New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-10-20

The chairman Of the committee on ad
dress read the report of that committee.
vote was called for by the States and the
address unanimously adopted.
The Texas delegation, while voting for
the address, explained that their idea OF
what should be done would be to recon-
mend that all the Southern States be re-
manded to territorial condition for twenty
years. They, however, did not wish to
enforce these ideas against those OF the
other States.
Resolutions Of thanks to the officers for
ability and impartiality and to the citizen
of Chattanooga for the use Of the hall were
adopted.
The following executive committee OF
Southern States was appointed:
Arkansas-Hon. s w Dorsey, chairman.
Alabania-George E. Spencer.
Mississippi-W. w. Deadrick.
Virginia-T. NJ. Shumaker.
Louisiana-P. b. s Plnchback.
Tennessee-W F. PrOsser.
North Carol,na-W P. Kennedy.
Georgia-William Markham.
Florida-Denis Eagan.
Texas-L ID. Evans.
X. c. Kevens, Of Arkansas. secretary of
the committee.
The following is the address adopted by
the convention:
ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED
STATES.
A parallel to this convention finds no pre-
cedent in the political history Of the cOun-
try. The supporters Of d grand humanity
which taxed to the utmost the blood and
| treasure of the nation to establish are COM
| PEELED to come together to vindcate them
| selves to their fellOw-laborers in that cause
| against the persistent misrepresent atiOns OF
| those who to the death opposed the princi'
| pies involved in that sublime contest. We
| meet here to repel the assertion that we are
any less patriots than when many Of us
were to be found keeping step to the music
| of the Union or less conscientious than
when others of us upheld the cause OF the
| COnfederacy.
! We shall deal truthful!y with the South.
| ern political situation, though our presenta.
| ton of it will be marred by the necessity to
| condense the most prolific political theme Of
| the day to the concise limits required to
command attention. The record OF the
! crimes that have stained Southern soil since
| reconstruction is testified to IN terms by
| the committee on facts and statistics, pre-
eentlng to the public q summary of outrages
which staggers belief.
We would endeavOr to impress upon our
| political brethren of the North the vast dis
1inction existing between the features of a
political contest in their region and OF the
| same event in the reconstructed States. In
the one case it is rivalry, in the other it is
| a strife: in the one it is confined to brief
period, in the other it pervades ali times
and all occasions, and the political situation
! seemingly becomes the material interest.
In one region the struggle is brief and
| peaceably conducted; in the other it is
prolonged and perpetual, marked by BIT
terness, intolerance. prosecutions. mur.
der and assassination. In one section OF
| A. Ty,.:a ,1S1s nSonp 10 ho6r nf
honorable patriotism; in the other large
proportion of the Democratic and COnser-
vative classes profess to regard it as po-
| litical leprOsy, contact with which is to be
Stunned, and those processing its princi-
pies are assumed to be the social, moral
and political enemies of the South. And
the experience of the members Of this con-
/ vention demonstrates the fact that. within
| the land of their nativity and adoption,
| their lives and those Of men Of their party
! faith are in constant peril through the
| maintenance Of political idea, and they
find themselves without adequate protec.
tion from either the State or the national
| government.
All the malignancv and bitterness gener.
ated by crushed pride Of political and sec.
| tional opinion, by defeat upon the battle.
] the overthrow CT the dOminancy OF the
white race, by immediate poverty, pressing
| want and the necessity to labor, are agra
| waited by the presence of the direct cause.
| in the opinion of the old citizens of the
South-the colored man. The force Of the
| very circumstances under which the cOlOred
man was emancipated and enfranchised.
made him an adherent to the party in
power, and put him in political antagOn-
ism with the disatfected white classes.
| The circumstances of reconstruction under
| which negro citizenship became a part of
| the organic law of the nation and an ele-
ment of Southern politics, divided parties
in many States OF the South as fact,
placing the whites in one body and the
c0lored in another, almost as exclusively
and distinctly as if the lines Of party de.
marcation were intentionally drawn upon
the distinction of race. And this Incl.
| dental, vet under the circumstances nn.
avOidable, political distribution of the races
into opposing party combinations, serves
most poteptly to augment enmity and pro-
| woke strife.
| When the non-repentanb and unrecon.
structed old shareholders see the long
despised race. standing clothed with the
dignity and prerOgatives of American citi.
! zens the former slave, now the political
| equal before the law. OF the master; no
| longer a chattel, but q voter controlled by
! his own preferences and cOnvicfiOns, and
determined in his political action and affili.
! alton. by his own will. not only the
/ Wanted pride of race. but the arrogance
| engendered by q vicious and oppressive
! institution contribute TO embitter many OF
| the white men of the South. and they. not
| unnaturally. feel. though unjustlv. that
| the black mans privileges have been
acquired through the downfall. and at
| the expense OF the proud and hitherto
I dominant Caucasian. In the presence Of
| these hostile political and p rsOnal pre- ju.
dices. the colOred people feel that their
! rights are in jeopardy. and every contest.
I to them, at least. involves not only the
! success or defeat Of cherished political con.
victicns, but the loss or safety Of their
political and civil rights, and this fear. for
dear and vital t. them. comes in to inten.
sify the anxiety and passion attendant
upon every political campaign.
The newly enfranchissd citizen II alsO
obnoxious to the opposition masses, because
Of the personal affiliations that the force of
his necessities has Occasioned b. ginning
his new venture a. a voter, and making his
initial efforts as citizen, not only embar.
rassed by the novelty Of his duties and his
iuexperience in public affairs. but without
the counsel and sympathy Of hi. more tx.
perienced and better informed white neigh.
bOre, and in many instances against his
bitter opposition. he has been compelled to
select the newcomer among the whites as
his adviser and leader.
Accessions to the number Of Republicans
from the native WHITES Of the South have
been retarded by the business, social and
family prescription enforced against this
less preiudiced and more liberal and ad'
vanced class OF our citizens.
The field for the selection OF political
guides by the cOlored citizens has been in
k,,a In