Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/50

42 this question entered largely into the recent political canvass, directly in Ohio, Minnesota and Kansas, less directly in New Jersey, and indirectly in all the other States in which elections were held; nor will it be denied that, in every case, it contributed to the increase of the Democratic, and the decrease of the Republican vote. Ohio, for instance, is undoubtedly a Republican State by a majority varying from thirty to forty thousand, and upon any issue which distinctly divides the two parties, the result is sure to be in favor of the Republicans by at least thirty thousand majority. In the late canvass in that State, negro suffrage was clearly presented, and in a vote larger by 2,689 than any ever polled in the State, was voted down by a majority of 38,353. The following are the complete figures of the vote on the proposed amendment to the State Constitution providing for negro suffrage:

But, apart from the mere prejudice of race involved in this question, negro suffrage was presented to the North in its most unfavorable aspect. In New York, Ohio, New Jersey or Connecticut, the right of negroes to vote would have no appreciable effect upon the result of the elections in these States, since the negro vote would be so very small. But in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the other Southern States, it would be a revolution of portentous magnitude. Even Republicans, who believed it to be not only just, but inevitable, were appalled at the prospect of rich, prosperous and populous portions of the country being transferred to the control of a mass of voters who but yesterday were uneducated slaves. If slavery was the demoralizing, soul-blighting institution that it was generally held to be by the North previous to the late war, plainly enough its victims could not be fit to discharge the highest offices of citizenship. If they were fit to be rulers in one-third of the Union, equally clear was it that slavery was a much better institution than it had been supposed to be. To avoid all misapprehension, it should be added that this statement is presented simply as the view taken of the question by moderate Republicans.

Such were the chief influences which worked against the success of the Republican party in the elections of 1867, and which, if not checked, will insure its defeat at the approaching Presidential election. Despite this apparently gloomy prospect, to the impartial observer of the political field it is evident that this party has the best chances of electing its candidate for President in 1868. It must not be overlooked that the Republicans are in a large majority in all of the Northern States save one or two. On this point