My election to the Common Council of the City of Victoria, Vancouver
Island, in 1866, was my first entry to political life, followed by
re-election for succeeding term.
The exercise of the franchise at the polls was by "viva voce," the voter
proclaiming his vote by stating the name of the candidate for whom he
voted in a distinct voice, which was audited on the rolls by clerks of
both parties.
Alike all human contrivances, this mode of obtaining the popular will
has its merits and demerits. For the former it has the impossibility of
ballot-stuffing, for the by-stander can keep accurate tally; also the
opportunity for the voter to display the courage of his conviction,
which is ever manly and the purpose of a representative Commonwealth. On
the other hand, it may fail to register the desire of the voter whose
financial or other obligation may make it impolitic to thus openly
antagonize the candidate he otherwise would with a secret ballot, "that
falls as silently as snow-flakes fall upon the sod" and (should)
"execute a freeman's will as lightning doth the will of God." This is
its mission, the faithful execution of its fiat, the palladium of
liberty for all the people. Opposition to the exercise of this right in
a representative government is disintegrating by contention and suicidal
in success. It has been, and still is, the cause of bitter struggle in
our own country. Disregard of the ultimatum of constitutional
majorities, the foundation of our system of government, as the cause of
the civil war, the past and ever-occurring political corruption in the
Northern and the chief factor in the race troubles in the Southern
States, where the leaders in this disregard and unlawful action allow
the honors and emoluments of office to shut out from their view the
constitutional rights of others; and by the criminality of their conduct
and subterfuge strive to make selfish might honest right.
That slavery was a poor school to fit men to assume the obligations and
duties of an enlightened citizenship should be readily admitted; that
its subjects in the Elysium of their joy and thankfulness to their
deliverers from servitude to freedom, and in ignorance of the polity of
government, should have been easy prey to the unscrupulous is within
reason. Still the impartial historian will indite that, for all that
dark and bloody night of reconstruction through which they passed, the
record of their crime and peculation will "pale its ineffectual rays"
before the blistering blasts of official corruption, murder, and
lynching that has appalled Christendom since the government of these
Southern States has been assumed by their wealth and intelligence. The
abnormal conditions that prevailed during reconstruction naturally
produced hostility to all who supported Federal authority, among whom
the Negro, through force of circumstances, was prominent and most
vulnerable for attack, suffered the most physically, and subsequently
became easy prey for those who would profit by his disfranchisement.
The attempt to justify this and condone this refusal to allow the
colored American exercise of civil and constitutional rights is based on
caste, hatred, and alleged ignorance--conditions that are
world-wide--and the measure of a people's Christianity and the
efficiency of republican institutions can be accurately determined by
the humanity and zeal displayed in their amelioration, not in the denial
of the right, but zealous tuition for its proper exercise.
During the civil war the national conscience, hitherto sluggish, was
awakened and great desire prevailed to award the race the full meed of
civil and political rights, both as a measure of justice and recognition
of their fealty and bravery in support of the national arm.
The Freedman's Bureau, Christian and other benevolent agencies were
inaugurated to fit the freedman for the new obligations. Handicapped as
he has been in many endeavors, his record has been inspiring.
Four-fifths of the race for generations legally and persistently
forbidden to learn to read or write; with labor unrequited, a
conservative estimate, in 1898, little more than three decades from
slavery, finds 340,000 of their children attending 26,300 schools and
their property valuation $750,000,000, while in learned professions,
journalism, and mercantile pursuits their ability and efficiency command
the respect and praise of the potential race.
When the amendments were being considered, opinion differed as to the
bestowal of the franchise; many favored only those who could read and
write. The popularity of this phase of opinion was voiced in the
following interview with Hon. Schuyler Colfax, afterward Vice President,
who was at that time Speaker of the lower house of Congress, and was
said to have the "Presidential bee in his bonnet." While "swinging
around the circle" he touched at Victoria, and the British Colonist of
July 29, 1865, made the following mention: "A committee consisting of
Abner Francis and M. W. Gibbs called on Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of
the House of Representatives of the United States, yesterday morning. On
being introduced by the American Consul, Mr. Gibbs proceeded to say that
they were happy to meet him and tender him on behalf of the colored
residents of Victoria their esteem and regard. They were not
unacquainted with the noble course he had pursued during the great
struggle in behalf of human liberty in the land of their nativity. They
had watched with intense interest the progress of the rebellion and
rejoiced in the Federal success and sorrowed in its adversity. Now that
victory had perched on the national standard--a standard we believe
henceforth and forever consecrated to impartial liberty--they were
filled with joy unspeakable. And he would allow them to say that it had
afforded them the greatest pleasure to observe the alacrity with which
the colored men of the nation offered and embraced the opportunity to
manifest their devotion and bravery in support of the national cause.
