New Orleans Republican., 1875-11-21
An Important Straw,

| independent political force, is steadily dis
appearing from the political arena in each
of the late slave States of the American
Union. This may be called the "a of the
| lesson which Northern Republicans are to
| learn between this and 1876 The complete
| ascendency of Confederate sentiment" in
| each Southern State is the"B" of this les.
son. The &C. of this lesson consists in
uniting these two facts-the political sup
preston of the negro and the domination
| of Confederate sentiment in the Southern
section of the American Union. We shall
go no further at present than this "a
C" of the Confederate alphabet. When
the Boston Jomrnui has mastered these sim
Pile facts of the Southern problem, we ex-
pect to see its eager thirst for knowledge
produce good results. Is the South to be
the Poland, the Ireland or the Canada of
the American Union'
THE NEGRO sHUFFLED OUT OF POWER,
The Democratic triumph in Miss;ssippi
signalizes the substantial suppression of the
negro at the South as political force at all
pr0portoned to his numerical strength.
Louisiana alone remains nOminally among
the State governments controlled by the
elements called into existence by the recon
struction policy. If 1t be said that South
Carolina belongs in the same category, the
reply must be That Governor Chamberlain
divided the previously solid anti.Republi-
can forces on the reform issue, and tri-
umphed through majority made up of the
better sections of all classes. But whatever
Importance may be assigned to these excep-
tiOns, the general drift of the current is too
unmistakaoe to leave any doubt of what
the result will ultimately be throughout the
entire South. In North Carolina. Virginia,
Tennessee, Georgia, Alabams, Texas, Ar
kansas, and now Mississippi, power has
been taken out of the hands of the colored
and white Republicans, with the effect, and
indeed with the avowed purpose. of eject.
ing the former from Southern politics. They
are remanded to subordinate position
where the length of their stay and the man
ner of their emergence, if they ever do
emerge, is wholly matter of conjecture.
The energy which has marked this over
turn is strikngly illustrated in the case of
Mississippi. There, by tho census of 1870.
the white population numbered 3S2 1896, and
the colored population 4ii,20l. In 1872 the
Republicans carried the election by 80, ,OSS
majority-which was obviously fair result
seeing that there were between 10000 and
$1,000 white Republican voters and that the
colored voters almost to man were on that
side. Since then more negroes have come
into the State, SO that, making all probable
allowances for honest changes of opinion,
it would be difficult to figure the rightfui
Republican majority now extant in the
erats have carried it high and dry. We are
told that it was peaceful, quiet election in
the Dialn, and that many negroes voted the |
Democratic ticket. There ia no doubt of |
both statements-the Democratic tactics
explain it all. The old ku Kiux demonstra |
tlons were generally given up, because
their effect was to call the United States |
military in, under whose protection the ne |
groes fairly voted. On the other hand, |
the. government grew disinclined to inter |
fere ON the old reasons because it was seen
that official corruption prospered in such |
States under the lee of federal protection,
and that logically there was no one end to |
the bad precedent OF subordinating civil to |
military rule in arepublic, consequently the |
popular verdict condemned the whole pro.
ceeding. The Democrats of Mississippi, |
however, were too shrewd to incur the risk |
OF reviving military Intervention, and go
they resorted to systematic efforts to play |
on the alarm of the negroes by armed |
night riding, and all those
Ingenious means OF intimidation within the |
letter of tho law which long master race
has learned to put in practice over an ig-
norant timid and long servile race. The |
latter are without arms, without organiza-
tion, and without that social standing which
ls an immense advantage anywhere, and
especially in q sem-aristocratio community.
In addition, in the present instance, the re-
fusal of the United States government to
comply with Governor Ames' appeal for aid
was misunderstood as a case of deser sion,
leaving the blacks at the mercy of their late
masters. Bribery and tiattery did the rest
OF the work, and serve to account for the
Democratic triumph at the polls
hG 10 IN
at the South, that negro suffrage is apps.
rently failure for the present. Still the
end is not yet. 1t is very obvious from the
history OF these movements we have been
contemplating that if the nation had not
given the freedmen the franchise their |
former masters certainly would not have
done it, while the existence of such an
immense politically psriah class as q per
msnent fixture at the South would have
been gross anomaly in our institutions
an and the fountain OF incalcuiable evils.
the best it could, with it's view fixed
mainly on the future. That the freed.
man was not fit for Immediate government
was well known; If it was hoped that the
whites as class would helpl to make him
1T, the hope has failed dismslly. We come,
then, to the second stage of the political
destinies of the freedmen. Perhaps out of
their subordinate position they will get the
requisite discipline for resuming their true
place as American citizens. As for their
white rulers, they are exceedingly exultant
now, but they have entered upon weighty
and delicate responsibility. If they use It
to unnecessarily depress those now at their
mercy, or to strip them of the least of their
guaranteed rights, the eye of the people
Will be upon them, and its power will sure
y be felt to their rebuke and defeat.