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Show A CURI'jTJS PIECE OF HISTORY, j Mr. Hubert Dale Owen, in the 1 Atlantic Month' 'j fur June, gives the I LL-tnry of an unsuccessful attempt made hy him during the spring of 1S06, through the reeoi:itru-tion com- . mittee of CiHigren, to substitute for, an immediate storage claudo to the , constitution -f the United State?, a ! provision which practically would I have postponed nc-:ro euflrage until un-til the 4th of July, 1S76, giving the people of that race ten years in which to prepare for the duties of citizenship. citizen-ship. Mr. Owen first laid bis prop -, ; .-ition beforo Thud Stevens, whu. though making somo objections! to it on the ground that the rebels of ; the south had few rights which the j north Bhonld respect, was struck with ; the justice of the amendment and proceeded to lay it before the committee. com-mittee. Owen also proposed an amendment ex. -hiding all confederate ofneers who had been officers in the United States army or navy, or members mem-bers of the tliirty-i-ixtb congress, or members id the cabinet in 1SG0 from emigres until after the 4th cf July, 1S70. Stevens would not agree to this clause. Senator Feescuden thought favorably of the suffrage amendment; E. B. Wash-on Wash-on mo agreed to it enthusiastically. Conklin and Howard opposed it, and g Boutwcll in a general way and Bing- t ham qualified!;-. Sumner stood out l stillly on principle, refusing to vote for the amendment. Senator Wilson r was heartily in tavor of it. Subse- 1 quently the amend nent was reported, ( omitting all allusion to suffrage, and Stevens explained that Owen's propo- ( sition was adopted and ordered to be reported to congress, but Mr. Fres- i senden being confined to his room by 1 an attack of vari loid, the report was j postponed. In the meantime the republican members from Now York, Illinois and Indiana, canvassed the subject and came to the conclusion that negro suffrage in any shape aught not to enter into the republican pro gramme for the next canvass, and the vote on Owen's plan was reconsidered, reconsider-ed, and a report patched up, leaving out ail allusion to the suffrage question The 14th amendment was passed by both houses, in the absence of Mr. Fesneivlen, and Stevens, after his characteristic f tshion, burst forth, " Damn the varioloid ! It changed the whole policy of tho country." Four years afterwards the loth amendment was passed, conferring immediate sufirage upon the negroes. In commenting upon these facts the Chicago Tribune says: It is uele, of course, to speculate upon what mieht have been the result if Mr. Owen's wise counsel had prevai'ed, r 1 J negro suu'rage hud been po tponed ,-r It n years; but it U a' roost certain that ..e. negroes wouM have b en b tter prepared pre-pared to-dy for the intelligent exorcise et'sutfrnge th'in they are now after rive : vcarscxp-uer.ee with it. There s no : doubt that their ignorance Ins been abused bv intMgume politicians, una 1 that tho "caTpet-bacgers at the soutn ' have cultiviited amor g them a low idea ' of ihe right of sun'rase which will be difficult to overcome. Ib right of utiVasje among tho mere intelligent negroes ne-groes of the simlh 0 uis to be synonymous synony-mous with the p-ivilego of holding oilice; wi'hthrtrtst the ba' lot semis to be soiiA-thing to b-? bartered away for inonev, or --etneother jiromie of personal rewnrd. If ngro i-utt rape had b&en fle-fernd fle-fernd ten years, a- Mr. Owen prop- swd, it i.- rot probable that tbre would have bc.'n any race-issu'i in the po itics of the lou'.h. The significance of these revelations, revela-tions, however, is to be found in the fact that the policy of immediate negiu sufirage was doubted by many of the republicans ten years ago, and that it is now generally conceded to have been a great mistake. Whether any amount of education and experience as citizens will render the negro race capable of exercising enlightened suffrage is still an unsolved un-solved problem, but there can be no question as to the folly of investing them with full citizenship, without reganl to educational qualifications, thus putting the grossest and most stolid ignorance on a par with the highest intelligence and culture. This act alone, which was consummated purely for its partisan advantages.has leii to the pernicious and fatal results that have characterized southern politics, pol-itics, and will exercise a great influence influ-ence against the republican party in the presidential election. |