National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-03-05
THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.

II may be idle to talk now of the bill to
Protect Electors which passed the House
and failed to pass the Senate; but large
number of people may be found who re-
gret that there is no warrant for the en-
forcement of any of its provisions. At
the same time others look upon it, even in
its uncompleted state, as a measure cal
culated TO arouse sectional spite and pro-
woke sectional controversy. We regret
that ii did not become law, and yet when
we remember that the Congress to the con-
sideration of which ii was confided de-
laycd action on six of the most important
Government appropriations until the last
hours Of the session, we cannot wonder at
its failure. Besides, there was much op-
position to its passage among otherwise in
telligent newspapers who were ignorant Of
the necessities of the Southern situation.
Among this class we find the Rochester
Democrat and Chronicle. That paper
quoting from our columns what it is
pleased to characterize as a precious
morsel' in the way of a paragraph de-
nouncing the Republican opponents OF the
bill as cowardly, says; This is the kind of
"taIk in which both THE NATIONAL RE-,
PUBLICAN and its echo, the Washington
" chronicle, are constantly. INDUCING"
While We respectfully deny that We have
an echo so near home as this would indi-
cate, we assert that our opinions found a
cordial response wherever they were
plainly understood, and we call the atten-
ton Of our New York contemporary to a
few facts which it seems to have over
looked.
When, at the close OF the war, the duty
of reconstruCung the Southern States de-
volved upon the Republican party in Con-
gress, the South was not represented in
that body, and, although numerous South
en- leaders were consulted, tho RESPONSE,
bllity for the enactment of the reconstruc-
ton acts resides solely with the Republi.
can party of the North. Those acts pro-
Tided that the right of suffrage should be
extended to the black residents of the South
ern States, and those residents were, so to
speak, citizenized, with pledges the most
solemn that they should be protected in the
exercise Of the rights Of citizenship. Rely
ing upon these pledges and accepting the
changed condition of affairs, the blacks at
once began the exercise Of those rights.
They were surrounded by men who had
fought for years to keep them in slavery,
and forthwith yielded their political allie
glance to the Republican party, not only
because it had enfranchised them, but be-
cause it was the only political organization
in antagonism to the principles or ideas for
which their former masters had sacrificed so
much blood and treasure. By this act of
utilization with their friends of the North,
the Republican party was strengthened
and its obligation to protect its new-found
allies was doubled. But, as the sharp edge
OF the remembrance of their defeat wore
away, the white rebels began to op-
press the blacks, to intimidats them
and to murder them, not on account of
their color, but simply on account of that
political utilization. Finally the spirit of
hatred became so ardent and so general
that the whites organized themselves into
battalions and squadrons, armed and off,
cered as they were before the surrender of
the Confederate armies. This was done.
be it remembered, before Gen. Grant was
elected to be President before the expert