 of this plan of apportionment to make bira so. 
 It is imagined that the anxiety of Southern 
 whites for power in Congress will induce them 
 to allow blacks to vote. But their determi- 
 nation to wield the political power of the 
 South, and to keep the negro out of power, 
 will not yield to the temptation of increased 
 power in Congress, and the blacks will most 
 assuredly remain for many years where they 
 are left by the Government at this time. This 
 involves the necessity of an amendment of 
 
the Constitution, wliicli may not be readily 
 made. It is altogether too uncertain of ac- 
 complishment to be relied upon to lead us 
 out of present difficulties, and to settle the 
 questions now pressing themselves upon the 
 public attention, and steadily refusing to post- 
 pone a hearing. It will do to use as a hobby- 
 horse to ride around the " nigger question," 
 as Gen. Schenck has used it; but it cannot 
 settle it. 
 
 Fourth plan. — All loyal voters, white 
 and black, and so many of the rebels as may 
 be safely controlled and neutralized by loyal 
 voters, shall vote. 
 
 It should be borne in mind, that, under the 
 t]^ird plan there would be nine hundred and 
 twenty thousand loyal voters. Now, if these 
 can co-operate at the polls, a large number 
 of the rebels could be safely allowed to vote, 
 even if they were as viciously inclined as the 
 copperheads of the North. As long as reb- 
 els and copperheads are in a hopeless minor- 
 ity they can do no harm. 
 
 If, as might be the case, the white and 
 black loyalists could not co-operate, then it 
 •would be necessary to limit the enfranchise- 
 ment of rebels to a smaller number ; say to 
 half a million of voters. There would then 
 be in the South six hundred and twenty 
 thousand white voters, and eight hundred 
 thousand black voters ; making an aggregate 
 of one million four hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand, wielding the same political power as two 
 millions in the North. 
 
 This would make one voter in the South 
 equal to one and three-sevenths in the North ; 
 and the voting power of men in the two sec- 
 tions would be more nearly equal than before 
 the Rebellion, when one million two hundred 
 thousand voters in the South held the same 
 political power as two millions in the North ; 
 and one man in the South was equal to one 
 and two-thirds in the North. 
 
 This disproportion, as before remarked in the 
 consideration of the third plan, would rapidly 
 diminish, by the young men, sons of rebels, 
 becoming voters, and would in a few years 
 entirely disappear; and, when this should oc- 
 cur, the white voters would outnumber the 
 black ones, and the danger of negro ascend- 
 ency, which so many seem to dread, would 
 lie past. Negro voting can scarcely foil to 
 be safer and better for all concerned than 
 rebel voting ; and, by the time the rebels have 
 passed away, a generation of new white voters 
 will bo upon the stage, far more numerous 
 than the black voters, except in a few locali- 
 
 ties and districts ; and, if negro suffrage doeg 
 not work well, it can be neutralized by a 
 union of the white voters, as the evils of 
 copperhead voting are rendered harmless by 
 a union of loyal voters. 
 
 Our Government being founded on these 
 self-evident truths, that all men are created 
 equal ; that they are endowed by their Crea- 
 tor with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness ; and that, to 
 secure these rights, governments are insti- 
 tuted among men, deriving their just powers 
 from the consent of the governed, — the task 
 of showing that some men are not entitled 
 to vote is fairly devolved upon those who as- 
 sert the exception to the general rules laid 
 down as the foundation ?)f our Government. 
 By some means, however, it has come to pass 
 that the bui-den of proof has been shifted 
 from those who maintain that there is an ex- 
 ception to all these self-evident truths in the 
 case of black men, to those who stand upon 
 those truths as applicable to all men, as they 
 are declared to be. 
 
 It is plainly the business of those who op- 
 pose universal suffrage to show why a portion 
 of the men of the country, whose government 
 declares universal equality, should not have 
 the same means of protecting their lives, their 
 liberty, and their right to pursue happiness, 
 that others have. But the majority has been 
 against the negro ; and the power of the ma- 
 jority has reversed the logical processes of 
 reasoning about his rights. The black man, 
 and his friends, are required to show that he 
 should have all the rights and j)rivileges of 
 the rest of mankind. In speaking against 
 the negro, ipse dixit has been cnou^i to es- 
 tablish any thing ; but in speaking for him, 
 such has been the prejudice against him, facts 
 and arguments have been passed by as the 
 idle wind. 
 
 If the National Government has the power, 
 as I think has been abundantly shown, — and, 
 whether shown or not, is assumed by all who 
 advocate reconstruction on any of the plans 
 under consideration, — then, upon wliat princi- 
 ple can it justify its partiality, if it excludes 
 them from the ballot V What explanation can 
 the historian of this period give to future ages 
 of this course of action ? 
 
 Six millions of white people, without a 
 shadow of justification, engaged in a struggle 
 to overthrow the Government, and to establish 
 an empire on slavery. For four years they 
 waged a terrible war to accomplish their pur- 
 jjoses ; this war has been characterized by 
 
a fiendish barbarism such as is not recorded 
 in the annals of time ; four thousand millions 
 of money is not all the expense of the war to 
 the nation ; fifty thousand of the soldiers of 
 the Government have been murdered by star- 
 vation and cold, and other modes of cruelty 
 and savagery ; the burning of cities, and the 
 spread of pestilences, were means resorted to 
 by them ; they assassinated the chosen ruler 
 of the nation ; they slew half a million of 
 the men of the country ; and they are per- 
 mitted to vote. 
 
