National Republican., 1876-11-21
THE BLACK BALLOT.

Many of the citizens OF this country, no.
tably those in the South, who sought to
drown our liberties in sea of blood, and
those in the North, who were at heart their
aiders and abettors, have been very much
disturbed by the ballot in the hands of the
black man. Foreigners, who come here
fresh from their native land, untutored in
the science OF fself-government unacquaint-
ed with the genius of our institutions, and
ready to do the bidding Of their Democratic
teachers. are forthwith invested with all
the rights and powers Of the American cit
izen, because, forsooth, they belong to the
dominant race because white blood flows
in their veins. But the negro descendant
Of race stolen by American citizens from
their native land and brought in fetters to
foreign shore; the negro, whose unpaid
toll has kept halt the continent in food and
clothing and luxury for the last hundred
years the negro, nstive-born, and often
with the blood of yesterdays master man
Ting his check; the negro, who in time of
tie nations peril was girt with armor and
put into the waveriug balance to turn the
scales to victory the negro, peaceable and
forgiving--shsll he have the right of citi-
zenshipt Shall a black mans billot be
equal to white man's-a black ballot be
equal to white one?
What is black ballot9 What is white
cne? Does the complexion of the skin
determine the complexion of the ballot?
Is the ballot Of the African black, and the
ballot Of the Caucasian white? When the
Caucasian who has, by his service through
the war Of the rebellion, shown himself
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies Of nature
DO swarm upon him:'
who has made midnight raids upon the
homes of poor, defenseless negroes. dragged
out the husband and father, and shot him
through and through, and left him un-
buried within sight of his wife and chill
dren; who has sworD to support the Uni
ted States Constitution as it is, but who
intimidates and murders his fellow-citi-
zens and plots its overthrow by killing
those who would protect it by their votes;
when the Caucasian at the South, or his
brother Caucasian at the North, who sells
himself for money to vote for q candidate
who has bought the nomination; candi-
date who originated the Credit Mobilier
frauds, for which SO many public, men lost
their position and character; a candidate
long associated with Tammeny Hall bal
lotbox suffers, and their wiliest agent; q
candidate who defrauded the Government
of his income tax and declared the war
against the rebellion failure; and finally,
candidate whose vast wealth, as lever
to lift himself into power, has been felt in
every State in this Union; when the South
ern Caucasian and the Northern Cauca-
sian vote for such man, and that in order
that the cause of freedom and humanity in
this land may be turned backward, are
their ballots white or black?
And, should it prove true that in this
emergency the nation has been saved, she
has been saved by the vote Of the black
man; that the black men Of South Carolina
and Florida and Louisiana were willing to
take the risk of losing everything, even to
life itself, in order to cast their ballots for
freedom, and thai this selEdeyotion saved
the Government from falling into the
hands Of the residuary legatees of the des
perate men who originated and carried on
the rebellion, what shall be said of the
complexion of their ballotf Is it black
ballot or white one? What will the ma,
ton sayf What win posterity say? 1t is
the whitest ballot ever polled in the land.
Never, probably, had men stronger in
ducements to remain away from the polls,
or to vote with the party that opposed the
carrying on of the war TO save the nation,
and that opposes the legitimate results of
the war, than had the colored people In
the States above named. When Southern
politicians talked about 'tsolid South
they knew what it meant; they knew that
it was possible only by DISTINGUISHING 8
majority of the legal voters-disfranchising
them by intimidation orb by bribes. Welstely
conversed with several gentlemen from
one of the counties in Alabama. They
said: ''The negroes have their rights in
Alabama, and sote sih us. And they
made no secret Of the fact that the negroes
secured their rights By voting against the