Consideration of Negro Suffrage 99 -the politicians who are lords and masters over the peasantry to almost as great an extent as they are over the negroes. . If the politicians of the south have the absolute certainty laid before them that in 1870 their representation in Congress will be diminished largely in consequence of the non-en franchisement of the negro, they will see to it before that time that the proper reform is introduced. They will convince their constituents that it is necessary and proper to allow the negro to vote, and he will be allowed so to do. At present it seems to me that it would be a misfortune to the negro himself to thrust this privilege upon him. . . The southern negro is far less concerned in the result of elections, at present, than he is in the decisions of the local courts, and far less interested in these than in the general temper of society. The negro always has been and always must remain associated with the people of the south in a thousand intimate relations relations over which legislation can have little control... Even before the courts of the country I have little fear but that he will secure substantial justice. These courts are generally in the hands of the more intelligent and reasonable classes, among whom there is a sentiment of real pity towards the negro, as being now left to contend on his own resources against the stronger white man. Legislatures and common councils may frame mean-spirited and discriminating laws against him, but when he is brought to actual trial, and his helplessness is made apparent, the practice of his jurors, his judges, and his lawyers is much better than their professions. Especially is it true when the suit is, as it often happens, between a negro and a mean white. The old slave-owners always felt a preference for their negroes over this class, and even had a positive dislike towards the latter, and they entertain the same feelings still; and let a suit be brought between one of them and a respectable negro, and I have no fear for the result on the part of the negro.. As an evidence of the most encouraging growth of public sentiment in the south, conforming to the great onward march of events, I may mention the advance that has taken place in relation to the question of negro testimony. Eight months ago, when I first went south, the subject was one that scarcely engaged the serious attention of public men, much less their favorable consideration; but when the Texas convention, the last in the south, and only very recently assembled, came together, so much had popular sentiment advanced on this subject that only eight members of that body offered any opposition to a measure proposing to allow the negro to testify in cases of his own concern, and nearly one-half the delegates favored giving him the most unrestricted right. A tremendous struggle was made over this last point-a struggle not for partial rights, but for universal privileges. The opponents of the measure strongly argued that if the negro was admitted to testify in all cases in which he or any of his race might be interested, his own rights were secured beyond peradventure, and he was legally placed on a better foundation than the white man, which is true; since, in Texas, a colored man can now subpoena witnesses both from whites and blacks, while a white man can summon only those of his own color. I know of no state among all that I visited in which either the constitution or statutes do not authorize the negro to testify in all cases in which he or any of his race may be interested. "Loyalist" Opposition to Negro Suffrage Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, part iii, p. 62. Testimony of M. J. Saffold, later a reconstructionist. Most "loyalists" opposed negro suffrage. [1866] IF you compel us to carry through universal suffrage of colored men over twenty-one years of age, . . it will prove quite an incubus upon us in the organization of a national Union party of white men there; it will furnish our opponents with a very effective weapon of warfare against us; at the same time, I want it understood that I have no prejudice whatever against qualified negro suffrage. I think the government of the United States is committed, by all its past legislation, to the policy of exercising some restriction upon the right of universal suffrage. Foreigners have not been permitted to vote until after a certain term of residence in this country; minors have not been permitted to vote until arriving at a certain age. If the United States Government, then, recognizes the fact that some restrictions are necessary and proper, it would seem to me that in an immense mass of colored people, who have just now had the chains stricken from them, who have been kept down under an institution, one feature of which has been founded in a belief that ignorance added to their value as slaves, it would not be wise or proper to enfranchise the whole of them now. The Negroes as Citizens Report of Joint Committee on Reconstruction, part iv, p. 149. Testimony of Stephen Powers, traveling correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial. [1866] NINE-TENTHS of the plantation negroes are living in a state of brutish ignorance, and have very little comprehension of the issues of this war, beyond the mere fact that they were set at liberty and were set free. The house servants, the hotel waiters, and the residents of the cities are much more intelligent, and in many cases have exhibited a very commendable degree of information in regard to the issues of the war. . . Four-fifths of the negroes in the south have no just comprehension of the franchises and privileges of a free citizen. But there has been much improvement in that respect since the Christmas holidays. I think I have never known of any more complete industrial and social revolution than was accomplished during those holidays. Up to that time the negroes had been thriftless, gay, improvident, and relying on what they confidently expected, the division of their old master's property at that time. They were, however, sorely disappointed, and for a time were discouraged and desponding. But they very soon recovered, however, in consequence of their natural buoyancy, and have applied themselves to work for themselves and their families with a great degree of industry. They have by this time a pretty thorough understanding that it is necessary for them to provide for themselves, and they are setting about in a rude, ignorant way, which is all that could have been expected of them. As for the right of suffrage, and in many cases the right to testify in courts, they have the most vague and shadowy ideas. I conversed with many of them, particularly the plantation negroes, about the right of suffrage, and I found them afraid to speak of it, as though it was something that was not to be meddled with by them. The common remark among them was, that they did know anything about it, that "massa had never said anything to them about it." If they were led to the polls, I think the act of voting with them would be a merely physical act, and that it would be accomplished with very little appreciation. |