The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1867-11-07
TIPTON, IOWA, NOVEMBER :, 1867



Moral of the Southern Elections.
Elections have now occurred in three
of the ten States coming under the oper-
alton of the Reconstruction acts, viz,
Louisiana, Alabama, and Virginia, and
the result in each is the success of the
proposition for State Convention. and
the triumph of the Republican candi-
dates. In Louisiana, out Of 127, ,5SS reg
istered voters, 79, ia voted, of whom 75,-
OS3 were in favor of Convention. In
Alabama the total registration was &c.,
995 and the aggregate vote 93,s57, Of
whom less than 5000 were opposed to a
Convention. The total vote in Louisi-
ana in 1860 was SO, $40, and that of Ala
bama the same year, 90,357. It will
thus be seen that the vote in each Of
these States at the recent elections is
larger than that cast in 1S60-that of
Louisiana being more than fifty per cent.
greater. The delegates elected in each
are almost, II not quite, unanimously
Republican, and loyal. In Virginia the
total number of registered voters was
PIG, ,494, of whom 1918 were white,
and lOl 1881 colored. The vote cast is
not yet fully known, but it is probably
proportionately larger than in the other
States already mentioned, as the oppon-
ents of the Congressional plan Of recon-
struction, encouraged by the result of
the elections in some of the Northern
States, have changed their policy from
that of inactivity to direct and open op-
position. In view of the excess of the
white over the freedmen's vote, as shown
by the registration, the opponents of re-
construction entered into the contest
with great zeal and confidence, first to
defeat a Convention, and secondly to
elect majority of the delegates, but
have been unexpectedly defeated in
both. Returns from about half the
counties in the State show q majority of
nearly 10000, which will probably be
increased to 10000 or 10000 by full re-
turns from the whole State. Even in
Richmond, where the Conservatives
were most confident, and boasted of a
triumph on the first day of the election,
and where only about fifty whites voted
the Radical ticket, they have been de-
feated, the Radicals being elected by
several hundred majority. According
to the registration, the colored vote was
in excess of the white in fifteen out of
one hundred and eleven of the districts,
but it is conceded that full returns will
show a Republican majority in the Con-
this.
These are significant facts, and AS graf
flying us they are signant. They deter
mine beyond Il doubt the triumph of the
reconstruction policy of Congress. 1t is
not only approved by the loyal masses
Of the North, but it is receiving the in
dorsement of a majority of the people of
the South themselves On the first occa-
sion on which they have had an oppor-
tunity of expressing an opinion Oh the
subject. 1t goes farther even than that.
While few Northern States, who stood
gallantly by the Union during the war,
are now, in dread of the cry of negro
equality" faltering in their duty, the
verdict of the people of Louisiana, Ala
bama, and Virginia indicates that We
may yet have to look from Ohio and
Pennsylvania to the South for true Rad
icalism, and that South Carolina may
dispute the palm with Massachusetts,
and put to shame Conservative Connect
icut. 1t places, too, beyond doubt the
result of the next Presidential contest,
proving that at least eight out of the ten
unreconstructed States-if not all-may
be relied upon to give their electoral vote
to the Republican candidate. The re-
construction of the rebel State Govern
ments on loyal basis, which it now
seems to be established beyond ques
ton will be consummated before the
close of the Fortieth Congress, will add
fifty-six members to the House of Rep
resentatives and twenty to the Senate.
OF this number, it is safe to assume that
at least three-fourths will be Republic
cans, thus adding to the Republican ma
jority in each House.
1--WE commend this result to the atten-
ton and the emulation Of the loyal vot-
ers of New York, Minnesota, Kansas,
and other Northern States which hold
their elections next month. That in
Virginia has been achieved in the face
of the most bitter opposition of rebels
and President johnson, and on the heels
OF an adverse vote on the suffrage ques-
ton in Ohio. Yet the freedmen of Vir-
ginia have stood true. They have not
only vindicated their fitness to exercise
the right OF suffrage, hut in the face of
the most oppressive despotism have
dared to vote independently, proving
that they are almost unanimously in
harmony with the party of freedom and
loyalty. They have fully vindicated
kI,N H.