The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1872-09-28
An Address to Col0red Men.

An Address to Colored Men.
[From the Mobile Regster.1
My EslloaU Citizens:
AS one of your color, feel that it is
my duty to talk to::and warn you when
see you going along what know to
be stray paths. You are allowing your
selves to be blindly led into the support
of Grant and his friends, when, so sure
as there is God above you, they are
no friends to the colored race. They
are only our friends so long as they
can use us to their own political advan-
tage. Grant was never our friend.
When the war broke out he was a
rabid pro-slavery Democrat, and he
never got to be anything else, only as
he could make money by it. Some
months after he had gone into the SER
vice, Mr. stephens, a appointment lawyer
in Galena, Illinois, and an ultra pro-
slavery Democrat, wrote him a letter
stating that he had no idea of ever hear
ing that his old friend (meaning Grant)
would ever be taking part in an Abo-
lition war. Grantreplied to his letter,
and the following are a portion of the
very words he used:
81 am a Democrat; have not gone
into this fight to free neggers; and if I
thought such would be the result; I
would strip Off my uniform and go
home.''
Several months later Judge Bradshaw
of Springfield, Illinois, wrote him let
ter of similar import to that of Mr..
Stephens, and to Judge Bradshaw he
made this reply:
clam Democrat; every man in my
regiment is Democrat, and when I
shall be convinced that this war has not
for its object only what have men,
toned (merely putting down a rebel
ion), or that the Government designs
using its soldiers to execute the pur-
poses of the Abolitionists, pledge you
my honor as a man and a soldier, that
I will not only resign my commission,
but I aciX carry ney s,C0Tel to the other
side u,ed cast my lot acith that people,"
Now, my colored fellow-citizens and
brothers, this shows up the man whom
you are called upon to support as the
friend of your race-a man who only
contributed his mite toward your liber-
alton simply because he could not help
tia man who would not to-day turn his
hand over to keep you from being put
back into slavery, if he thought putting
you back would bring money in his
own greedy pocket. What was Horace
Greeley doing when Grant was writing
these letters to his friends in Illinois?
He was without any hope of personal
reward, and in the face of bitterest
curses, fairly moving heaven and earth
in favor of having you free.
These are facts no one can deny.
Look them squarely in the face and
ask yourselves, as rational beings,
which of these two men should be ac-
copied by us as the true friend of the
colored man. Now, my fellow-citi-
zens, let me lay down a rule or two for
your application in determining what
the supporters of Grant think fthe
colored race. Read the Grant papers;
you will find them filled with extracts
from the New York ssTribune," in
that Greeley was one of the strongest
movers in the cause of abolitionism.
! Now, does not this prove that they con-
slider us set of ignoramuses, with no
more intelligence than hogs? If such
was not their opinion of us they would
not dare publish these extracts, lest
they have an influence to turn us in ia
vor of Greeley, for they are the strong
est of arguments in his cause that could
be laid before the colored people. But
they do not consider that we have sene
enough to take them.
| Again, I want you to look about among
the white Grant men of Mobile country,
and see if you can find single one
who is not either an office-holder or an
ofice-seeker. If you can, publish his
name in any of the Mobile papers,
and l will take this all back over my
own signature, and then quit the coun-
try.
Again, in the State of Alabama the
Grant party is made up Of nine col
ored voters to each one white vote.
They average nine to one. In Ala
bafna they have put State ticket in
the field; are there any colored men on
that ticket? Not one. The very large
majority of colored people have not a
single representative. What excuse
can they offer for this? Will they
dare say there are no colored men in
the State as well qualified to fill the
offices as some Of the men whose names
appear on that ticket
My fellow-citizens, think of these
things, and do not allow yourselves to
be blindly led by dishonest people
| against YOUR own interests. I was