New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-01-24
MIR. WILLIAM WALTER PHELPS.
How He is Regarded by His Republican
Constituents,

Constituents.
The letter which we published Friday
morning from Mr.. A. P. Smith, in regard
to Mr.. William Walter Phelps, has
brought to light the following letter from
the same source, received by gentleman
of this city previous to the election last
fall. Mr.. Smith is colored man of iuteIli-
gence and high standing in his community,
and we learn that it was mainly through
his influence, and the fact that the colored
men of his district refused to vote for Mr..
Phelps, that caused the defeat of that gen
tleman for reelection to the Forty fourth
Congress. The letter was autographed
and 5000 copies were circulated throughout
the congressional district.
SADDLE RIVER, N. j., October u, 1874.
To the Colored Citizens of Bergen county, and of
the Fifth Congressional District:
Two years ago two congressional candi-
dates we're presented to us. On the one
side was AbsolOm b. Woodruff, and on the
other William Walter Phelps. With scarce
an exception our votes we're given for the
candidate labeled Republican" and Phelps
was elected.
Have we gained anything in any way by
the RESULT
Had we voted differently, and had Wood.
ruff instead of Phelps been elected, would
we have lost anything by itl
Andif the past is any criterion by which
to Judge of the future if Democrat should
be elected this fall, would not our rights
and liberties be as secure In his hands as in
the hands of William Walter Phelps9
These are questions which lin the belief
tn vt we would at least be allowed to speak,
nnra IN hnh of 81 4
peOple) ventured to ask of two Republi-
ca editors in the dist let and neither of
them had the manliness to publish or at
tempt to answer them.
Here are the facts: William Walter
Phelps has betrayed us, and on the altar of
his supposed self.interest has sacrificed our
dearest rights. His honor as man and as
Republican, in which we kindly trusted,
has proved, like his word, which was ex-
pressly pledged, g broken reed. Stripped
of all disguise he stands before the country
false to us who PLACED him in the high posi-
ton he occupies, false to every distinctive
principle of the party whose name he bears
and false to his own plighted word. In
everything related to the colored man
William Walter Phelps has proved a bitter
enemy.
Our schools in the South are broken up,
our dwellings given to the flames, and our
defenseless people murdered in their homes
by the armed assassins of the White
League in their midnight raids.
the case of LOulsiana-a State peculiarly
| cursed with these atrocties-came up in
| Congress. 1t was a contested election case.
| Two sets of men claiming seats in Congress.
| On the one side were the McEnery rebels
| and blOOdy.handed League men; on the
other hand the patriotic P. B. S. Pinchback,
| q colored man, and his Republican assO-
ciates; and William Walter Phelps helped
rob Pinchback, the colOred man, and the
other Republicans, of their seats in Con
| gress; and the congressional encourage
ment thus given to the old rebel element is
| in a great measure responsible for the
| late bloody outbreaks in Louisiana.
| have before me Southern papers ana
| the speeches of Southern Republicans, aDd
| they distinctly charge this result not on
| the Democrats, but on the backboneless
doughface Republicans of the last Congress
Every true Republican in Congress sus
tanned the civil rights bill as a great meas
ure of Justice. Sumner left it to the party
with the dying injunction, Take care OF
the civil rights bill" And yet when it came
to congressional vote there were twelve
| Judases found in the ranks of the Repub
lican party, and one of them was William
| Walter Phelps.
In excuse of this treachery, by which this
bill was defeated, they tell you of objec
| IlonS, DuU luHTb dIb uOub tudL Will Dtdl
| honest scrutiny for a moment. 1t is only
history repeating itself. They are the samt
objections that were urged against emanci
patton, enfranchisement, and every Other
| great measure of justice to the colOred peO
| ple,. with only this ditference-that theI
these objections came from Democrats, but
now, under the lead of dOughface and
traitor, they come from Republicans.
To the cry that the bill was in favor oi
mixed schools" have one word to say
! and that ought to crimson with shame the
| cheeks of those Republicans who make it.
Here in Bergen county, under Demo
cratic rule, we have always had mixed
schools, with no harm resulting, and it was
reserved for Republicans to be the first Co
raise howl about it, as if it we're new
! and. "a terrible thing. Let the plea-in behalf
of the Republican party, now put forward
to induce us to vote for Phelds, have due
weight.
The one sufficient answer to this is that il
nominating Phelps the party itself in this
| district has proved deliberately false tC
every principle on which il processes tc
stand, and think it will appear that We
do not purpose to be mere blind voting
automatons for the benefit of Mr.. Phelps oI
any other man who has nothing more than
| the mere party name to recommend him.
Mr.. Phelps and his party see the hand
writing on the wall, and we have lately
seen them in the ridiculous plight of beg
ging the assistance OF Democrats to keeE
him in his seat, and imploring the Demo
Gratis to put on the Phelps Republican uni
forms, which the colored men Of this dis
trict are now casting of.
Colored men, it is an insult to our man
hood, to our Repubhcanism, and to oul
common sense to ask us to vote for such
man.
As true as he has been to US and to thu
suffering people of our blood in the SOutt
will we be to him.
Let us give him Judgment at the polls OF
the third of November next.
A. P. SMITH.