 Four millions of men were, at the begin- 
 ning of this war, in slavery. The Govern- 
 ment told them often that the war on the part 
 of the nation was for the sole purpose of sav- 
 ing the Union, and that they must not hope 
 for emancipation through it. But they hoped 
 for it, and believed it would come, against the 
 intention of the Government to avoid it. 
 They were the friends of the Government un- 
 der all the discouragements thrown in their 
 way. Defeat came upon our arms ; black 
 clouds of discouragement settled down upon 
 the Government and people. The proclama- 
 tion of emancipation was wrung from the Gov- 
 ernment as an indispensable necessity of our 
 condition. The blacks were called upon to 
 aid, under the solemn assurance that, if, the 
 Union was saved, they should be free. Moved 
 as with one mind, they sprang to our relief. 
 The labor system of the South was shattered 
 to pieces, and the main stay of the Rebellion 
 was broken. Many bloody fields attest their 
 patriotism and courage. Every where they 
 went aiding our men and our cause with all 
 the meass at their command. With their 
 help the countiy was saved ; and they are 
 not allowed to vote! BiU rebels vote for 
 them ; and the freedom the nation promised 
 them is delivered over to the keeping of rebels ? 
 Is this a fair interpretation of the solemn 
 promise of the nation ? Is this freedom ? 
 We should tremble for our country when we 
 reflect that God is just. The terrible calami- 
 ties we have sufFared, and are suffering, came 
 from a former injustice to the black race ; and 
 shall we by perpetrating new wrongs, sow the 
 seeds of other calamities for the future to 
 reap? Have we not suflfeved enough to teach 
 us that injustice and wrong bring terrible ret- 
 ribution V 
 
 But various objections are urged against 
 allowing the blacks to vote. It is said they 
 will vote as their old masters dictate. If this 
 be true, how comes it that their old masters 
 are so sternly opposed to their voting ? It is 
 
 said they will use their ballots in a spirit of 
 hostility to their old masters. They cannot do 
 both these things, and proof is wanting thai 
 they would do either. 
 
 The copperheads of Ohio see in the propo- 
 sition to allow them to vote a deep-laid scheme 
 " to overthrow popular institutions by bring- 
 ing the right to vote into disgrace." 
 
 Do these disciples of Jefferson know that 
 he repeatedly urged upon members of the 
 Convention of Virginia to allow " all to vote 
 who pay and fight " V The ordinance of 1787, 
 drawn up by him, provided that all men, citi- 
 zens of any of the States, and having a free- 
 bold of fifty acres within the territory, should 
 be qualified to vote for representatives. 
 
 When will these blind victims of party 
 prejudice learn that hate of negro is not 
 love of country? When will they cease to 
 abuse the negro? Not until he is made a 
 voter. And when he is, he will at once be- 
 come an object of adoration for democratie 
 demagogues. 
 
 While the devoted loyalty of the blacks is 
 admitted, it is still claimed that they are loyal 
 without knowing why. In a wliite man it ia 
 looked upon as the highest evidence of intelli- 
 gent patriotism, that he left the endearments 
 of home, and offered his life for his country ; 
 but the enemies of the black man do not al- 
 low the same acts to prove any thing in his 
 favor. 
 
 Grant that they are ignorant ; let the won- 
 derful fact, that, under all the complications 
 which surrounded them during the war, they 
 were always right, be accounted for. Admit 
 that their old masters have perfect control of 
 their minds ; and then show how it came to 
 pass, that, of four millions of blacks, not more 
 than two or three have ever been suspected 
 of disloyalty. But it is said their instincts of 
 self-preservation led them to favor the Gov- 
 ernment. Admit this, and it only sliows that 
 instinct is a better guide than educated reason ', 
 for, while the educated whites were all rebels 
 against a government which had done thera 
 only good, the blacks were friends of the 
 same government, from which they had re- 
 ceived only wrong, but hoped for good. 
 
 And this instinct of self-preservation they 
 still possess ; and, if it has led tlieni aright 
 through the fiery trials of a horrid war, may 
 it not be trusted to lead them in times of 
 peace ? 
 
 Self-preservation is not only the first law 
 of nature, but it is the strongest. If this 
 fails to keep man in the path of right, what 
 
8 
 
 can be expected to ? All other influences are 
 only secondary to this. Ignorance, with good 
 intentions, is more trustworthy than vicious 
 intelligence. 
 
 Wherever breezes blow, and there is water 
 to float ships, the glorious banner of our 
 country waves an invitation to the oppressed 
 of tlie earth ; to the Irish, the Germans, the 
 Hindoos, the Chinese, and all tlie mongrel 
 races of Mexico and South America, to come 
 here, and live, and enjoy liberty, and vote. 
 But the native black man, covered with scars 
 received in fighting under that same glorious 
 flag, is told to stand back ; that he does not 
 know enough to vote ! Shame should blister 
 the cheeks of him who, with the Declaration 
 of Independence, the Constitution and the 
 New Testament, in his hands, and the history 
 of the blacks during the war before him, and 
 " with freedom's banner streaming o'er 
 him," may attempt an apology for such a 
 state of things. 
 
 Fifth plan. — There shall be an educa- 
 tional standard of qualification for voters. 
 
 The advocates of this plan differ among 
 themselves. Some declare that this test of 
 fitness to vote should be applied to the black 
 man alone. Others insist that the test should 
 be applied to both black and white. Some 
 maintain that the ability to read and 
 write should determine the matter ; others 
 contend that the ability to read and write 
 does not necessarily prove that a man knows 
 how to vote, and that all should be required 
 to pass an examination in the principles of 
 republican government, and to understand 
 the Constitution. 
 
 All such tests of the fitness of men for suf- 
 frage are bad because uncertain. Every thing 
 relating to the fundamental rights of men 
 should be fixed by rules so plain that all men 
 may agree in their interpretation. To estab- 
 lish an educational standard of fitness to vote 
 would be to subject this right, which is one of 
 the most sacred, to the caprices of passion 
 and prejudice, and to bring it down to the 
 lowest depths of party corruption. 
 
 If the test of reading and writing be adopt- 
 ed, who shall determine how well men shall 
 read and write ? Suppose they be required to 
 understand the principles of republican govern- 
 ment, and to explain the Constitution. What 
 uniform standard can bo fixed ? AVho shall 
 determine how much knowledge of a repub- 
 lican form of government, and of the Constitu- 
 tion, shall be necessary V Any such tests as 
 these tend to corruption inevitably. Judges 
 
 of elections are generally partisans. They 
 would be constantly tempted to require little 
 of their party friends, and more of their party 
 opponents. 
 
 We should see Union soldiers hobbling up 
 to the polls on crutches, and there required 
 by the copperhead or rebel judges to read a 
 paragraph and write a line before they could 
 vote. It is one of the strangest things of 
 tliese remarkable times, that so many able 
 men seem to be drawn into favoring this plan 
 of settling the suftrage question. Those who 
 are most noisy in its favor do not expect or 
 desire its adoption. It is only thrown before 
 the public, to catch the zealots of education, 
 and cause division among the friends of the 
 country. 
 
