New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-01
Senator Burch In New York.

A mass meeting of the Lincoln Club, of
the seventh assembly district, was held last
evening at No. 12 University place. About
one-third of the audience that crowded the
the president, Mr.. Cornelius Van Colt, in.
troduced as the speaker of the evening
Senator j. Henri Burcb, of Louisiana, who
was greeted by lord applause when he
rose to speak. Prefacing his remarks by
the statement that he would address the
audience from the standpoint Of the negro
Republican at the South, Senator Burch
said:
"There seems to me to be decided mis-
conception at the North of the actual state
of political affairs in the Southern States.
Tho statement is often made by well-mean-
ing people here that old antagonistic feel
ings are subsiding, and that the Old-time
abiding citizen. Nothing could be further
from the truth. He has, in my own State,
certainly never left the saddle in which he
met some Of you on the battlefield. The
determined resolve of these Southerners to
carry all the Southern States solidly for
Tilden and Hendricks, means something
more than a desire for economy, retrench-
ment and reform; it means Q lOng-eighted
purpose on their part to attain by the
ballot what they lost in the battle
field, and to bring back once more
tho ante bellum days. The old condition of
affairs, and what he lost when it was abOl-
ished, still rankles in his memory, and he
can not forget it. He still lives in the old
scenes; he sees about him those whose
limbs his chains once shackled; he sees his
wealth gone because they are no longer his
slaves. and he hopes under Democratic rule
to return to the situation of twenty five
years ago. This is why he keeps the negro
from the ballot box, and permits him to cast
his vote only ut the risk of his life. Now,
do not come here to rouse feelings OF an
tagOnism between men OF the North and the
South, but do come to urge that the negro
be protected in the legal rights granted
him. You Republicans of the North it was
who obtained for US our freedom and our |
fights; to you we look for protection in the |
hour when both are periled.
The negro of the South understands |
exactly to which party he owes his allegi-
8nCe. The white man may easily deceive |
him on all other points; he rents out land |
to the blacks. and then steals the resulting |
crops. He cheats his unsuspecting dupe /
time and again out of what little money he /
may save, but when the election day |
arrives, no promises, allurements, threats |
or punishments can disabuse his mind of |
the idea that whatever good has ever come
to him has come through the Republican
party, and to that he will cling Louisiana
il claimed by the Democrats among the
Tilden and Hendricks States, but just as
surely as q full negro vote is allowed in
November, 80 certainly will that State cast
her eight electoral votes for Hayes and
Wheeler. The Southern planter cares
nothing for the election of Tilden if
1t will not insure him at the same
time the State government. BY mesns
Of this can he easiest control the
negro, and for this he aims. He will use
avery endesvor to deprive the black man Of
Legislative power-even, if necessary, by
10rce of arms. The negroes demand legis-
latve representation that at all events
their rights may be protected against the
machinatiO of these their enemies. / do
not claim that my colored friends in the
Louisiana Legislature have always made
wise laws; they have not. But this may be
said: However foolish laws they may
sometimes have made, they have never
passed unjust ones. The gist of matters at
the South is Just this: The present genera
ton, bot white and black, must pass away
before the two races can come to q peace
able and cordial understanding, and all can
be educated up to Q sense of their duties
and the value of their privileges. Mean
while We demand a. American citizens the
protection of our rights, and we sincerely
believe that this can only be attained by
the election of Hayes and Wheel az our
next President and Vice President-New
Vns.E Ys;hnup