New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-17
Tho South In the Election,

The WOrLG thinks that mo candid k6pub-
licsn who looks at the tremendous MAORI
lucky, Mississippi and Alabama can doubt
| that the Tilden electors received q great
popular majority in Louisiana" In other
words, because the shotgun policy sue
| decided perfectly in two or three Southern
States which are as pronounced in their
! Republicanism as Iowa and Vermont, it is
! absurd to suppose that in other States
| where the negro voters were either better
| protected or were better able to take care
| of themselves, the same results did not En-
sue. We doubt if even the World has i'm
pudence enough to pretend that on fair
| vote Mississippi and Alabama are not
| overwhelmingly Bepubiicsn. No wilder
assumption could be made than that
| any appreciable proportion of the ne
grOes Of Louisiana and South Carolin
voted the Democratic ticket. The colored
voters Of the South who failed to vote for
Hayes electors did SO because they were
driven from the polls, or in some other way
deprived Of the rights conferred on them
by the constitution. The fact u.s. that over
twO-thirds of the South the shotgun
policy" has triumphed to an extent that
may we'll shake our faith in the efficacy of
reconstruction. Organized intimidation has
overcome the voting power. The main body
of the South is on the side of the man who
has affirmed the constitutional right of Sc
cessiOn, and who had rallied around him
conspicuous leaders in the rebellion, strug.
Cling to regain under the government the
ground they lost in war.
Of this result there is but one explana-
ton. 1t can not be prevented that the i'm
mense majOritles which twice within four
year. have declared in favor of the Repub-
licans have been mastered by orderly and
legal methods. The change is not the
product of discussion. for discussion has
been sy Dramatically stifed. 1t has not been
brought about by legitimate canvassing, to
which we of the North are accustomed,
for the canvasser not bound hand and foot
to the Democracy has opened his lips at
the peril of his life. The organizations
which worked wonders in behalf of seces-
sion in 1860, have in this year of grace been
reproduced, with bloody variations, in
the interest of Tilden and Hendricks
arguments most relied upon. The rural
districts of the Republican South have been
pstroled as though the country were in in
surrection. By day and night rifle clubs
have ridden through colored neighbor-
hoods, threatening and frightening, whip
ping and shooting, with the specific pur
pose of OverawiDg the voters aud driving
away their local leaders. Meetings have
been broken up, white Republicans have
only systematic work which has been per-
mitted has been that which was subordinate
to the one aim of securing the South for the
Democratic party. These tactics have
largely succeeded. The ballot has sue.
cumbed to the bullet in several of the
States, and the great body of the South has |
sustained Tiden. |
In view of these facts, what bitter irony
is in the Oft-repeafed pretense of the Demo |
Gratis, that thelF ederalgovernmentw was ''in- |
vadiDg' the South in the lntere SITS of the |
Republicans! Two or three thousand soldiers, |
scattered over vast area, were represented |
as an aggressive army, doing the bidding |
of an uncrOwned despOt at Washington! Its |
work was to preserve order when called |
upon by responsible officials, and to main
tain peace at the polls-that was all. In |
South Carolina it has undoubtedly been |
efiicacous; in the other Southern States it's /
existence has been in effect unknown.
Louisiana has been the theatre of sys-
tematic violence and fraud. as dis
patches received thence clearly show. The |
reconstruct ed ku-Klux, the White l. .aguers
and the rifle clubs had their own way in
Mississippi and other States, az, before now,
they had in Alabama, Arkansas and
Georgia. That terrible Federal power which
has been the bugaboo of q certain class of
Northern citizens, left the South to its fate.
1t went to the limits of the law when it
called upon United States marshals to do
their duty. Beyond that it was DO werless.
The Democrats snapped their fingers at II.
heaped epithets on the Federal government.
and went on their way, bribing and bully.
ing, threatening and killing with absolute
impunity. The effect upon the election we
now see.
The spectacle lie not one which the loyal
citizens of the Union can contemplate with
much pride. The war was wsged to estab
ish the supremacy of Federal authority;
and after all the slaughter and all the ex-
sustain great principle-the Federal
authority is overmatched in Q struggle for
The possession Of power, as against the
secession principle, backed by armed Or
and q spirit of defiance, which
# itself implies legal paralysis at
Washington. These Southern Democrats
ook up arms against the govern
nent and failed; they professed re-
and we're pardoned; with q mag
lanimity which has no parallel, they were
estOred to political pow-r; and now they |
Use the influence thus conceded to them to
trike down the reconstructed Union, and I
D nullify the constitutional amendments.
q Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi the
blacks, epfranchsed and guar I
nte ed by the constitution equality with l
hites before the law, now discover that /
le franchise is mOckery, that the guar {
ntee lie valuelees, and that they are at the /
ercy of their former owners, intent upon | q
'ducing them to vassalage, and upon using g
leir voting privileges a. q means OF con-
their OWN OOWer-Ne1c York | q