 To apply such tests to black men, who are 
 denied all the usual means of education, and 
 not to the whites who have whatever means 
 are afforded for such purposes, and who have 
 the property, and the power to tax it to sus- 
 tain schools, would cap the climax of our in- 
 consistencies. 
 
 But the facts of the Rebellion itself show 
 the fiillacy of this theory. The educated 
 whites of the South were the leaders of rebel- 
 lion, and the first to vote for secession. 
 
 The uneducated blacks were almost the 
 only friends of the Government. The educated 
 whites were all wrong, and the uneducated 
 blacks were all right. Could any thing more 
 forcibly illustrate the folly of an educational 
 standard for voting ? 
 
 Sixth plan. — The whites and blacks shall 
 be separated, and the blacks brought together 
 in the contiguous territory in South Carolina, 
 &c., " where they shall enjoy exclusive polit- 
 ical privileges." 
 
 The convention which nominated Gen. 
 Cox for Governor of Ohio was highly skilled 
 in strategy, and flanked the "nigger question" 
 very adroitly. Gen. Cox's manoeuvre, how- 
 ever, casts theirs into the shade. 
 
 In his two or three years' service in the 
 South, he discovered " a rooted antagonism, 
 which renders their permanent fusion in one 
 political community absolutely impossible;" 
 and, taking this as his starting-point, it is 
 very natural that " the only real solution which 
 he can sea is the peacable separation of the 
 races on the soil where they now are." 
 
 Many friends and supporters of Gen. Cox 
 have blusheil when they read his letter. They 
 believed him to be a hii>;h-toned christian gen- 
 tleman. They respect and admire him for his 
 virtues and his coui'age, however, they may 
 
think of his judgment and sagacity. Though 
 they supported him, they must be permitted 
 to laugh at his scheme for solving the grand 
 difficulty of our situation ; and as this scheme 
 of his is his own private property, he can be 
 permitted to enjoy it in his own way. The 
 convention which nominated him glided over 
 the question-s of reconstruction and suffrage 
 with a few glittering generalities. He had 
 seen it cower before this giant which stood in 
 its path ; and, feeling the spirit of the Knight 
 of La Mancha upon him, and moving him to 
 deeds of chivaVy, why should he hesitate to 
 mount this Rozinante of " rooted antagonism," 
 " impossible fusion," and " peaceable sepa- 
 ration," and with a bold dash demolish him 
 with his own hands'? It was a daring deed, 
 and, if successful, must secure to him the 
 admiration and gratitude of his party. 
 
 With the Union party, difference is not di- 
 vision. It is compelled from the necessities 
 of its position to take the initiative on all 
 questions growing out of the Rebellion. Dur- 
 ing the discussion of questions, differences 
 must appear ; but when the Government, 
 or the party, once determines on a policy or 
 a measure, the whole party intends to ac- 
 quiesce. They feel and see the necessity of 
 unity of action, and the last thing they will 
 tolerate is division in their own rauKS. They 
 long ago determined to save the country 
 against all efforts of copperheads and rebels 
 to destroy it. 
 
 That no such antagonism exists in the na- 
 ture of the two races seems abundantly 
 proved by their history. Up to the time of 
 the introducdon of slavery, the white and 
 black races had been separate ; and, if there 
 had been a natural antagonism, they would 
 never have come together. But the white 
 race showed it had no antagonism by going to 
 Africa, and forcibly seizing the blacks, and 
 shipping them "thousands of miles to incor- 
 porate them into white society. There they 
 have been, for over two hundred years, with- 
 out a thought of antagonism on the part of 
 the whites. They have so amalgamated with 
 the blacks that one in eight of the entire col- 
 ored population of the country is of mixed 
 blood. Docs this show a " rooted antagon- 
 ism"? The rebels went to war to prevent 
 the very separation which the friends of 
 this plan advocate. Is there any evidence of 
 antagonism in this fact ? All the Southern 
 politicians and preachers constantly maintained 
 that in the South the races were in their nat- 
 ui-al relations to each other. That the two 
 
 races must live together, that each may attain 
 its highest degree of excellence and happi- 
 ness. 
 
 In a country whose government is founded 
 on the doctrine of human equality, among a 
 people possessing the Christian religion, it 
 ought to cause us to blush that it becomes 
 necessary to seriously discuss such a question 
 as the antagonism of races. But so long 
 has the white race wronged and robbed the 
 t/lack race, and so many means has it resorted 
 to to reconcile itself to its coarse, that it seems 
 capable of any conceivable iucou'iistency ; and 
 we are compelled to treat seriously many 
 things which should long ago have ceased to 
 be even objects of ridicule. 
 
 That there is a hostile feeling between the 
 blacks and whites of the Soutli at this time 
 is very true. and very natural. What people 
 ever felt well toward another people whom it 
 had greatly wronged? What people ever 
 j felt very friendly toward another people who 
 had for two centuries robbed it of all the com- 
 mon rights of humanity ? Consciousness of 
 having done wrong on the part of the whites, 
 and consciousness of having suffered it on the 
 side of the blacks, would bo very likely to 
 engender a feeling of antagonism. The hos- 
 tility of the whites has been greatly aggra- 
 vated by the aid given by the blacks to the 
 i Government toward subjugating the rebels. 
 ! But that there is any thing in this state of 
 things which should be taken as the founda- 
 ! tion of a movement to expel the whites from 
 I three or four States, and drive the negroes 
 1 into them, is too absurd to bo seriously com- 
 j batted. 
 
 ! It will be observed that the advocates of 
 ; this plan do not get rid of negro suffrage. 
 The blacks, when separated, are to have 
 j *' full and exclusive political privileges." In- 
 stead of doing a part of the voting, as they 
 j will if suffrage be extended to them where 
 : they are, among white men, they will, by be- 
 ' ing together, do all the voting, and hold all 
 , the offices of three or four States. 
 I Those who advocate a doctrine so radical 
 as this can certainly have no doubt of the 
 power of the Government over the whole 
 subject of suffrage, as connected with the re- 
 organization of the Southern States. 
 
