National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-03-31
Emigration the Remedy for Usurpatlon.

The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN advocates
emigration Of the colored people from states
wherein their rights are denied and their
numerical strength is made TO augment the
power of the party that oppresses them.
By practical notification OF the fifteenth
amendment In various states the federal
government has been seized and is held by \
minority Of the people. Representation
based on the suppressed vote has been rev.
olutionarily seized aud, by It's aid, the rev.
olutionary party has elected President
and controls the national House of Repre-
sentatives.
Such government is, Of course, illeglti-
mate. Its only legality resides in the fact
that IL exists. IL has covered itself with
the forms OF law. The majority submits to
usurpation based ON murder, intimidation,
and fraud because order is preferred to
chaos, and disgraceful peace is deemed
better than devastating war. "Hope
springs eternal in the human breast" and
the hope which has induced submission to
this wrong has been that II would prove
only temporary evil; that the southern
Democrats would not be able TO maintain
solidity in permanent notification Of the
supreme law OF the land. This hope must
now be abandoned, for II has proven de-
lusion. The Democratic party, north and
south, has come TO regard the solid south
as its permanent possession, and has de-
cided to maintain southern solidity By the
same means that secured It.
The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN, advocates
emigration because II is utterly unable TO
discover any reasonable hope that the fed
eral government will protect the colored
men Of the south In their right to vote and
have their votes counted. Even II the Re-
publican party were to-day In possession Of
both houses Of Congress and the executive
departments It would be impossible to
afford such protection. Our system Of gov
eminent presupposes the existence Of some
things that do not exist. Self.government
implies such a spirit Of common fairness as
is now unknown in q number of the
southern states. had all the states
been like Mississippi the republic
would not have existed in the past,
nor been hoped for In the future. And
in Just so far as other communities resemble
the Democrats OF Mississippi, republican
government is failure, and can never
be anything else. Czarism is the only kind
Of government adapted to Kemper county,
Yazoo, and Carrollton, or to communities
which sympathize withtheir methods. But
we would not give up the republic for this
reason. The family relation is not to be
condemned because father finds one muir
derer and two or three thieves among his
dozen Of stalwart sons.
The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN advocates
emigration from barbarous to civilized COM
munities, from brutal oppression TO equal
rights, not only because protection by the
national authority is impracticable, but for
the further reason that it is equally i'm
practicable to reduce the representation Of
the murderous and bulldozing states in the
electoral coll eye and the House of Repre-
sentatives, As remedy for the evil we
are now considering the constitutional pro-
vision for reducing representation where
the right to vote is denied or abridged is
worse than useless-worse, because II is
sometimes relied upon as a remedial agency
when in fact II is not worth the ink used In
printing 1t.
Until the representatives in Congress who
owe their seats to suppression Of votes will
vote for reducing the representation Of their
states 1t will be waste Of words to talk Of
getting justice in that way "Eleven Of the
jurymen have some Of the pork"
Looking at the situation as II exists, we
can see but one way OF reaching the evil
that must, unless removed, result In the
destruction OF the government Emigra-
tion on grand scale, under the guidance
Of an organization that will put brains and
capital into the work, is the true remedy.
Emigration will reduce the representation of
states that nullify the fifteenth amendment,
and immigration will increase the repre-
sentation Of states where equal rights are
accorded.
A good many states that are Democratic
by small margins can be made reliably Re-
publican by this process. 1t is better than
usurpation, cheaper than war. 1t is not
| proposed 10 compel or unduly urge any
man to leave the home he now has, but 1t
is proposed to offer new homes, to afford
transportation, to take families entire, con.
vey them by comfortable means to the
places selected, and set them down in
houses which viii eventually be their own
on lands which they can own by paying the
cost thereof.
Intelligent colored men will naturally
take the lead in this great enterprise, hui
they will not lack the support of white men
There will be money to carry on the worl
and brains to assure its prudent manage
ment.
As beginning what objection is there Il
the emigration Of 10000 hardflsted toiler
from Mississippi to Tennessee, 10000 Il
Missouri, 10000 to West Virginia, and 500
to FloridaP
The executive committee Of the Nationa
Union League should correspond with own
ers Of large tracts Of land in the state
named, and obtain the most favorable terms
on long time and low interest, for tn
benefit Of the laborers Of the black belt VIII,
desire to emigrate. They should also issu
an appeal to the patriotic and beneyolen
men and women Of the United States b
subscribe to the fund to be raised for tn
furtherance Of this movement. There is N
other organization which can so fttingly G
to the front In this enterprise as the Ma
tional Union League.
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