"They had full confidence in the magnanimity of the American people that
in the reconstruction of the seceded States they would grant the race
who had proved their claim by the most indisputable heroism and
fidelity, equality before the law, upon the ground of immutable justice
and importance of national safety. Without trespassing further on his
valuable time they would only tender him, as the distinguished Speaker
of the popular house of Congress, as well as the sterling friend of
freedom, their sincere respect and esteem.
"Mr. Colfax, in reply, said he was truly glad to see and meet the
committee and felt honored by the interview.
"For himself he had ever been an enemy of slavery. From his earliest
recollections he had ever used his influence against it to the extent of
his power; but its abolition was environed by so many difficulties that
it seemed to require the overruling hand of God to consummate its
destruction. And he did not see how it could have been brought about so
speedily but for those who desired to perpetuate it by raising
rebellious hands against the nation. Now, with regard to the last
sentiment expressed, concerning reconstruction, he would say that it was
occupying the earnest attention of the best and purest minds of the
nation. Most men were in favor of giving the ballot to colored men; the
question was to what extent it should be granted. Very many good men
were disposed to grant it indiscriminately to the ignorant as well as
the more intelligent. For himself he was not, but among the other class.
If colored men generally were as intelligent as the gentleman who had
honored him with this interview--for he considered the speech he had
just listened to among the best he had heard on the coast--there would
be no trouble; but slavery had made that impossible. He knew that the
President--decidedly an anti-slavery man--was not in favor of bestowing
the franchise on all alike, while Charles Sumner and others favored it.
"The honorable gentleman closed his remarks by desiring the colored
people not to consider the Administration inimical to their welfare, if
in the adjustment the right of suffrage was not bestowed on all, for it
was probable that reading and writing would be the qualification
demanded. He paid a high tribute to the colored people of Washington, D.
C., for their intelligence, moral worth, and industry, and said that it
was probable that the problem of suffrage would be solved in the
District of Columbia. After a desultory conversation on phases of
national status succeeding the rebellion, both parties seeming well
pleased with the meeting, the committee retired."
I did not then, nor do I now, agree with the views of that distinguished
statesman. The benignity of the ballot lies in this: It was never
devised for the protection of the strong, but as a guardian for the
weak. It is not true that a sane man, although unlettered, has not a
proper conception of his own interests and what will conserve them--what
will protect them and give the best results for his labor. You may fool
him some of the time, as you do the most astute, but he will be oftener
found among those of whom Lincoln said "You could not fool all the
time." William Lloyd Garrison, jr., "a worthy son of a noble sire,"
pointedly says: "Whoever laments the scope of suffrage and talks of
disfranchising men on account of ignorance or poverty has as little
comprehension of the meaning of self-government as a blind man has of
the colors of the rainbow. I declare my belief that we are suffering not
from a too extended ballot, but from one too limited and
unrepresentative. We enunciate a principle of government, and then deny
its practice. If experience has established anything, it is that the
interest of one class is never safe in the hands of another. There is no
class so poor or ignorant in a Republic that it does not know its own
suffering and needs better than the wealthy and educated classes. By the
rule of justice it has the same right precisely to give them legal
expression. That expression is bound to come, and it is wisest for it to
come through the ballot box than through mobs and violence born of a
feeling of misery and despair."
James Russell Lowell has said: "The right to vote makes a safety valve
of every voter, and the best way to teach a man to vote is to give him a
chance to practice. It is cheaper, too, in the long run to lift men up
than to hold them down. The ballot in their hands is less dangerous than
a sense of wrong in their heads."
[Illustration: BISHOP ALEXANDER WALTERS.
Born in Kentucky, August, 1858--Educated In the Common Schools of that
State--At Thirty-five Elected Bishop of the A. M. E. Zion Church, Taking
High Rank as a Theologian, Originator and First President of the
National Afro American Council--Thinker, Orator and Leader.]