 Here again we may note one of those 
 strange inconsistencies which have resulted 
 from our not allowing ourselves, as a people, 
 to reason about the black man on the basis 
 of simple principle. The advocates of this 
 separation scheme evidently think they are 
 
10 
 
 proposing something which is moderate and 
 conservative as compared with granting the 
 blacks suffrage wherc they are, which is de- 
 nounced as extreme radicalism, against which 
 the South would again be justified in rising 
 in arms ; and yet this plan not only proposes 
 to allow him to exercise the right, but it pro- 
 poses to take the white man's land, without 
 his consent, and give it to the negro, and 
 then drive the white man out that the black 
 may enjoy the right exclusively. 
 
 It would be far better for all if we could 
 see " that man is man, and nothing else," 
 and reason about him as such, and frankly 
 make all equal before the law ; for, until it is 
 done, there will be wars and commotions. 
 
 It is an easy thing to be in favor of the 
 peaceable separation of the whites and blacks, 
 and giving to the latter the States of South 
 Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida ; 
 but, when it is approached as a practical 
 question, difficulties appear in the way of its 
 execution. It would become necessary to take 
 the property of one and a half millions of 
 white people from them without their consent ; 
 and it could scarcely be hoped to succeed 
 without the use of armed force. 
 
 The blacks of Virginia, North Carolina, 
 Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, 
 Louisiana, &c., might be as unwilling to be 
 driven into the States of Georgia, &c., as the 
 whites are to be driven out ; and the whites 
 of those States might be opposed to having 
 two millions and a half of their black popula- 
 tion driven away ; and we might speedily see 
 both races overcome their "rooted antago- 
 nism '"against each other; and their common 
 antagonism against the Government might 
 fuse them permanently into one " political 
 community " which tlie Government would 
 find it much more difficult to subdue than the 
 Rebellion of the whites of the South has been. 
 By our appeal to the blacks for help, we have 
 acknowledged that they hold the balance of 
 power between the six millions of rebels and 
 the Government. AVar would be the inevita- 
 ble result of the attempt to separate the races 
 in the South; and, as both whites and blacks 
 would undoubtedly foel that the act was cruel 
 and oppressive, they would unite to avenge a 
 common grievance. 
 
 But in very commiseration for the advo- 
 cates of this plan, let us leave it without fur- 
 ther exposing its weaknesses, absurdities, and 
 dangers. We niiglit show, that, in the present 
 over-taxed condition of the country, it is utter- 
 ly impracticable, because the means could not 
 
 be raised to carry it into effect. Wo might 
 show how it would revolutionize, and for years 
 cripple, the whole labor system of the South, 
 and derange and destroy its business, Btit, 
 with what is said already, it may be safely al- 
 lowed to go to the country for a decision on 
 its merits. 
 
 The whole matter may be very safely left to 
 time to settle. The whites forced the mixing 
 of the races in this country ; and, if they do 
 not like the blacks as neighbors, they could 
 work a separation by " leaving their country 
 for their country's good." 
 
 AV'hat fi thing is the antagonism of races for 
 men to be prating about who have been raised 
 on negro milk, and many of whom have 
 children by negro mothers ! Their antagonism 
 against negroes is against their freedom and 
 nothing else. When they were slaves, an- 
 tagonism was not dreamed of. 
 
 Seventh plan. — The National Government 
 shall hold the South by military power until 
 its people have so far purged themselves of 
 the guilt and spirit of rebellion that they may 
 be safely allowed to vote. 
 
 It will be seen, from a statement of this 
 plan, that it is intended to be only a tempo- 
 rary policy. No one seriously thinks of hold- 
 ing the South permanently by mere force of 
 arms. All desire a restoration of friendly re- 
 lations. All loyal men are willing to concede 
 all that is consistent with safety, to the rebels 
 of the South, in order that their State Gov- 
 ernments may be restored to all their rights 
 under the Constitution, The whole loyal 
 portion of the people desire to see this as soon 
 as it can be safely done. But, after all the 
 South has done to destroy the country, some- 
 thing more than taking an oath to support the 
 Government should be required. They should 
 be rec[uired to show their loyalty by their 
 works. Their old insolence must bp dropped. 
 They must cease to claim from the Govern- 
 ment, and show themselves willing to receive 
 whatever it chooses to give. If it leaves 
 them their lives, they should be content. If, 
 in addition to this, it leaves to the masses their 
 ])roperty, they should regard themselves as a 
 higlily favored set of rebels. 
 
 If th(.-y could be allowed to govern them- 
 selves without giving them a voice in the gov- 
 ernment of others, this might be granted to 
 them ; and they would have reason to rejoice 
 over their privileges. But to put the gov- 
 einiiient of four millions of loyal men into 
 theii' hands, and give them a voice in the di- 
 rection of the affairs of the country, equal to 
 
11 
 
 one-third of its entire political power is too 
 much too ask, because too dangerous to give. 
 All agree that holding the South by mili- 
 tary power should be resorted to only as an 
 indispensable necessity ; and that it should be 
 continued only so long as the necessity exists. 
 The people will not acquiesce in this plan, 
 for any otlier than temporary purposes, until 
 all other feasible plans have been tried. The 
 heavy expenses, and the other evils of it, will 
 very soon teach them how to overcome their 
 prejudices against the blacks. They will soon 
 discover that an army of loyal black voters is 
 cheaper and better to keep rebels in subjection 
 than an army of soldiers. ^ 
 
 Status of the States in Rehellion, and 
 their rights and powers under the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Great diversity of opinion and confusion 
 of ideas exist in the public mind as to the 
 condition of the rebel States, and their rights 
 and powers under the Constitution. The ques- 
 tion has been discussed by both friends and 
 enemies to the Government, on the theory, 
 that, if we can once determine whether they 
 are in the Union or out of it, then their rights 
 and powers under the Constitution are deter- 
 mined. 
 
 In the platform of the copperhead party of 
 Ohio, it is declared that " the ordinances of se- 
 cession being void, the so-called seceded States 
 are in the Union as States, and, as such, are 
 entitled to all the rights of the other States, 
 and may therefore send senators and repre- 
 sentatives to Congress," and that " to each 
 State belongs the right to determine for itself 
 the qualifications of its electors." 
 
 The proposition may appear well at a first 
 view ; but let us carefully examine it, and see 
 if it be true. 
 
