Year: 1876




fess that your party is unworthy to
control the destinies of a State. You
have had for eight years entire con-
troll of the Executive, Legislative and
judicial departments of the State
/ Government. backed bv the almost
constant presence of United States
troops, ready upon the most frivolous
prcteXt 10 lend. their moral support, or
to render material aid in CARRYING out
the will Of the Government You have
had State militia and the brigade Of
the Metropolitan Police, fully armed
and equipped TO carry out the pro-
cesscs of your courts, and you claim
to have, in your party. large majority
of the voting population of the State,
and yet you confess that you are so
weak that ,hc rcins OF government
have fallen from your feeble hands.
and that YOU are incompetent to pro-
tcct the lives Of the people, and to
+ secure 70 them the enjoyment of their
liberties and their rights. 1t is o
strange confession of fact, so long
patent to the entire county, that the
Republican party Of this State is unit
and incapable To govern free people.


have received information from
the country that intimidation has
been practiccd by your party against
those colored people who have thought
proper to join Democratic clubs, and
in several cases, which have been
reported to me, such parties have been
/ pursued to death. do not deny that
criminal acts have been committed in
this State, as they have been in all
other States, by bad men of both
parties animated by wicked passions
But | do most emphGticaiiy denHihat
the Democratic party is responsible
for the individual acts Of wicked and
misguided men, or that such actions
/ form any part Of system " estab-
iished by the Democratic party. If
YOU can convince me that any such
acts, as you al!ege are of nightly
occurrence, have been perpctrated by
members ofthe Democratic, party | will
rcbuke them with all the power at my
command as an individual, Or as
President Of the DemoCtatic Conser-
vative State Central Committee, and
aid, to the best of my ability, to bring
them TO sure and condisn punish
ment.


The members of the State Central
Committee q! the Democratic Conser-
vative party have no desire that the
colored people should be intimidated
or terrorized; nor do they countcnance
acts Of violence against the members
your party, white or black. 1t is
their firm intention to protect, so far
as ies in their power, all men in the
exercise of their political rights We
know that in fair, free and peaceable
election We would carry the State,
and God knows no people ever more
needed fair expression Of the popu-
lar will


Again, yOt say, | trust the state
ment contained in = circular recently
issued on behalf of the Democratic
party over your signature, we have
the means of carrying the election and
! intend to Use them was not meant
10 announce a set policy of intimida-
ton 1t is certainly susceptible Of
/ that construction, when used in con-
nection with the other instructions
contained in the same circular, and in
connection with the existing condition
Of intimidation which prevails in cer-
tain Parishes, and notably in that
section of the State in which the Dem
ocratic State Nominating Convention
was held" | am at an utter loss to
conceive how the sentence which you
have quoted from the circular issued
| from the Democratic State Central
Committee can be construed as an
nouncing a set policy Of intimidation,
except by him who is ready to dis
cover a sinister and hidden meaning
in every proposition, however simple,
made by his political opponents


Conscious of the wrong your party
has done the people Of the State, you
can not imagine that we can proceed
to q simple organization which does
not contemplate violence and murder.
| am glad that YOU have made this
allusion in your letter, for, though |
have answered the question in n pre-
vious portion Of my reply, desire to
say distinctly aud positively that that
circular contained no intimation of an
unlawful character The means re-
ferred to were legal and legitimate.
| have fully answered the last para
graph of the quotation from your
letter, made above, which is but o
reiteration of the charges against our
people, based perhaps upon idle rumor
or the miscbievOus Vaccinations OF
wicked men for partisan purposes, and
| have only this to say further upon
that point: That the district in which
Baton Rouge is situated, where you
have located the most notable instances
of oppression of the colored people,
where nightly colored men are
whipped, shot at. and even killed ;
where they are prevented from hold
ing political MEETINGS, etc" is presided
. over by Republican Judge, and is
more favored by the presence of
United States troops than any other
section of the State.


Why are not these eyil-doers brought
to justice ? Whose duty is it to see
that they are punished for the viola
ton of the criminal laws Of the State
The nnsMer to these questions will