The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-17

Instttutc-A Picture 60r the Contcm
, Plation OF White Citi.ens.
On Thursday evening great concourse o.
our negro fellow citizens gathered in the
Cooper Institute, with the professed intention
Of listening to an argument between two
colored orators on the respective merits of the
Presidential candidates. William u Saunders
taking the side of Greeley and Rev. Henry
Highland Garnet maintaining the claims of
Grant Men of all shades from ebony to
cream, with a sprinkling of females of dark
complexion, crowded the hall. and it soon
became evident that three-fourths of the num-
Der attended not for the purpose of hearing q
discussion and forming q Judgment on its
merits, but with the object of yelling and
hooting down the Greeley orator so as
to prevent his words from being
heard and Of cheering his adversary.
The scene was disgrace to civilized city,
and was calculated to shake the convictions Of
those who have hitherto been the most earnest
in their advocacy of negro suffrage. Taking
the account of the Grant organ as the
one most likely to represent in as favorable
light as possible the conduct of the black ruff
fans who made night hideous with their up
roar, we find the following specimens of their
proceedings interspersed through the report of
Saunders speech
They would carry the Greeley banner next No
vember to victory. Great Kissing. or Sum
wrong roans and az isses Grant a'1 never voted
which ntsrragtsS the speaker lOE several
the negro vote belonged to General Grant and
the the, % mimic Of the ad@nstraton. a voice .e
three times repeated fop Grant, It was s"Sl ss
crime for 9 black man to raise his voice against
rupted Mr. Saunders and compelled the chairman
to advance to the font Of the platform and bespeak
period Of the speakers address there were repeated
calls for Mr.. Garnet, and Mr.. saunders efforts to
that 81 an SSoRs %
ure: Democracy he declared to be . government
the Whole people for the good Of the whole
ana s soans = the
groans became SO prolonged and loud that it was
sume Finally, on being permitted to continue, he
INDUCED in personalities BY calling attention to the
It did not tend materially to give him better
hearing. 5000 .il r..
After the speech of the Grant negro, Gar
net, which was delivered without other inter-
ruptons than those caused by the wild cheers
of his audience, Saunders, in accordance with
the arrangement of the discussion, was allowed
half an hour to reply; and the closing scene is
thus described by the republican organ:-
Mr.. Saunders again attempted to address the
meeting, but he was met with tremendous out
burst Of grOans and catcas that baffies descrip-
was restored. and Mr. Saunders endeavored to re-
ply: AS soon as ne began to speak, however, It be-
y
lent ebullttion Of temper would supersede fact and
argument. THIS induced fresh uproar, in the
ponent were infinitely beneath his notice $50
The excitement was Understandable. The audience
Ta 70
the highest Key. He could not be heard and finally
he was compelled to retire, furious with rage
hand on retiring breach of the peace seemed
imminent, but She police vigorously kept back the
crowd and the opposing factions left in quiet.
The reports in the other daily journals repre-
sent the conduct Of these free and independent
electors in yet more offensive light. When
Saunders declared that it was God who had
freed his race from bondage, the remark was
received with yells Kisses, catcalls, 'boo-
hoos'' and cries of dissent, and the negroes
evidently believed that the assertion was in
tended to do injustice to their favorite candi-
date and the republican party. Throughout
the proceedings there was display of ignor-
ance bigotry and rufianism revolving to those
who have been taught to believe that the ballot
is the palladium of our liberties.
Yet deplorable as was the exhibition at the
Cooper Institute, it was orderly compared
with the scenes enacted in some of the
Southern States. The negroes freed from
| oYo~o~~, 80, kbo Co~kh >~o 81, x,oso Io<~~odol
| ignorant and intolerant than their brethren in
New York, and can be more easily melted to
acts of rowdyism and violence. Upon such
men the republican politicians are endeavor-
ing to bestow the political control of the whole
Southern country, strengthening them wher-
ever their numbers are less than the whites
with reinforcements of carpet-baggers and
scalawags. Let the citizens of New York pic
ture their own city ruled by the votes of such
electors as assembled in the Cooper Institute
the night before last, and they will be able to
appreciate the condition Of the States and
cities of the South. The fault does not lie
with the negroes, but with those who
strive TO bind them together as q dis
tinctive political power by imposing upon
their credulity and inAaming their
passions The incendiargy speeches 81 secre-
tary Boutwell, calling for a ceaseless enmity
between the negroes and the whites the dan
gerous and unchristian letter Of Gerrit Smith,
in which the fierce hatreds engendered by
slavery ore invoked to make the South, in his
own words, 'hell Of horrors '-these are the
influences that are calculated to turn the
negro into demon and to make the suffrage
extended to the black race, in our love Of JUS
tice and equal rights. = curse to the iiss..ion.
Left alone by the politicians gradually en-