New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-03-09
SOMETHING PRACTICAL.

Z |
: destroyed his chances when he took tn
same ground. France is paying the heav.
penalty for her madness in declaring wa
against Germany; and the South will no
recover III years from the losses which sh,
suffered by her great error in resorting t.
2 the sword instead of relying upon the ap
pointed means for preserving her rights
Mr. Marks and his friends will discover il
all these illustrations the lesson which VT
desire to impress upon their minds, tina
in the present political emergency they
should exercise the profoundest thought
about the end which they propose to ac
complish, and as to the means which they
expect to use to secure their object.
Without irreverence, as still further il
Illustrating the subject, the suggestion is OF
divine origin that many men will preach
religion, and pretend to be of the true
faith, even to the deceiving of the very
elect; but of this number few will be
worthy Of belief, being false prophets, and
dangerous advisers concerning the truth.
We have many reformers, some dishonest
and some eninently worthy of trust but
even the worthy may not be the men whom
the country should select, for their hon.
esty may be prejudicial to the country
from being based upon erroneous con-
clusions or mistaken information. The
true intention should be to select the best
man to do the work, first, by ascertaining
that he is honest, and secondly, by inform
ing ourselves as to his capacity. 1t was
an old saying of Sam Houston's that the
people had better overlook few sins in
candidate, and trust to other forces to Sc
| cure his faithfulness, than to elect fool
| or a bigot; for such an officer will be sure
| to go wrong. and he Will not be subject to
the ordinary rules that regulate the actions
Of mankind. AS practical reforms and
benefits are what Mr.. Marks and his
friends desire to arrive at, we suppose he
will admit that it would be better to secure
these ends with an average man than to
fail of securing them under the best citi-
zen that could be picked out of the popu-
lation of the State. This, we take it, will
be the decision of every reasonable voter
to whom the proposition may be submit
ted, and upon such Judgment we propose
to advance few suggestions.
Assuming that the voting population of
the State is one hundred and fifty thousand
divided in the proportion of ninety thou
sand colored to sixty thousand whites, it
is plain that if the election Is to be
decided upon the mere matter of
color, the negroes are certain to win
This is not the correct theory, however:
for there are parties in the community
that subdivide this elective force, to wit:
The Republican party, which is composed |
mostly Of colored people, and the Demo-
cratic party, which claims to control the |
white voters. If the contest is to be waged |
by these two organizations alone, the Re-
publicans must inevitably win the day, for
their partisans are admitted to be in the
majority. And, besides, the white popu-
lation is not SO united in favor of the
Democracy as the colored people are IN
favor of the Republicans, Tor there is a
large element among the whites who have
never supported the Democrats, from lack
of confidence in their ability and there are
from ten to fifteen thousand white voters
who will support the Republican ticket
This insures Democratic failure, for the
negroes will not support it, large number
of white men who distrust it will abstain
from the polls, and another large body of
the same class will vote for its opponents
If Mr.. Marks will Judge these assertions
by the light Of reason and experience, he
will not hesitate to affirm their correctness.
Assuming, next, that Mr. Marks and
his friends represent about thirty thousand
votes, for many Republicans may be
counted as the friends of the reform which
they accept as necessary they must either
to accept of the same fate as the
assistance from the colored people. With
great good sense he seems to have devel-
1ped this idea already, and at reform
meeting on Tuesday night he made little
speech that was well calculated to effect
his object. This is the first movement to
give his gun that aim which may secure
the victory. AS Republicans We can say
this much without any damage to our
own party, for as Republicans we feel that
1t IS better to have wholesome opposi-
ton that will make the Republicans more
particular III their own nominations than |
to have only such contest as the Demo-
Gratis can present
But Mr.. Marks can not induce tho col
ored people to his support by merely
speeches and giving out promises
such as the Democrats have made and
given out aforetime. Neither can he OBJ
tain assistance by simply accepting of one t
or two hundred colored men and paradne {
them at meetings and in professions. t
Neither can lie effect his object by propos i
ing to apportion the State to his friends, ,
md the general government to whomso
ever may win it. These are weak devices. {
hat little more experience will cure him
If; because, in the very nature Of all po-
itical excitements, they are bound to fail 5