 All will acknowledge the justness of the 
 maxim quoted from Mr. Hamilton at the 
 head of this article, that " every government 
 ought to contain in itself the means of its own 
 preservation." If the democratic theory 
 stated above be true, does the nation contain 
 in itself the means of its own preservation ? 
 If many of its States, and millions of its peo- 
 ple, may renounce its authority ; and, by an 
 appeal to arms, defy its power ; and, on their 
 failure in the trial at arms, resume the power 
 they had renounced, and hold and exercise it 
 in defiance of the nation, — their failure is their 
 success ; and success is the failure of the na- 
 tion ; and the nation does not possess the 
 means of its own preservation. 
 
 What is a State ? "In public law, a State 
 is a complete, or self-sufficient body of persons, 
 united together in one community for defence 
 of their rights, and to do right to foreigners." 
 — Kent's Com., vol. i. p. 189, note. 
 
 The United States of America is such a 
 State as this. It is plain that the States, so 
 called, of the United States, are not such 
 States as Kent's definition describes. The 
 State defined by him possesses absolute un- 
 controllable sovereignty. It may make war, 
 and it may make peace. The States of the 
 Union can do no such things. They are po- 
 litical bodies, existing under the Constitution, 
 and subordinate to the sovereign power of 
 the nation ; permitted by it to exercise some 
 of its functions, such as the administration 
 of justice, the punishment of crimes, and the 
 regulation of local, police, and municipal af- 
 fairs, and having the power of taxation for 
 these purposes. 
 
 There can be no gradations in supremacy. 
 There can be no division of its power. It 
 dwells in the State known as the United 
 States, or it does not exist. The States of 
 the United States are creatures of the Con- 
 stitution. They can govern within their sphere 
 only in a manner friendly to the United 
 States. When the rebel States renounced 
 their constitutional relations to the United 
 States, and their governments under its Con- 
 stitution, they abdicate government. There 
 ceased to be any State Governments within 
 those States, under the Gonstitu'ion of the 
 United States. Whatever governments there 
 were could not be recognized as governments 
 under the Constitution of the United States, 
 because they had thrown off the authority of 
 the nation ; had assumed to exercise powers 
 of sovereignty ; and were at war against the 
 United States. The governments of those 
 States were not exercising power under and 
 by virtue of the Constitution of the United 
 States, but against it, and in defiance of it. 
 
 The authority of the United States, and all 
 governments under it, could not have been 
 more completely overthrown than they were 
 for four years. 
 
 Now, it seems to me, that, if we will pause 
 here, and recognize a very prominent foct of 
 history, and duly consider it, the difficulties 
 about the status of the States and people in 
 rebellion, and their rights and powers under 
 the Constitution, will disappear. That fact 
 is this : For four years ihere were no State 
 Governments in those States, under the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. Their renun- 
 
12 
 
 ciation of the authority of the Constitution, 
 and tbeir abdication of government under it, 
 were complete. In this condition they were 
 when their armies were overpowered and 
 dispersed, and the United States resumed its 
 sovereign authority over them. The State 
 Governments under' the Constitution being 
 renounced and abdicated, and the govern- 
 ments set up in their pUices being overthrown 
 by the poAver of the United States, there are 
 no State Governments ; and the authority and 
 power of the United States over both States 
 and people is complete and unquestionable. 
 It may govern them with or without elections. 
 If it chooses to have elections, it must perscribe 
 the qualification of electors ; and it may make 
 suffrage limited or universal. The so-called 
 seceded States have neither right nor power in 
 the premises ; because, as States of the Union 
 under the Constitution, they have destroyed 
 their governments. As geographical States, 
 as communities of people, the rebel States 
 are in the Union ; but as governing agencies, 
 or powers, they are not ; for, as such, they 
 have, though their efforts to subvert the 
 nation, been themselves overthrown. 
 
 These geographical districts, these com- 
 munities of people, the National Government 
 is in duty bound to hold and control in a 
 manner compatible with its own safety, and 
 the safety of the loyal States and people of 
 the nation. 
 
 The Constitutional provision allowing the 
 States to determine the qualifications of elec- 
 tors is not applicable to them, and cannot be, 
 until they become States under the Constitu- 
 tion. Until then, the National Government 
 has full power to prescribe the qualifications 
 of electors ; and, if it may control this in the 
 organization of States, the States may be al- 
 lowed to control it afterwards with less dan- 
 ger to the nation. 
 
 The experience of the nation, however, has 
 shown the justness and truth of the remark 
 of Mr. Hamilton, when speaking of the dan- 
 gers of the State and National Governments 
 from each other, that "an impartial view of 
 the matter cannot fail to result in the con- 
 viction, tliat each, as far as possible, ought 
 to depend on itself for its own preserva- 
 tion." 
 
 Under a government like ours, the question 
 of suffrage is of such fundamental importance, 
 and the perpetuity of the nation so directly 
 depends upon it, that it ought unquestionably 
 to have the exclusive right to determine who 
 shall vote for its executive and legislative ofl&ces. 
 
 To show the necessity of this, no further argu- 
 ment is needed than to call the attention of 
 the reader to the condition of the country at 
 this time. 
 
 Six millions of rebels, enemies to the Union 
 and the Constitution, are claiming the right to 
 send representatives and senators to congress, 
 for ten millions of people, by their votes ; and 
 there is a powerful party in the loyal States 
 who declare themselves boldly in favor of the 
 claim. 
 
 AVhatever it is necessary to do in order to 
 put this power into the hands of the National 
 Government, untramelled, should be done 
 now by the Union party. The nation must 
 have, if it would be secure in its power, the 
 right to close the ballot-box against the dis- 
 loyal, and to keep it open for the loyal. The 
 Government may, at no distant day, find itself 
 very much tramelled by this provision of the 
 Constitution ; and this power should be 
 fully restored to it by an amendment of the 
 Constitution, and such an amendment should 
 I be submitted to the country now while its ne- 
 cessity is seen and felt by all loyal men. 
 
 The Government cannot permit itself to be 
 destroyed by hostile voters any more tlian by 
 hostile armies. The Union is not made to be 
 sacrificed by the Constitution, but to be pro- 
 tected by it ; and if the Constitution becomes 
 the means of endangering the Union and the 
 Government, safety must be sought by the 
 adoption of the principle enunciated by Mr. 
 Lincoln ; that is, " The paramount idea of the 
 Constitution is to preserve the Union." 
 
