National Republican., 1878-12-12
s p E BCH
OF
HON. JAMES G. BLAINE,
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
DECEMBER II, 1878
On the resolutions offered by him directing an In.
yestigation into alleged frauds and outrages in
the recent elections.
EcEMBER IL, 1878.
OF MAINE,

view:
First To place on record, In definite and
authentic form, the frauds and outrages by
which some recent elections were carried by
the Democratic party In tho Southern States.
Second. To find II there be any method by
which n repetition Of these crimes against n
free ballot may be prevented.
The newspaper Is the channel through which
the people OF the United States are informed of
current events aud the accounts given In the
press represent the elections in some of the
Southern States to have been accompanied by
violence, In not few cases reaching, the de
struction Of life; to have been controlled by
threats that awed and intimidated large class
Of voters; to have been manipulated by fraud
of the most shameless and shameful description
Indeed. In South Carolina there seems to have
been no election at all IN amy proper sense of
the term. There was instead series Of
skirmishes over the State, In which the polling
places were regarded rs forts tobe captured by
one party aud held against the other. and
where this could not he done with Onvenience
frauds IN the count aud tissne-ballot devices
were resortcd to in order to enectually destroy
the voice of the majority. These In brief are
the accounts given In the nou- partisan press OF
the disgnccful outrages that attended the re.
cent elections, and so far rs | have seen, these
statements are without serious contradiction
II Is but just and fair to all parties, however
that an impartial investigation of the facts
shall be made by a committee of the Senate
proceeding under the authority of law aud rep
resenting the power Of the nation. Hence my
resolution.
But we do not need investigation to estab.
lsh certain facts already of official record. We
know that lO6 Representatives In Congress were
recently chosen In the States formerly slave.
holding, and that the Democrats elected l0l or
possible 102 and the Republicans 4, or possibly
8. Weknow that thirty-fve of these Repre-
sentatives were assigned to the Southern States
by reason of the colored population, and that
the entire political power thus founded on the
numbers of the colored people has been seized
and appropriated to the aggrandizement Of its
own strength by the Democratic party Of the
South.
The issue thus raised before the country,
Mr.. President, is not one of mere sentiment
for the rights Of the negro-though far distant
be the day when the rights of any American
citizen, however black or however poor, shall
form the mere dust Of the balance in any con-
troversy; nor Is the issue one that involves
the waving of the "bloody shirt" to quote the
elegant vernacular of Democratic vituperation I;
nor still further Is the issue as now presented
only question of the equality of the black
voter of the South with the white voter of the
South; the issue, Mr.. President. has taken q
far wider range. one of portentOus magnitude (;
aad that Is, whether the white voter of the
North shall be equal to the white voter of the
South in shaping the policy aud fixing the
! Z
still more BADLY, the white man who fought
In the ranks of the Union army shall have as
wsighty and influential q vote In the Govern
ment Of the Republic as the white man who
fought In the ranks Of the rebel army. The
one fought to uphold, the other to destroy, the
Union Of the States and to-day he who fought
to destroy Is far more important factor in
the Government Of the nation than he who
fought to uphold it.
Let me illustrate my meaning by comparing
groups of States of the same representative
strength North and South. Take the States
Of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
They send seventeen Representatives TO Con-
gress. Their aggregate population is composed
Of 1,035, 900 whites and PA 600 colored the
colored being nearly 200 600 In excess of the
whites. Of the seventeen Representatives,
then, II is evident that nine were apportioned
to these States by reason of their colOred pop
ulation, and only eight by reason Of their white
population and yet In the choice of the ell
tire seventeen Representatives the colored
voters had no more voice or power than their
remote kindred on the shores of Sensgamba
or on the Gold Coast. The !, ,O35.0OO White
people had the sole and absolute choice Of the
entire seventeen Representatives. In trast,
take two States in the North Iowa and Wis.
consin, with seventeen Representatives. They
have white population Of 2,2i7, ,OO0-consid-
erably more than double the entire white pop.
uation of the three, Southern States i have
named. In Iowa aud Wisconsin, therefore,
II takes l32 900 white population ~ send u
Representative to Congress, but In South Caro-
lima Mississippi, aud Louisiana every 60,OO0
white people send Representative. In other
words, 10000 white people in those Southern
States have precisely the same political power
In the government of the country that 10000
white people have IN Iowa aud Wisconsin.
Take another group of seventeen Represent.
atives from the South aud from the North.
Georgia and Alabama have a white popu.
lation Of L. l5S, 900 and a colored population of
l,020,OOO They send seventeen Representa-.
tivcs to Congress, of whom nine were appor-
toned on account of the white population and
eight on account of the colored population.
But the colOred voters are not able to choose II
single Representative, the white Democrats |
choosing the whole seventeen. The four |
Northern States Michigan. Minnesota, Ne.
braska, and California, have seventeen Repre-. |
sentatives, based on n white 'poInation Of
225O,0OO, or almost double the wl,ito popula. |
tiOn of Georgia aud Alaham 50 that In these !
relative groups of States we ind the white
man South exercises by his vote double the |
political power of the white man North.
Let us carry the comparison to more com. |
prehensive generalization. The eleven States |
that formed the Confederate government had |
by the last census population of 9,5OOOOO, of
which In round numbers 5,50O,OO0 were white |
and 4,OOO,OOO cOlored. On this aggregate pop. |
ulation seventy.thrce Representatives IN Con-
gress were apportiOned to those States--fOrty. |
two or three of which were by reason of the |
white population, and thirty or thirty.one by |
reason of the cOlorcd population. At the rc.
cent election the white Democracy of the |
South seized seventy Of the seventy-thrce dis. |
tricts and thus secured Democratic majority |
in the next House of Representatives Thus II |
appears that throughout the States that formed |
the late Confederate government 5000 whites |
the very people that rebellcd against the |
Union-are enabled to elect u Representative |
in Congress, while in the loyal States 1t re-
quires 1921 900 of the white people that fought |
Tor the Union to elect u Representative, In
levying every tax, therefore. In making every |
appropriation Of money, in fixing every line Of |
public policy, IN decreeng what shall be the |
fate and fortune Of the Republic, the Confcd |
crate soldier South is enabled to east vote |
that is twice ~ powerful aud twice ~ iniiuen.
tinl rs the vote Of the Union soldier North.
But tho white men Of the South did not ac-
quire aud do not hold this superior power by ,
reason Of law or justice, but In disregard ami |
defiance of both. The fourteenth amendment
to the Constitution was expected to be and WAS
designed to be preventive and corrective Of |
all such possible abuses. The reading Of tho
clause applicable to the case is instructive and
suggestive, Hear IL;