Year: 1871

IaVOf OF b1o DENOMINATION Vi Ooudrdl olhubs
If there should be any difference on this
question in the future, he must attribute it
to the conduct of his federal officials and to
those who control his army here at the pres
ent time. Loud cheers.] May we hope that
this conduct has been without the knowl
edge Of President Grant. IA voice, "n0
doubt of it'll / am disposed to say be-
lieve there is no doubt of it, [Applause.]
But if it should go to the people of this
country. that he has sanctioned the
calling of a Republican Convention in
the United States Customhouse to be con-
trolled by the United States Marshal,
packed by United States officials, and sur
rounded by the United States army. I tell
you, if it goes to the American people that
Grant is responsible for that, the American
people will repudiate him. Loud and long
continued applause.] We want in this State,
and in this broad country, liberty of the
people. [Cheers.] We want liberty for the
white man, and liberty for the black man.
not accorded to every white man, and no
white man to have any right not accorded
to every black man. [Applause]. That
is the great lapdmark of the Repub-
lican party; that is the great bea-
con light by which we have steered
through many years of war, bloodshed and
unhappiness We have just reached the
point. Shall we now turn back Voices
mo, no." eve will not turn back."] The
Republican party in Louisiana is unit. 1t
stands by the principles and the platform
it has advocated in the past, and it will
never give them up. [Applause.l That
man who comes into our midst and talks
about organizing black party or white
party is not Republican, but is a disor-
ganizer. [Applause.l We know what the
rights of the people are. We know the
people Of this State stand by us, and we
are going to stand by the principles and
the platform of the Republican party;
and if these federal officials at
fere and disorganize us so, that our enemies
can reap the victory, we will insist that
these men shall give place to others who
will stand by Republican principles LGreat
cheering.] Let us act in this convention as
becomes delegates of the people. Let us
calmly and dispassionately stand by our
own dignity and our own banner, and
adopt such measures as Will be for the
benefit of the Republican party. Zap
plause.l Allow no affection for any man to
change your course. Allow no Individual
influence to bias you. 1t is no contest of
mine. The attempt to ring into this con-
troversy the question who shall be Governor
in 1872 is simply an attempt to destroy the
unity and harmony of the Republican party.
1t is too long to look forward to. No manhas
the right to be candidate to-day for
any Office to be filed in 1872, and no man
should be a candidate, anyhow, unless
the people say he must be. [Applause.] /
thank you for your attention and cordiality
| only want to say here to-day we have car
ried the Republican party through so far,
and we will carry it through in the future


[Cheers.1 If these gentlemen want to get
up another party, white party or a black
party, let them get it up. There are enough
intelligent white men in the country, and
black men, too, to repudiate them and spew
them out of the politics of the country.
The country belongs to the people. 1t is
their property, and they will control it.
TLoud and long continued cheering.


State Senator Pinchback being vociferous-
IL called for, rose and said: Mr.. President
and fellow-citizens, this reception on your
part has indeed lifted from me load.
never had such feelings as l had to-day
but once before. That was when heard the
guns fred here in honor of the secession of
the State of South Carolina. | had on that
day feelings which were indescribable. The
same. feelings seemed to come over me to-
day, when got into that Customhouse and
filed through a line of United States mar
shals, and when / reached the stairs and
found there the guns and bayonets of fed
eral soldiers. say, the most awful feel
ings that probably any man ever
had in the world were mine at
the time when / felt that / had
been one of those who had made it possible
for those federal soldiers to be there at that
time; for it must not be lost sight of that
we are part of the people who saved this
country, and made it what it is to-day. Is
it possible that the loyal citizens of Louisi-
ana should be put down by the government
we have saved2 If this be so, the sooner
this republic is torn to pieces, and a
monarchy is built upon the ruins, the better
TApplause.l emust cease to be American
citizens if we can submit to this. When we
look at the reason why these troops and
marshals are there, it takes still more
monstrous shape. They are there to put
down the legally constituted representa-
tives of the people in convention
assembled to consider the interests of the
people. Was anything of this kind ever
heard of before in country claiming to be
free countryl ICheers.] Here am / a
delegate, unanimously elected from my
ward for after it was known / had re-
ceived two hundred and twenty-one ma
iority over my competitor he, feelingshe had
been squarely defeated, moved to make my
election unanimous, and it was made so.


Yet when / made application at that Gus
tomhouse door for admission / was told:





heard of such thing as closing the halls of
a convention in order that they could fix
everything up just as they wanted
before they let in the delegates 7
That is what they meant by this
caucns. Laughter and cheers]. They
wanted to have the convention packed by
their friends, so that nobody else would
have word to say. Of course they were
net ready, because we came down there a
Il
laughter and applause]. The facts of the
case will prove to the people of this State
that in every parish where they had not the
semblance of a chance of electing delegates
they resorted to the most extraordinary
courses to get a show of contestants to
pack the convention You citizens of New
Orleans know the course they took in the
Third Ward. On the day of election nine
tenths of the voters did not know where
the polls had been located. What / am
telling you is no mythical story; the testi-
mony you have seen with your own eyes.
One would have thought that modesty
itself would have prevented the man who
did it from taking such a course, but it
seems he has lost all modesty. "Whom the
gods would destroy they first make mad"
am satisfied they have made these men
raving mad-they can not have thimble-
full of sense left. If they had let things go
ON in the Third Ward, / have no doubt they
would have polled a respectable vote. l,
myself, thought they would have carried
the ward but no sooner did the people see
the lodges and shifts they resorted to, than
they repudiated them, held meetings OF
their own, made speeches, and passed reso-
lutions cOndemning them.


One of the confidential friends OF these
people has told me, and said might use it
in the convention if pleased, that they had
nine or ten boys voting the Dunn ticket in
the Third Ward. / know just who these
boys are, and it is positive fact. They
said they voted 80 often that they got tired,