 Limitation on the Power of the States to 
 regulate Svffrage. 
 
 That provision of the Constitution under 
 which the States have heretofore regulated 
 suffrage, like every other provision of that in- 
 strument, must be so construed as to limit 
 State action within just limits. It could never 
 have been intended to give the States power 
 to so limit the elective franchise as to defeat 
 the purpose of the people in making the Con- 
 stitution. The Constitution was made hy the 
 people, in order to form a more perfect Un- 
 ion, to establish justice, and to secure the 
 blessings of liberty to themselves and their 
 posterity. 
 
 Would it be just and reasonable to so in- 
 terpret the Constitution, that a provision of it 
 shall defeat these objects of the people in 
 making it? The purposes for which the 
 Constitution was made, and the facts then 
 surrounding those who made it, must be kept 
 
13 
 
 constantly in view in seeking the meaning of 
 particular pi-ovisions. 
 
 . The Government, as made by the people, 
 was a democratic, representative republic. 
 It is a historic fact, that, at the time the Con- 
 stitution was made, the people, without dis- 
 tinction of color, esercised the right of suffrage 
 in all the States but three or four. The Con- 
 stitution recognized the State laws then ex- 
 isting which regulated suffrage. But did 
 this recognition of laws then in force give the 
 States then forming the Union, and those 
 which might afterwards be admitted, absolute 
 and exclusive control of the question of suf- 
 frage ? 
 
 As before remarked, we must bear in mind 
 the purposes for which the Constitution was 
 made. Can the States, under this provision 
 relating to electors, by changing their laws on 
 this subject, defeat the objects of the Consti- 
 tution, and make that which was ordained to 
 establish justice and secure liberty an instru- 
 ment to establish inequality — which is injus- 
 tice — and destroy liberty ? If the States may 
 exclude from the exercise of the elective fran- 
 chise whomsoever they choose, then the Con- 
 stitution contains within itself that which 
 may defeat all the ends it was intended to ac- 
 complish. The States may close the ballot- 
 box against the people, and may allow only a 
 small aristocracy to vote, and thus change the 
 democratic republic made by our fathers into 
 an aristocracy. 
 
 The parts of the Constitution must be made 
 to bend to the whole, and not the whole to 
 the parts ; and the provision under consider- 
 ation cannot justly be so interpreted as to 
 give the States unlimited control of the elec- 
 tive franchise. 
 
 But, as before remarked, all doubt should 
 be removed from the question by an amend- 
 ment of the Constitution, giving to Congress 
 full power, whenever it should choose to 
 exercise it, to regulate the qualifications of 
 electors for aU officers of the National Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Powers of the rebel States as to Amend- 
 ments of the Constitution. 
 
 It will not be considered out of place here 
 to inquire, What are the powers of the rebel 
 States in relation to amending the Constitu- 
 tion ? If my views as to their lacking the es- 
 sential requisites of States under the Constitu- 
 tion be correct, it follows, that, to secure the 
 adoption of an amendment of the Constitu- , 
 tion, it can be necessary to procure ;:only the I 
 
 approval of three-fourths of the States retain- 
 ing and exercising their functions as States 
 under the Constitution. 
 
 It is not worth while to rehearse the argu- 
 ments by which it is believed to be shown 
 that the rebel States, for the time being, and 
 until their State Governments are restored in 
 such manner as the General Government may 
 see fit, have ceased to possess the functions of 
 States under the Constitution, for all purposes 
 of Government. Still existing as geographi- 
 cal entities, and as communities of people, and 
 as such properly enough called States, and as 
 such still within the Union, or nation, they 
 have lost tlieir power as integral parts of the 
 Union of Governments. 
 
 The nation continues to exist, the Union 
 still lives and must continue ; and it cannot 
 be defeated in its will by the fact that some 
 of the States have destroyed their constitu- 
 tional governments. If it be, as claimed, 
 necessary to procure the concurrence of all 
 the States, counting these in rebellion, then 
 the dead and disloyal have as much power as 
 the living and loyal. 
 
 Suppose the Bebellion had been successful, 
 and the Southern confederacy had achieved 
 its independence, would the United States 
 be forever prevented from amending its Con- 
 stitution because it could not procure the con- 
 currence of three-fourths of all the States of 
 which, at one time, it consisted? Or, suppose 
 the 'Rebellion had withstood the power of the 
 Government for thirty instead of four years. 
 Must its will be postponed for thirty years, 
 awaiting the events of war, and subse- 
 quent reorganization ? There is a de facto 
 death of governments as well as de facto 
 governments. The rebel govemments of 
 the rebel States were de facto governments, 
 and while they existed as such, the govem- 
 ments of the same States, as States of the 
 Union, ceased to exist, and cannot be revived 
 until the sovereign voice of the nation sneaks 
 the word. Three-fourths, then, of the States 
 which have preserved their constitutional re- 
 lations to the Government, which are in the 
 full vigor of constitutional life, must be suffi- 
 cient to adopt an amendment to the Constitu- 
 tion. No just complaint can be alleged against 
 this mode of proceeding. The States which 
 are not now in a condition to have a voice on 
 such questions voluntarily severed the consti- 
 tutional relations between themselves and the 
 nation, which gave them life and power. The 
 nation must move on, and they must take the 
 consequences of their folly and their crimes. 
 
14 
 
 Dangers of restoring the Rebels to Politi- 
 cal Power. 
 
 For years to come, the chief objects of leg- 
 islafioii will bo things growing out of the Ee- 
 bellion. Among these, we may enumerate 
 taxation and revenue ; indemnity to loyal 
 persons for injuries sustained during the war ; 
 slaves made free, and to be cared for and pro- 
 tected ; rebels to be watched and pimished ; 
 pensions fur our disabled, soldiers, and the 
 families of the killed. 
 
 Now, upon what one of these subjects of 
 legislation will the South be united with the 
 North, if we suppose an almost universal am- 
 nesty to rebels, and that they send represen- 
 tatives and senators to Congress ? Will they 
 agree with us on revenue and taxation ? Will 
 they vote taxes on themselves to pay a debt 
 made to subjugate them ? The copperheads 
 of Ohio have sounded the key-note of the 
 future policy of rebels North and South. In 
 their platform of the 24th of August, they 
 say " we regard a national debt as a national 
 curse;" and "we most explicitly condemn 
 the policy of the party in power, in creating 
 thousands of millions of government debt, and 
 attempting to exonerate the holders thereof 
 from all obligations to pay their just propor- 
 tion of taxes for the support of the State in 
 which they reside, thereby creating an odious 
 moneyed aristocracy." 
 
