The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1868-04-25
The Moral Of the Election.

This city in which the white is more
8, % than double the colored population, has
y" narrowly escaped falling into the hands
800 of a set OF. white political Adventures
from other States who have no interest
,66 in the city-who have no sanction or
S5s countenance from our decent white citi-
90 90 zens, but who are backed by the votes
of the solid mass Of negroes to whom
ia the Radical Congress has transferred
$40 the suffrage and the dispensation of po-
l87 litical power and honors in the State.
Here is an illustration of the beauties
ia '51aa Of impartial suffrage as %expounded by
III the Radical leaders. W. commend the
lesson to the study and meditation of
}5l thinking men in Northern cities. The
500 destinies of a great commercial city, in
Q whose prosperity the whole country is
,r, interested, are barely preserved from
,Tee the exclusive control Ct a clan of char
5 a~cterlpss political spectators from a
broad, selected by an exclusive negro
355 vote. Though there is a large majority
OF white citizens, who would be entitled
0 to be registered as voters under even the
$50 proscriptive features of the acts OF Con-
5O6 gress, yet even that majority is cut
10 down by the interference of a military
commander who. of his own arbitrary
,2l will, established and enforced grounds
: of disfranchisement which were not even
contained in the law 1t was the arbl-
527 trary and shamelesstinterpretation and
1856 enforcement OF the registry law by Gen.
Sheridan which has produced the result
me so small a white compared with the
ied negro vote as exhibited in the late cleo
352 ton. The rude and unjust manner in
230 which citizens were treated who appeal
ed from the decisions OF the Registrars,
disguised hundreds from ever renewing
their applications, and determined them
400 to submit in patience and silence to the
1885 present evils rather than incur further
humiliation. This was the case of a
1 1S4 majority Of our large taxpayers and
A prominent citizens, and when an oppor-
57 tunity was accorded under the present
2 military commander to correct the injus-
tice and errors of the Sheridan registra-
1 1So ton, the time allowed was too short to
admit Of any large or general revisions.
s24 Thus it hapensd that the white vote of
OlO this city has been reduced to so low a
figure, considering the total population.
Meantime every male negro in the city
3fs has been duly registered, and it is the
boast of their organ, or that of the car
,o4 pet-baggers, that every registered negro
$50 voted in the late election. 1t might have
66 been added that not a few of them voted
more than once, and many voted who
,49 had been brought into the city from the
country districts. These facts are sufi-
g., cient to account for the close vote on
2l3 Friday and Saturday. We regret to
have to add other facts which are not
49l creditable te our white people, and
1862 which we trust will not occur again in
such important elections. We refer to
9e0 the Indifference, lethargy and inactivity
Of citizens who have the largest interest
in the city and are the best entitled to
control it's government. OF these there
''S were thousands who took no part in the
election, who refused to give any kind
of of aid to promote the success of the en-
"a; ergetic young men and ID the 5eo few nS,t elder
the ed ali the labor of the canvass.
If tine city has been saved from the
th be carpetrbaggers aud negroes, but little
"' credit is due to the very class who have
10 the greatest stake in the preservation of
A.. the supremacy of the white race. A
me continuance of this most criminal leth-
the argy must render our future gloomy and
doubtful. If the white men are willing
&C. to surrender their rights and power to
es- their recent slaves, we can neither be
surprised nor justly indignant if these
same ex-slaves assume control of our af-
m flares, political and SOCIALLY O.
ers Times, 81 INST.