NEGRO GOVERNMENT IN THE SOUTHERN STATES OF AMERICA.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 72, 18 May 1868, Page 122

NEGRO GOVERNMENT IN THE SOUTHERN STATES OF AMERICA.

5-r (Fromi the. NewnToik ;TMes>> ■)' ■■■' ■ tKat the-negro populatioii of the' South -wilLibe; ableto retain for any length oi has been placedinthen? l hands. s ;: ■ d.one;fbr.‘ thein alkthat can.possibly. i,be.done;.. They have .had .majorities in -aUthe State Conventions. yotes.Jthel.Constitutioris, have bem* r formed. 5 ,In.(their interest laviis have, -been .made,: and ■ for theirad vantage the'framework of things has been fixed.., They.aeem to feel that power has ;heen.permanently secured to them; and ; tjier special .admirers in Congress act as though there* could be no doubt of:ltbeir continued, supremacy., . • Yet the simple fact that they constitute only, a third of the.: population of the Southern. States is conclusive as to j their political subordination, in the long, rup.ln forming.'themselves into a party, opposed to the- (whites,- ■ they have, .challenged ; a direct, : ,contest >on this '..point and as the struggle is defi ; nitely ; and = pointedly between the races qua . .races,- they have, compelled a decision: of their claims upon this ground. In our system numbersmust inevitably tell. By the disfranchisement of a large" 1 number of the whites, and the

conferring., of- universal suffrage upon | the blacks, an advantage may be tem porarily secured to the latter. But at most, this'can only have.its effec for ■ a few- years. E very- year sees : vast .crop of young men attain a ma jority, r to whom the disfranchising laws because, of participation: in. the rebel lion, haveno applicationand befor< ten years have passed we shall.ihavi hundreds ,of thousands ef white yoteri in ;the South who cannot be disfra,n chised without an overthrow of demo craticgovernment;,, This atone wjl give the -whites a numerical :.prepon derance that will easily overcome thi political supreiuacy of the blacks. ; Tb< negroes, now,' have. all the advantage: of their numerical strengtb. . The'fu ture can bring them no increase.- Be side their fixed and absolute inferiority in-hnmbers, : they weaker every, day., - * If this statement alone were, noi conclusive,.against.the political, dominance of the blacks, we would refer t< other fixed points that the white popu lation, of the South wi4 continue i tc hold in their -favor, *■possession: of the, landed.property,:the commercia cbntrol, the brain superiority, the po litical'traditions, tne whit< ?ace and will continue there. Thenegn will, .we trust, continue, to grew in-ge-neral knowledge, in political wisdonr and in democratic capacity * but ifwil be a long time before he is' equal ir these, respects, to a race which has th< History and. opportunities of the, Ame rican whites. , Oa the broad,grounds of race, cha racter, conditions, institutions, history and numbers, it is-evident that th( black, race cannot retain political con trol of the South, and equally, evideni that the. race, which,has enormouus aidvantages in all these points; must shovs their effect in politics,government; anc power. It is worth-while for Congress to keep this in mind in jits political Ip gislaiion for the.South.^