Year: 1872

beng before the Senate


Mr.. Pinchback-I did not desire
to say anything upon this concur
rent resolution, because l thought
it unnecessary to do so. 1 thought
that after the pleasant excursion OF
my friend from Claiborne (AIr.
Blackman) on the Wilderness, his
trip through the swamps to and
from one of our gulf towns, and the
pleasant time he spent in the COM
pany of my distinguished friend
and colleague, Mr.. Antoine, and Sen
ator Ingraham, he had become tho
roughly broken in to the doctrine of
equal civil rights. 1 am told they
ate at the same table, and drank and
smoked together, and enjoyed them
selves exceedingly on perfectly equal
terms; and can not conceive why
the gentleman Mr.. Blackman)
should object to the resolution ac-
cording to other white men the same
privileges he enjoyed at that time.
Why, sir, the condition of public
opinion in this State is such as to
prevent some of the best white
friends l have from going to Mo-
reau's and taking dinner with me,
although I have no doubt the gen.
tleInan would agree to do so if I
should promise to foot the bill
(which I would certainly do), and
if his interest drove him to it, as it
did on board the Wilderness. I
have yet to see a white man refuse
to take a drink with a colored man,
if his interest was involved. Look
at the way the lobbyists do. Look
how Johns, and Moreau's, and all
those grand places of refreshment,
fly open as if touched by a tails
manic power, and whites and blacks
gather round the festive board on
perfectly equal terms. And yet,
when we come here and ask sim
pie matter of right, we are referred
to the constitution. els it constr.
tutional?" is the first question asked.
Every time question comes up in
which the interests of the colored
people of the State are involved, we
are met at the very threshold with
objections on the ground of uncon-
stitutionality. I am sick and tired
of this ceaseless prating about the
constitution. 1t struck me as ex-
traordinary when 1 noticed that
some of my colored friends, a few
days ago, had become terribly con-
scientious about the constitution. /
opine that if those laws which they
now say are unconstitutional had
not been placed upon the statute
books, these gentlemen would not
be here now to talk about the con-
stitution. The Senator Mr.. Black
man says he is in favor of giving
to the people Of Louisiana repub-
lican form of Government, and he
proposes to introduce substitute
or an amendment to this concurrent
resolution in order to accomplish
that end. He makes special appeal
to the colored people, and cites them
to the fact that some of their num-
ber had been unjustly deprived of
their seats in the Legislature. What
did the Democratic party do in
Georgia when it had the power? If
1 am not mistaken there were thirty
or forty colored men elected to the
Legislature of that State, and when
the constitutional question came up
in reference to their eligibility the
Democrats turned every one Of
them out; and yet the gentleman
says he wants a republican form
of government" We had "repub-
lican form of government" in 1868,
didn't we? We had not then those
laws which are SO bitterly COM
planned of now, and under the
operation of which some of the
heads of my own friends were
stricken of. We only had the con-
stitution then, and in the election
held that year under it we found an
extraordinary unanimity in the
votes of the people. If my memory
serves me right, in the parish of
Claiborne, where the population, as
the gentleman (Mr. Blackman)