Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-07-24
NE 60 ana ihe pemoerae,

The only feasible 1ustihce1on WnAcn
the Republicans can urge in defense
of ,beir conduct IN unseating legally
elected Southern Democratic members Of
Congress. and giving their seats 70 Re
publican contestants who have been re
undated at the polls, is that the negro is
always. per Sc, q Republican voter, and
that therefore, wherever in the South
the negro vote pIedominstes. there
8 Republican victory must neces-
ssrilv result Acting upon this as
sumption the Republicans in the present
United States House Of Representatives
have taken upon themselves to arbitrari-
" declare that majority of the people
in certain Congressional districts in
South Carolina and other Southern States
did vote the Radical ticket at the last
elections, notwithstanding that the duly
certified election returns showed DIFF
ferent result.
This claim of the Radical party IS pre-
sumptuous and arrogant. 1t Is founded
solelv on the theory that because the Ke'
nublicans happened to be npower when
the war ended the negro is indebted to
them for his freedom, and that therefore
he should be, if he is not, an unlinch-
ING adherent of the Republican party
Aud the Radicals not only boldly take
the position, but they equally as boldly
and without the faintest shad-
ow of authority, proceed to
adopt the maxim of equity,
that what should be done is done, and
so they presume to declare that because,
in their opinion, the negro should vote
the Radical ticket, he does so at all
times and under all circumstances.
That the Radicals in adopting this rule
of conduct refuse to acknowledge what
they do not wish to admit, and conceal
from themselves facts which they do not
wish to see, is plainly manifest. But,
few days ago, a large number of colored
voters in Montgomery, Alabama, met in
convention, and formally Endorsed the
Democratic State and county ticket,
and it is well known that throughout
the Southern States large percentage of
negroes, especially of the better and
more intelligent class who are not office
seekers, invariably cast their lot with the
Democrats. Hon. George d. Tillman. of
the Fifth South Carolina district, spoke
nothing but truth when, in his farewell
speech 20 the House last Wednesday, just
previous to being robbed of his seat by a
reckless and manufactured Radical ma
i0rity, he said that he could beat any
Republican in the North, from Blaine
down to Horn, the cloWn of Michigan,
on the stump in his district with the aid
Of negro orators, and that he would be
returned to the next Congress by the
help of the votes of his colored oustitu-
ents.
The truth OF the whole matter is that
the intelligent negroes of the South are
beginning at length to understand their
true interests, and, as o necessary cOnse-
quence, the more enlightened they be
come in this respect, the more they
abandon the Radical organization. They
are beginning to realize that the kadi
cal party is not their real
friends, and not only have they begun
to see that they have been deceived,
robbed and mercilesslY defrauded of
their hard earned savings by that party,
but that they have teen always, whenever
possible, used by it simply as tool for
political purposes, aud as hobby upon
which their pretended white allies might
ride into place and power. Besides this,
too, they are learning to appreciate
the fact that they are citizens
of the South, and that their in
terests are bound up with this section,
and they must, as their eyes become
more fully opened to this fact. become
steadily more fully impressed with the
truth that the Republican party is an or
ganization alien to the South, and that
its fundamental principles are hostility
to this section.
These are the main reasons why col
ored voters of the South, who have been
heretofore cajoled and deceived into
afiiliating with the Radical party, are
now turning their backs upon that organi-
cation, and are casting their lot with
the Democracy. We draw no picture of
the imagination, nor 10 We indulge in
| exaggeration. We state only what has
been, and will yet be more firmly, estab-
lished. If Radical Congressman hope
by their unjustifable course in ousting
Southern members from their seats to
gain accession to their ranks from the
South at the coming elections, they are
calculating most decidedly without their
host.