Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-04-05
The Bid for the ColOred Vote.

The Reconstruction law is revolution
iZing the South. In creating million of
black voters. il has made the cOlOred men
respected By the whites They hold the
balance of power and the keen Southern
politician. never mistaken except when
policy is opposed to principle, already
bids for the colored vote. The negroes
are organizing a Union Republican party;
the Wade Hamptons want a negro South
ern party and as the tendency ofthe negro
is To vote with the party to which he owes
freedom. citizenship. and the ballot, their
old masters must work hard to countcract
this natural gravitation. They are going
to work hard: they have not vet recovered
from the suddeness of the blow, and bid
for the colored vote with fair words only,
to get il they must make offers more sub
stantial -'Will YOU place in oil',e these
strangers who have flocked here To plumber
what little is left to u.s." asked Gen. Hamp-
ton; ''or will you trust the men among
whom YOU have livci:" He added and
wisely. Il do not tell YOU to trust profes-
sions of friendship alone, whether they
come from the Southern man or the North
ern. But what ask is, that as IRE profess
to be your friends. you will give US the
opportunity of showing by our actions
whether we are sincere or not.
Yet. in the changed tone of the South
ern press there is much encouragement for
the colored race. They are no longer a
people created by the Almighty expressly
to be slaves: they are men and women.
and not so far below white men and
women either Bear with their harmless
prejudices," SAYS The Charlottesville IVA.
Chropicte; ''have not ace ten thousand
foibles and vanities? Docs not the same
poor human heart beat under the most
snowy and the most jet black bosom:''
! II is rejoiced at the moderation the freed
men have displayed; ''under the same
circumstances the white people would not
have behaved as well by twenty per cent. >
! And it adds, with an astonishing burst of
humility. I'VE just say this--that if we
had been born nigger-reared out in a
mud cabin, with no knowledge of God,
with no knowledge OF anything, surround
ed by public sentiment that tolerated dirt,
swearing, Sabbath-breaking, stealing
lying--we should have been hung long
ago."
Then comes the point Of Ibis praise, in
advice and warning to the negroes: ''Re
member that although you are free, and
although you will vote, you are still
the laborinq class Of the country Do no
abuse the freedom which God has givcr
YOU by forgetting your position in society
Do not undertake to be like gentlemen
Do not put on airs. Attend to your busi
ness. do your daily work, do it well, dea
honestly and uprightly, and you vii
command respect. Live peacebly with the
whites. Make them your friends. They
can do you infinite harm if yOu make then
las1 n0t1tO -
death in thousand ways which no law
can reach" We may not like these gentl,
threats, but we know what they mean
votes.
This policy has had some success
falready Gen. Hampton at Columbia all
vised the freedmen to give their friends a
the South fair trial, and if they wer
found wanting, it would then be tim,
4 enough to 90 abroad for sympathy. Ii
answer TO this we find colored clergyman
foolish enough to oppose universal suf
frage. But, though the freedmen ar
ignorant, there are few of hem so stupit
as not to know that they owe to tn
ballot all their influence. 1t is for them
weapon more powerful than the pen or th
sword.
Thus seem to end the prophecies of th
Southern papers that TO give the negroe
the right to vote would be to create wa
of races. Instead of accepting the Re
construction law as a call to arms, th
Southern leaders are ready to use it as
means of obtaining power. 'The weapon
with which our mortal and eternal (sic
enemies seek to destroy us" says tn
Richmond Examiner, twill be welded 70
our sure defense"
But it is not certain that the negro vot
f can be made unanimously Southern, in tn
, usual sense of the term. The colore,
citizens of Charleston and Savannah
) lately held meetings fer the purpose O