Year: 1876

really so, that for several years have
done everything in their power to black
en- the character of Southern Republi
cans. They have denied. justified or ex.
cused every persecution and outrage that
have been heaped upon them. They
have jeered at their complaints, and
sought to cover with Tidicule and calum.
ny every man who has dared to lift his
voice against these horrible atrocities.


The peaceable conduct Of the colored
people of the South during the war in
remaining upon the plantations and
working with their usual industry, while
their masters were in the field fighting
for the professed purpose Of perpetual
ting slavery, has been the subject OF
worldwide consideration and surprise.
Their general behavior since the war.
and often under circumstances Of great
trial and oppression, has been remarka-
BILE for its pacific character and for their
failure to take into their own hands ven
geance for the enormous wrongs they
have suffered. Nothing could be more
infamous than the attempts which have
been repeatedly and, in fact. constantly
made to justify the atrocities committed
upon them by alleging that they them
selves had conspired to rob and murder
the white people, and had themselves





hicts in which they have suffered so
| greatly. The conclusive answer to these
foul calumnies is founded in the fact
that eolored men only are killed; that
if white men are killed, they are few in
number, and the cases are exceptional
While the masses Of the colored people
OF the South are uneducated, they are far
| from being destitute of natural sagacity
are well instructed in the lessons Of ex-
| perience, and possess far greater intelli-
gence than their enemies give them cred
it for. They know full well that their
enemies are trained in the art of war,
possess the best quality of arms, are
skilled in the use OF them, and are dar-
ing and aggressive, and in any conflict
that may ensue, themselves must be the
greatest sufferers. They know full well
that their interests lie in peace and in
the observance of the laws.


DUTY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TO MAINTAIN
THE RIGHTS OF coLoRED NES.


When it Is the duty of all men to
maintain the equal rights Of the colored
people, the duty rests with peculiar force
upon the members of the Republican
party. 1t was the Republican party that
abolished slavery. m ade FIVE millions Of
people free, and this alone is the grand
est achievement in the history OF any
political organization. 1t was the Re
publican party that elevated the colored
people to equal civil and political rights
and gave them a share in the admins
tration Of Government, and thus placed
them in a position to be assaulted by
those who believed in the rightfulness Of
slavery and the colored men should not,
/ nfr "a -.
political j ,hts.


II, after having thus placed the colored
people in this position Of trial and as
| sault and exposed them to the dangers
to result from disbelief in their natural
| rights, their mental and moral capacity,
and the hatred Of their race, the Repub-
| lican party should become tired and so
act that their enemies can say that they
admit that the brief experiment of negro
freedom and suffrage is a failure, it would
deserve the execration Of men and, /
doubt not receive the punishment Of
Heaven. 1t seems that there are politi-
cal dandies who have nominaily profess
ed belief in the equal rights of men. who
now think it is the genteel thing to aban-
don the colored people and to join the
crusade against them by protesting a
high regard for good government in the
South, and that the further consideration
of their rights and remonstrance against
their wrongs should be eliminated from
political discussions, which should be
confined exclusively to questions Of cur
rency, tariff civil-service reform, and
other economic subjects.


Should the Republican party of the
North become indifferent to the fate Of
the colored people of the South, and ig-
more the atrocities committed upon
them, nothing can prevent them from
sinking rapidly into a state Of yassalage,
and their last condition will be worse
than the first That the Democratic
party Of the South are reconciled to the
civil and political equality of the colored
people is eontradicted by their every act,
by their daily life, by their history in the
past and their aspirations in the future;
and when they get the physical power
regardless Of constitutional provisions or
Congressional enactments-they will
hurl them from the platform of equality
and reduce them to a vassalage but one
remove from slavery.


WHITE LINE POLICY.


The white line policy, adopted by the
Democratic party in Mississippi and 9th
er Southern States, proceeds upon the
idea that the Government should be ex-
clusiyely in the hands of the white peo-
pie, and that colored people should be
excluded from all participation therein.
One excuse given for this is, that the col
ored people had adopted a color line, by
which they sought to gain exclusive con
troll of the Government in Mississippi
and other Southern States. This charge
against the colored people is utterly and
fagrantly false. So far from having ever
sought to establish a color line, and to
take to themselves exclusively the Gov
ernment OF Mississippi or other South
ern States they have continually DIS
claimed it, and by their conduct proved
the sincerity Of their disclaimer. They
have always been anxious to act in CON
cert with white men; and, although in
Mississippi and other Southern States the
number Of white Republicans acting with
them has borne but a small proportion
to their own number, they have Civ
en- to the whites constantly a majori-
ty of the offices. The fact that the
colored people have not joined the
Democratic party and entered the
ranks of their bitter enemies is most
absurdly, even foolishly, offered as proof
that they have attempted to establish
color-line in politics. Had the colored
people Joined the ranks Of their implaca-
ble enemies, they would indeed have
proved themselves to be the stupid and
| incapable beings they have constantly
been represented. The white-line policy
was established by the Democratic party
| Immediately after the termination OF
/ the war, and has never been relaxed or
/ abandoned for a single moment. Occa-
sionally a resolution has been put for
ward in some convention renouncing
that policy, but only for blind to cover
up more desperate designs. The first
Legislature elected in Mississippi after
the war, under the government establish
ed by President johnson, enacted a