The Republican journal., 1876-04-20
The Colored Vote of the South.

When the negocs of the South We're en-
franchised, we made the prediction that
the Republican party would be by 10
means certain of their votes in the future
that with the influences Of time and ed
ucatiOn would come the inclination to use
their ballots for their own interest and
that of their section. 4 southern man,
blacl. or white, will endeavor to take care
of southern interests when he comes to I'M
derstAnd them.
The proceedings Of the recent colored
convention at Nashville indicate a new
departure which comedies with the above
views. Speeches were made by Pinch
back Of Louisiana, and Smith Of Alabama.
A western Democratic paper says that the
proceedings indicate that the Southern
question is near a solution. When the war
ended and the negroes were invested with
the right of suffrage, they banedd togeth-
er as one man and became the ruling ele-
ment in most of the Southern states. I'm
der the tutelage and direction Of the freed
South became as clannish IS We're the
Iighlanders Of Scotland. Through the
Vaccinations OF INSCRIPTIONS men from
the North they were made to believe that
their liberty and lives depended upon
their assumption Of a position antagonistic
to their former masters. They were told
that the Democratic party favored their
reinstatement, and would accomplish it
should it ever be restored to power. Their
ears were open only to the ambitious men
OF their own race, and the despicable car
pet baggels who overrun the tairest por-
ton of our land that they might fatten off
a people who loathed and despsed them.
No white man, unless he was identified
with the frcedman's bureau, had any in
lluence with the colored people of the
South, and consequently the negroes of
that section as we'll as of the whole coun-
try, voted in body the Republican ticket
1t is not surprising they did this, for their
shackles had fallen off under Republi-
can administration, and they saw around
them sullen men, formerly their masters,
who bitterly opposed the measures which
made them free
1t was some time before the white men
of the South become reconciled to the in
evtable and accepted the new order Of
things, For a time they refused to par
ticipate in public affairs, and in the mean
time the negro, full Of his new born free
dom, and under the lead of adventures
from the North, took possession of the
Southern states, and from being a slave,
became a master. This arrayed against
him the white man, and between the two
was drawn an impossible barrier The
negro, unused to governing himself. was
totally unfit to govern state, and his at
tempt to do it resulted in wide spread
disaster 1t took him years to learn that
he was being used by the Republican par
ty to keep itself in power, and that it had
no use for him except as he had served its
ends But at last he had discovered this
fact, and proposes in the future to act for
himself
In the Nashville convention, Pinchback
declared "that the colored people were
beginning to think for themselves, and
WOuld never AGAIN vote the Renuhlican
ticket in solid column, as heretofore ;"
Mr.. Smith, state Senator from Alabama,
went even further than the ex-governor
of Louisiana, and "advised the blacks no
longer to remain in the Republican party
but make terms with their white South
ern friends, and hereafter to vote for hon
est and competent men without reference
to party" These two men are leaders of
their race, and their advice will be re-
ceived with favor by those to whom
it was addressed. When the negro is pre-
pared to act, as should an American cit
izen, and vote as he pleases and for whom
he pleases without regard to race or color,
the color lines in the South will disappear,
and the Southern question be solved
Heretofore if man of color voted the
Democratic ticket, he was ostracized by
his race and became social outlaw. In
localities, colored men. for voting with the
Democracy, have been assaulted and driv-