 From every portion of the South we see 
 enough to know that the Ohio copperheads 
 have only given voice to Southern feeling in 
 these resolutions. There will be again a 
 great national democracy with its stomach and 
 brains in the South and its tail in the North. 
 It will be the dirty business of this Northern 
 tail to serve obsequiously the Southern' stom- 
 ach and brains. They will vote together. 
 Will they vote to perpetuate " a national 
 curse " V Will they vote to sustain a policy 
 they " explicitly condemn," of allowing gov- 
 ernment securities to be free of State taxation ? 
 Or will they repudiate the contracts of the Gov- 
 ernment wliich they condemn, and the national 
 debt which they pronounce a curse ? They 
 will be consistent. They will vote against all 
 the things they condemn and call curses. 
 When questions of indenmity come up, where 
 will they be ? They may agree to go for in- 
 demnity to loyal men ; but they will couple the 
 condition that the South shall also be indem- 
 nilicd for its losses, and thus try to compel the 
 country to pay for the slaves it has set free, or 
 allow them to be consigned to slavery again. 
 
 If the Government undertakes to make 
 good its pledges of freedom and protection to 
 the blacks of the South, will they fuvor such 
 measures? It would be as rational to expect 
 the oath of amnesty to transform rebels into 
 loyal men, as to expect this. 
 
 Would they favor the appropriation of 
 money to pay pensions to our disabled sol- 
 diers, and the families of the dead V 
 
 They have at home as many of these as we 
 have, and they believe them to have been 
 wounded and killed in a glorious cause, which 
 only wanted success to make it one of the 
 grandest pieces of history ever written ; and 
 they believe they are as much entitled to pen- 
 sions as our men and their families are. 
 
 Shall we throw one-third of the political 
 power of the country into the hands of rebels, 
 and thus render the ascendency of rebels and 
 coppei^ieads at an early day a strong proba- 
 bility ; and thus endanger the whole policy of 
 the Government? 
 
 Every patriot should set his face sternly 
 against any plan of reorganization which may 
 result thus ? 
 
 Monuments should be built on every bat- 
 tle-field from Pea Ridge to Big Bethel to 
 commemorate the courage and patriotism of 
 our soldiers. Suppose such a proposition 
 made in the House, with one third of its mem- 
 bers from the South. The mover and his 
 supporters would dwell upon the greatness 
 and glory of our achievements. Grant, and 
 Sherman, and Rosecrans, and IMeade, and 
 Hooker, and Thomas, and Sheridan, and 
 Burnside, and Butler, and many others equal- 
 ly deserving of praise, would bo eulogized 
 with all the fervors of eloquence. They 
 would be compared with Napoleon and his 
 marshals, those " demi-gods of fame," 
 without any danger of mortification to Amer- 
 ican national pride. Patriotic praise would 
 find its appropriate climax in a glowing tribute 
 to the heroic self-denial, the patient suffering, 
 the devoted patriotism, and fiery courage of 
 our soldiers. Fired with the inspiration of 
 the flame, they would draw a picture, which, 
 for the greatness of its actors, and the grand 
 magnificence of its scenes, and the crowning 
 glory of its achievements, surpasses all that is 
 written of ancient or modern times. And the 
 vote is taken, and the appropriation made. 
 No ! But a dozen impatient orators from the 
 South, representatives of chivalry, believers 
 in Lee and Southern superiority, spring to 
 their feet, and our patriotic representatives 
 must lii^en tO comparison between Lee and 
 
15 
 
 Grant, in which the superior generalship and 
 patriotism of Lee are maintained. Sherman 
 \h stigmatized as a destroying savage ; and 
 Butler denounced as a brute. The superior 
 courage of the Southern soldiers is st(>utly 
 maintained, and all the rewards of patriotism 
 are claimed for them. 
 
 We are told we must not wound Southern 
 pride. We are cautioned not to fire the Southern 
 heart, by making odious distinctions between 
 Northern and Southern soldiers. Indignant 
 protests are made against taxing Southern 
 patriots to build monuments to Northern ones. 
 The introduction of all such exciting topics 
 into Congress is deprecated. Northern cop- 
 perheads, always ready to do the bidding of 
 their masters of the South, join them, and 
 the proposition is voted down. 
 
 Such will be the result of restoring rebels 
 to political power. 
 
 W'lat the Blades should have ; with gene- 
 ral Concluding Remarks. 
 
 Having made free men of the blacks, it 
 becomes necessary that more should be done 
 for them. By its appeal to them to aid in 
 suppressing the Rebellion, the Government 
 has taught them that they are men, and that 
 they have power. However docile they were 
 as slaves, they are not hereafter to be ignored, 
 and disposed of without being- consulted. As 
 has been said by De Tocqueville, " With his 
 liberty, he can but acquire a degree of in- 
 struction which will enable him to appreciate 
 his misfortunes, and to discern a remedy for 
 them. One can understand«lavery ;. but how 
 allow several millions of citizens to exist un- 
 der a load of eternal infamy and hereditary 
 wretchedness." 
 
 They are taxed, they have been required 
 to fight, they are loyal, and they should be 
 represented. " That light that lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world" will teach 
 them that the Government which requires obe- 
 dience stipulates protection ; and that free- 
 dom, unprotected by the usual and constitu- 
 tional means, is a mockery. Can the Govern- 
 ment expect to retain the confidence and 
 friendship of the blacks of the South if it 
 allows that power in the Government, which 
 the blacks are conscious they should direct, 
 to be directed by their rebel masters ? Can 
 the Government afford to lose the support of 
 the blacks ? What will it get in exchange for 
 it 1 If a fail- measure of justice is not given 
 the blacks, will they not become a weakness 
 and a danger instead of being what they 
 
 should be, and what above all things they de- 
 sire to be, -a strong defense to the country? 
 
 Gratitude, humanity, justice, sound politi* 
 eal policy, all demand his enfranchisement. 
 The Government has given him the hopes, 
 the feelings, the desires, and the necessities 
 of a free man. He must now have the ballot, 
 and representation, and land, and the means 
 of education. 
 
