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Show 108 J,IBERTY AND SLAVI!:RY. office of President, is equally tmc in regard to all the other offices of government. It is contl ·ary to reason, to natural right, to justice, that either fools, or knaves, or demagogues should occupy seats in Congress ; yet all of these classes are sometimes seen there, and by the law of the land are entitled to their seats. Here, again, that which is right and fit in itself is different from that which exists under the law. The same remarks, it is evident, arc applicable to governors, to judges, to sheriffs, to constables, :tnd to justices of the peace. In evc1·y instance, he who is best qualified to discharge the duties of an office, and who would do so with greatest advantage to all concerned, has the natural right thereto. And no man who would fill any office, or exercise any power so as to injure the community, has any rigl;lt to such office or power. There is precisely the same limitation to the exercise of the elective franchise. Those only should be permitted to exercise this power who ~tre qualified to do so with advantage to the community; and all laws which regulate or limit the possession of this power should have in view, not the equal rights of all men, but solely and exclusively the public good. It is ou th1s ARGU:\lENTS OF ABOLITIONISTS. 109 principle that foreigners arc not allowed to vote as soon as they land npon our shores, and that native Americans can do so only after they have reached a certain age. And if the public good required that any class of men, such as free blacks or slaves, for example, should be excluded from the privilege altogether, then no doubt can remain the law excluding them would be just. It might not be equal, but would be just. Indeed, in the high and holy sense of the word, it would be equ:tl; for, if it excluded some from a privilege or power which it conferred upon others, this is because they were not included within the condition on which alone it should be extended to any. Such is not an equality of rights and power, it is true; but it is an equality of justice, like that which reigns in the divine government itself. In the light of that justice, it is clear that no man, and no class of men, can have a natural 1ight to exercise a power which, if intrusted to them, would be wielded for harm, and not for good. This great truth, when stripped of the manifold sophistications of a false logic, is so clear and unquestionable, that it has not failed to a uro the approbation of abolitionists them- '" |