enough to bring them into
harmony with the purposes, if not the spirit, of the largest-minded
philanthropy and statesmanship of the North.

It is claimed, we know, by some of the hardiest dealers in assertion,
that the freedmen will vote as their former masters shall direct; but as
this argument is generally put forward by those whose sympathies are
with the former masters rather than with the emancipated bondmen, one
finds it difficult to understand why they should object to a policy
which will increase the power of those whom they wish to be dominant.
The circumstances, however, under which credulous ignorance becomes the
prey of unscrupulous intelligence are familiar to all who have observed
our elections. An ignorant Irish Catholic may be the victim of a
pro-slavery demagogue, because the latter flatters his prejudices; but
can he be deceived by a bigoted Know-Nothing, who is the object of them?
The only demagogue who could control the negro would be an abolition
demagogue, and he could control him to his harm only when the negro was
deprived of his rights. The slave-masters were wont to pay considerable
attention to zoology,--not because they were interested in science, but
because in that science they thought they could obtain arguments for
expelling blacks from the human species. In their zoological studies,
did they ever learn that mice instinctively seek the protection of the
cat, or that the deer speeds to, instead of from, the hunter? The
persons whose votes the late masters would be most likely to control
would palpably be those whose votes they always have controlled, namely,
the poor whites; for, in the late Slave States, white aristocrat is
still bound to white democrat by the strong tie of a common contempt of
"the nigger." Meanwhile it is not difficult to believe, that, among four
millions of black people, there are enough plantation Hampdens and
Adamses to give political organization to their brethren, and make their
votes efficient for the protection of their interests.

We think, then, it may be taken for granted, that, while ignorant, the
freedmen will vote right by the force of their instincts, and that the
education they require will be the result of their possessing the
political power to demand it. Free schools are not the creations of
private benevolence, but of public taxation; it is useless to expect a
system of universal education in a community which does not rest on
universal suffrage; a