The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-31
~ The CO1Ored Vote.
LFrom the New Orleans Republican,

lkfOll tnc New orleans ReDuDican.
It has recently been admitted ~ the
New York Times, the leading GrAnt or
gan, that the vote of New York, Penn
sylvania and Indiana will decide the
presidential election; andas it is already
conceded by the knowing Onesthat these
States are certain to go for Greeley, he
will accordingly be our next President.
That there will be an etfOrtmade to elect
the President without the vote of the
Southern States is f~ervently believed.
Ii was done i'll 1868; and If the great
mass of voters of the old free States are
led to believe in 1872 that the coIored
vote OF the Southern States can be con-
sOlidatcd in favOr0 of continuing for four
years more the hayOnet rule of President
Grant against the wishes of the voters
in the Northern, Eastern and Western
States of the Union, it is quite possible
that the intelligence of those sections
may determine to make theiryOte strong
enough to elect the President even if f
is possible for every Southern State to
be carried by the cOlOred vote in favor
OF Grant. We do notify any means on
cede this TO he probable, although bv a
desperate effort the Grant party claims
the first victory OF Southern territory in
the presidential struggle. The election
of Governor in North Carolina--thougll
very closets generally believed to have
been carried by a cOnsolidatedneg vote
III favor OF Grant. This is pronounced
Il success for organized Ignorance. and
should the contest continued be Wappd
in this manner in the Southern States.
and by a close vote between the whites
and blacks, a feWmOre of theirnumbcrs
range themselves against reform in the
civil service and a restoration of the
government to a purely republican adj
minlstratlOn, the white people in the
Northern, Eastern and Western States
will begin to see that the administration
is making the fight one Of color rather
than principle, and decide to determine
the presidential election in the old free
States-the States that invariably stood
up for the freedom of the negro after the
integrity of the nation hadbeen assailed.
and will now as invariably stand by the
freedom Of the white man. They have
only to be convinced that the I,adicaI
party is cndcayoring to perpctuate its
rule by consolidating the negro vote in
the Southern States. The very close
contest in North Carolina has already
convinced many that this is the game of
from what the New York Times has
said, that President Grant and the Rad
ical party purpose to make a desperate
effort to carry New York, PENNSYLVANIA
and Indiana. The vote of these States
added to the vote Of the Southern States.
carried collectively by thenegrOvOte for
Grant, would make him President for
the next four years. By this kind of DO
litical warfare President Grant and his
party propose to make a few hundred
thousand negro voters i'll the Southern
States "the balance of power" in this
free and enlightenedrepublic Six mil
lions of white voters are thus to be viz
tually ruled by a President who has Sc
cured this division of parties on the
ground of color, if the programme of
President Grant and the Radical party
can be carried out. But what sensible
man, for one moment, suppOses that the
intelligent voters of the old free States
will ever be so blind to this scheme of
an ambitious President and an unprin-
clpled party as to allow them to prOlOng
their power in this nefariOus manner?
II it were possible that the rule of Grant
ism could be thus continued, it would
be the worst thing that could happen to
cOlOred voters, for upon their heads
would fall the censures of a people who
mean to be free. If the Southern States
could be united upon Grant by the ne
gro vote, and the white vote of the old
free States should consolidate in favor
of Greeley, he would certainly be the
next President; and just as sure as it is
ascertained that the administration has
determined to make the negro vote in
the South a balanceof powerforthe per-
petuatiOn Of Radical rule, just so sure
will the white voters of the old free
States rally almost to a man in support
Of Greeley and good government, for
the contest then would become one of
color; would become one of organized
Ignorance on the one side, and intelli-
gence on the other. Conceding, for the
sake Of argument that the Southern
States can be carriedfOr Grant by a con-
solidated negro vote, how truthfully
might come home to II cOlOred voters
the language recently uttered by GEN
eral Hugh J. Campbell before the regu-
lar Republican convention, lately pub
lished in the Republican, in which he
shows the result of consolidated negro
vote in this State for Grant and Kellogg.
Whereas, if the colored vote could be
divided, and apart Of it cast for the Lib
eral party, the cOloredpeoplec ouldjustly
claim the right to participate in the ben
efits Of office, III matter which party was
successful. The policy of consolidating
the negro vote, if carried out, will prove
fatal to the present administration and
to the cOlOred people.