The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-09-27
THE NEGRO DIFFICULTY IN AMERICA

Under the above title, the London Sat,rdd
ReUieW, has an able and thoughtful articl
upon the situation Of affairs in the South
After giving history Of the so-called recon
strucion measures, the writer goes on to say
at was believed that public f1nctionarie
elected by negroes would be devoted to tht
interests of their constituents, and it was no
thought necessary to inquire whether IT,
colored voters, after providing for their Owl
security, might not encroach on the rights ant
liberties Of their former masters.
'The negroes were, as might have been tx
pected. amply provided with political guides
in the form Of Northern Adventures Of the
lowest type, who saw the opportunity Of
making their fortunes at the expense of the
citizens Of the Southern States.
South Carolina and some other States rapidly
attained the ideal condition which has in Eu-
rope long been the dream Of Red Republi-
cans. All the taxes were levied on the whites
and spent by the blacks, or rather by impu-
dent strangers who administered their poiti-
cal power. The Senate has unwisely
increased the irritation which prevails by pass
ing, in compliment to the memory Of Mr. Sum
ner, the Civil Rights Bill which purports to
secure social equality to the negroes in all parts
of the Union. The final issue OF the struggle
mas never DceH uOuDlIuI IL Is Impossible TO
maintain, except by external force, the su-
race, which is also in the whole of the South
ern Sta es minority of the population. The
Southern whites will have no difficulty in re-
establishing their predominance when they
and their political allies form the majority OF
the Union. Some political symptoms seem to
indicate the approaching decline Of the party
which has now directed the policy Of the
United States for thirteen years.
eff the Americans are rash in mourning
political risks they have, also, remarkable
aptitude for redressing the evils which they
have carelessly produced. They have, APP
parently, not been cured of their superstitious
belief in universal suffrage, either by the con-
dition of the city Of New York under the rule
Of Fisk and Tweed, or by the spreading
anarchy of the South, with its Kelloggs and
Brookses and Moseses f; but it was found pos
sible to send Tweed to the penitentiary, and,
in all probability, the nuisance OF negro domi-
nation will ultimately be a5ated. A large
proportion Of the difficulties with which
it will be necessary to grapple,
WAS inherent in the relation of the
two races after the inevitable abolition Of
slavery BY long succession of costly ex-
periments the true medium between chaotic
equality and oppression may perhaps be Ill
timately discovered. Enthusiasts who disre-
gard all distinctions of color are not aware
that they supply q post-humous justification
of the slave trade Negroes, who are sup
posed to be equal to the best citizens of Ell-
ropean descent, ought to rejoice in the vicari-
GUS sufferings by whit b their ancestors pur-
chased the extraordinary elevation of their race.
More temperate observers acknowledge that
the cOlored politicians of the Southern States
have made great advance on the condition
of their indigenous kindred, jobbing and re-
pudiating, and rioting are more civilized oc-
equations than slave-hunting for the Zanzi-
bar market, or participation in Ashantee
customs. Even the right Of voting might be
comparatively innocuous if the negroes
elected rulers only for themselves, and not for
their betters. Universal suffrage, which is
a rude and cumbrous instrument even when
it is unavoidable, becomes absurd and intoler-
able when the constituency is not practically
The example of Jamaica illus
trates the inconvenience of representative
Institutions when tue franchise is either con-
fined to q white minority or extended to
a colored majority. 1t remains to be seen
order and civilization in the Southern
States can oe reconciled with the retention of
any share of electoral power by the colored
population. The politician who may provide
for the security Of the negroes against oppres-
sion, without allowing them q mischievous
md unnatural predominance, will deserve
high place among American statesmen and
Legislators