Belmont Chronicle

Universal Suffrage--Letter from Senator Drake of Missouri.

Senator Drake has written a letter on the question of universal suffrage and universal amnesty. His views are summed up in the concluding paragraph, which is as follows: "There is another and broader ground, which, were there nothing else, would be sufficient with me. I protest against this gushing magnanimity towards rebels, especially the thousands of them who have added wilful and corrupt perjury to their other crimes, while we coldly deny the ballot to thousands of loyal men. Under our Constitution, two classes of men are disfranchised--one for crimes, the other for the color of their skin. Both are some time to be disfranchised. Which first? To this question there ought, in honor, justice and humanity, to be but one answer. I have but one to make. I object to putting them on a par and coupling them together. I refuse all bargaining in the case. I repudiate all unasked advances from Republicans to rebels in this matter. I demand the enfranchisement of the negro first. I insist that his just rights shall be absolutely secured to him before we ever begin to consider the restoration of justly forfeited rights to rebels, no matter how long they may exclude the latter from the ballot box. I invoke justice before generosity. To vindicate the rights of man is a higher duty and a nobler work than to enfranchise rebels. In this I was very positive before the people in my recent canvass, and I will stick to it. If I thereby lose popular favor in some quarters, so be it. I regard justice and right more than any man's favor, or that of any party, not even excepting that which made me United-States Senator. If that party takes any other position on this subject, it will in my opinion endanger its future success, if not its existence. Any party that refuses justice to its friends while hastening to heap unsolicited favors upon its foes, ought to go down, and it will. I will not be accessory to and such heartless act. If the great Radical party of Missouri, recognized and honored by loyal men of the whole land, must needs commit political suicide, in God's name let it be on some decent pretext. Let not the jeers of rebels at its truckling folly drown the wail of the negro over the destruction by his own professed friends, of his last hope of enfranchisement in that State."

One other matter in conclusion: From the outbreak of the rebellion until the latter part of 1863, the Union men of Missouri were hampered by the conservatives, the great mass of whom finally landed in the ranks of the Democracy. The Radical party there achieved nothing till it parted company with them, and planted itself upon radicalism stern and fierce. This 'universal suffrage and universal amnesty' scheme seems to me to indicate that we are in danger of having a second crop of conservatives to contend with. If it be so, we ought at once to recognize the fact and brace ourselves up to meet this new and unexpected exigency. For one, I will not yield an inch of ground to conservatism howsoever or wheresoever it may manifest itself. It is paralysis to any party that embraces it. I stand by radicalism which has led us to past victories, because I believe it the only foundation upon which to build any lasting structure of loyalty and freedom. If that be the mind of our party we need have no fear of the future, but if we once begin to back down or waver, especially if we do so in the hour of victory, when we have the power to establish what we have gained, and to gain still more, we, in my opinion, admit that we have not been governed by principles, and confess our unworthiness of our past triumphs. I am not ready, and never expect to be for any such admission, and I scorn any such confession. Believing that duty demands it I am for going steadily forward under the Radical standard. If there are those who wish not or fear to go with us, let them fall behind; but let not the party lag with them. Above all, never yield the lead to them."