Year: 1876




The following letter appears in the New
York Herald of the fourteenth instant:


WASHINGTON, February IL, 1876.
To the Editor of the Herald:


Approaching the value of your great
journal as a medium of information to the
people, and believing it to be your policy to
do justice to sll, of whatever race, color or
political faith, ask the use of your columns
to submit frank criticism upon the late
pers onal attack upon me and a legitimate
characterization of the policy illustrated by
it. shall do this with the plainness Of
speech demanded and justified by the rights
involved, and yet with the moderation in
spired by the full appreciation on my part
that such is the public sentiment uf the
country that language emanating from q
propriate and manly when uttered by me,
one of a prescribed race, would be deemed
impertinent aud turbulent.


For some time l have been fully aware
that efforts have been industriously made
to prejudice my senatorial claim by insinua
tiOns or declarations intended to impress
the country, and especially Senators, that
was personally a corrupt and dishonorable
man; but thes efforts of defamation were
secret and irresponsible, and l was brave
enough to endure the ccwardly assaults in





pertinent and the patient endurance OK
hibited all through this sore trial would be
q sufficient protection against these machin-
ations of my enemies. But when Senator
of the United States rises in his place end
declares: IL have heard it stated, on what
regard as pretty good authority, that at
that time he was in the Penitentiary or
workhouse of Louisiana for the crime Of
burglary" longer silence on my part would
be inexcussble. The imputation that was
arrested tor any other cause than that OF a
personal rencOntre is utterly false, as ap-
pears from the papers submitted by Senator
Morton to the Senate, and which can be
corroborated by living witnesses. And l
confess to both surprise and indigna
tion that at this stage of my contest,
and before the Senate had acquired the
matter of my qualifications for q seat in the
Senate, any Senator should gratutously
and without evidence attempt to cast SO
damning stain upon my name. If the OBJ
ject had been to acquire the information
necessary to intelligent action upon the
case before the Senate, such information
could have been obtained without doing me
and my children this needless wrong. Ii the
purpose was to secure political strength for
the Democratic party by my defeat. the
same end could have been accomplished by
first deciding the Drima facie case, and sub
seQuently instituting inquiries relative to
my qualifications. But upon mere rumOr
or authority SO questionable. and that, too,
when was not in q position to defend my
self, to make this imputation upon me was
q wrong and an insult to the people aud
State l represent. Under the circum-
stances that characterized this attack am
constrained to the conclusion that the Sena-
tor either was forgettul of the cOurtesies
and equities Of his high position, or tGo
prejudiced to make q manly fight against
political foe; and if unfriendly rumOrs are
to be accepted as q sufficient basis for reck-
less and damaging assaults upon personal
character, he is not in position to cast the
first stone.


During the existence OF slavery pers onal
collisions sometimes occurred between the
white men and the colored. These whites
were not considered the representatives of
the true Southern gentleman, but still they
sometimes exhibited manly tairless in their
contests. The white combatant, when q
true man and forcing a fight upon his
legally disabled and embarrassed colored
opponent, would invite the contest by off r
ing to relieve the colored man Of his dsabil
ities. In " ords that have become q proverb
he would offer his colsred opponent "a
white mans chance" In this centennial
year. when the foot of no slave treads the
soil Of the republic, l claim as right what
was formerly sometimes conceded as
favor, "a white mans chance"


l represent on my mothers side q race
which entered upon their political career
and came into political power in the South
with charity toward their white fellow
of more than two centuries, and they were
entitled to patient and generous considera-
ton. Instead of receiving THE, however,
they have been met upon the threshold of
their new life with profound doubt of
their capacity, and been followed with un-
generous Suspicious and prescriptions
through every stage of their we'll tarned
progress. Further, finding Us in our initial
Efforts embarrassed by the political inexpe-
rience incident to and superinduced by the
enforced bondage and Ignorance that they
had imposed upon US and sought TO perpet-
uate, the ung-nerous whites point To these
disabilities, which are evidence of their in
justice to us, and plead them as bar to the
exercise of our nsttutiOnal rights and as
a justification for our continued proscrip.
ton.


Notwithst anding the uncharitable judg-
ments and unfriendly temper referred TO
the co!Ored voters do not favor a color line
in politics or political organization on the
basis of race. They entertain kindly feel
lngs for their white fellow citizens and are
anxious to vote on all questions before the
country on their merits. They fully appre-
ciate the evils that result to them and the
community from the political complications
| in the South, and they recognize the i'm
| perative need of cooperation between the
| races in order to settle our divisions or to
secure good local government; and when
ever prescription against them as race
shall cease, so far as to permit Independent
| political action by them, with the same
security to life and person as Is eDJored by
other citizens, they will be found wiling to
sink all race or minor considerations 20 ac-
| compllsh these desirable ends.


Thrown into public life in a revolution
ary period and in q community still suffer
| ing the demoralizing effects OF great civil
strife, with her social, industrial and pOlit-
! ical conditions unsettled and undetermined,
| it is not singular that in looking back over
my life should find occasion for regret in
some instances, and of correction and i'm
prOvement in others. Robbed of COM
potency in my youth by my fathers kin
dred, half educated and poor, with the
disabilities of q prescribed race attaching
! to and embarrassing me at every step, l
have won in honorable endeavor every sue.
honor l have held; and, referring to my
humble origin without shame, point to a
record of which any American might be
justly proud.


Inviting fair criticism of my political life,
| affirm there is nothing in my antecedents
| or the manner Of my election to make my
case exceptional, or that justi6es DEPART


ure from the established precedents Of the
| Senate in the consideration ther reOf, or that
| forbds the extension to me of the courte-


eies usual in the decision of such cases.
Appealing for support aud righteous judg-


ment in the premises to the great nation


whose Justice and charity found appropri-