 The great trouble to be overcome is a feel- 
 ing among us, that whatever is done for the 
 black man is done against the white man. 
 
 This is so nvmifest an error that free dis- 
 cussion must soon brush it away. If the 
 blacks, as a class, become as good as the 
 -whites, who can be injured by it ? To give 
 them every fair opportunity for effort is cer- 
 tainly reasonable and just. 
 
 Two great evils must somehow be overcome. 
 The first is the evil of a landed aristocracy in 
 the South. The second is an evil which grows 
 out of the first, — a large landless population. 
 While the land is monopolized by the few, the 
 many must of necessity be dependent. A 
 state of dependence is incompatible with the 
 high privileges and duties of American cit- 
 izenship. 
 
 Confiscation must be made to do its work 
 as far as practicable. Traitors have no rights 
 only those which clemency grants. Indis- 
 criminate punishment would be safer and 
 better than mistaken clemency. If the inno- 
 cent in heart have been compelled to do the 
 works of treason, and are sometimes punished 
 with the guilty, on the Rebellion rests the 
 guilt ; for no human power can always dis- 
 tinguish between the guilty and the innocent 
 in a rebellion. 
 
 It is to be regretted, though all such re- 
 grets are unavailing, that our statesmen did 
 not discover some means of avoiding the ques- 
 tions which grow out of the provision of the 
 Constitution relating to " forfeitures " in cases 
 of " attainder of treason." It seemed to me 
 so easy of accomplishment that it struck me 
 with surprise that none seemed to see it. A 
 law in the early stages of the Rebellion " to 
 declare the punishment of treason,' and im- 
 posing heavy fines and other penalties, or 
 fines alone, in the discretion of the courts try- 
 ing the cases, would have enabled the Gov- 
 ernment to break in pieces the landed aristoc- 
 racy of the South, and to make distributions 
 of land among the freed population, and there 
 could have been no question of the constitu- 
 tional power. But, that opportunity having 
 passed by unimproved, it now remains for the 
 
16 
 
 country to make the most it can out of the 
 laws as they now stand, or may be constitu- 
 tionally amended. 
 
 Throughout this paper there has been no 
 attempt to show whether the powers claimed 
 for the Government should be exercised by 
 the Executive or by Congress. I could see 
 no reason why the subject should be touched. 
 The only matter about which I feel anxiety is 
 that the proper powers for the emergencies of 
 the times should be claiined, and shown to 
 be in the National Government. How these 
 powers are divided, and shoukl be exercised 
 by the different departments of the Govern- 
 ment, may be safely left for them to decide. 
 
 The main purpose of all speakers and wri-' 
 ters for the Union should be to show that the 
 National Government possesses all the power 
 needed to make a full and permanent settle- 
 ment of the two great questions before the 
 public mind ; to wit, What shall be done 
 with the Rebels ? What shall be done with 
 the free loyal blacks ? and to aid in the for- 
 mation of a public sentiment that will sustain 
 the Government in exercising those powers ; 
 and which will not allo.w any member of the 
 Government, or of Congress, to dodge the 
 responsibilities of his position, and which will 
 behead him if he does. 
 
 Now is the time, as it seems to me, to 
 press upon the public, attention a full discus- 
 sion of all matters relating to the Rebellion, 
 and to insist upon making all loyal men equal 
 before the law. Our cause is strong as against 
 the rebels. If we postpone action until their 
 sons come upon the stage, it will be greatly 
 weakened. 
 
 Docs the country groan under its load of 
 taxation ? The Rebellion put that load upon 
 us. Do we mourn for eons or brothers or 
 fathers slain in battle ? or who pined and died 
 in hospitals V Are we shocked with horror 
 and stricken with grief at the recollection of 
 friends and kindred murdered in Southern 
 prison-pens ? It ia all the accumulated guilt 
 of Rebellion. . And every thing cries aloud 
 that rebels shall not be restored to political 
 power. 
 
 Have the blacks been kind and humane to 
 our soldiers? Have they been faithful and 
 loyal ? Have more than two hundred thou- 
 
 sand of them thrown themselves into the war 
 in the cause of the Union, and left the same 
 number of white men to enjoy the comforts 
 and blessings of home ? Have they been as 
 brave as the bravest of all the grand armies 
 of the Republic ? Then all these things are 
 so many arguments in favor of their enfran- 
 chisement ; and none of these arguments can 
 gain strength by delay. 
 
 Blessed by the kind favor of the Almighty 
 Ruler of Nations with a form of gove-nment 
 and civil institutions which the sagos of an- 
 tiquity sighed for, and which was the dream 
 of Plato and Tully, but which was looked 
 upon as beyond the power of human achiei'f'- 
 ment, let us prize them as we should, and 
 endeavor to be worthy of them. If we are true 
 to the principles of the Constitution, and the 
 teachings of the mighty men who founded it, 
 the uproar and commotions through which v/e 
 have just passed will be but the beginning of 
 our greatness and glory. Let us recognize 
 the fact that two ideas direct and rule all the 
 humanizing and evangelizing activities of tb 
 age. Those ideas are faith in Christ and 
 faith in IMan. Faith in Christ as the great' 
 giver of light, and teacher of truth ; and fait i 
 in Man that he will receive the light and th 
 truth. Before these, the old rubbish of erro 
 and oppression will speedily be swept away 
 Inspired by these heavenly ideas, the peopl 
 are marching on with a mighty tread befor( 
 which the most hoary wrongs tremble in thei. 
 strongholds. 
 
 If America is true to itself, true to the 
 principles, of its Gbnstitution, the time is not 
 remote when civil liberty will be the heritage 
 of all mankind. 
 
 But as our privileges are great, so our re- 
 sponsibilities are momentous. Let us be taught 
 by the admonitions of experience. Let us 
 never forget the deluge of fire from which 
 God has delivered us. And Jet us ever re- 
 member that, " Now also the axe is laid at the 
 root of the trees ; every tree which bringeth 
 not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast 
 into the fire." 
 
 If there be haste in anything, let it be in do- 
 ing justice to the friends of the country ; if 
 there be delay in any thing, let it be in giving 
 pardon and power to its enemies. 
 
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