ey were men
who in a less conspicuous way held the same faith that inspired Andrew
Johnson and William G. Brownlow during the war. It was the influence
and example of this class of men which had contributed to the Union
Army so large a number of white soldiers from the rebellious
States,--numbering in the aggregate more than one hundred thousand men.
Tennessee alone furnished at least thirty-five thousand white troops
as brave as ever followed the flag. The Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia,
Alabama, all furnished loyal men from their mountain districts; and
beyond the Mississippi a valuable contingent came from Arkansas and
Texas.

The men who had the courage to stand for the Union in time of war
should not have separated from its friends in time of peace. If
Reconstruction had been completed according to the first design, on
the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment, these men would have remained
solidly hostile to the Southern Democracy. But as the contest waxed
warm, as negro suffrage became a prominent issue, many of them broke
away from their associations and became the bitterest foes of the
Republican party. They followed Andrew Johnson and partook of his
spirit. But against all adverse influences, some of the truest and
best of this class of Union men remained with the Republican party.
If the whole number had proved steadfast, they would have formed the
centre of a strong and growing influence in the South which in many
localities would have been able--as in East Tennessee--to resist the
combined rebel power of their respective communities. Under such
protection the colored vote, intelligently directed and defended,
could have resisted the violence which has practically deprived it of
all influence. Every day affords fresh proof of the disasters which
have resulted to the Republican party of the South from the loss of
so large a proportion of the original Union men.

Perhaps the most serious charge brought against the Republican policy
by Southern men, was that the negro was advanced to the right of
suffrage, while a portion of the white population were placed under
such political disabilities as prevented their voting. This allegation
is often made, however, in a way that leads to erroneous impressions,
because as matter of fact it was not the policy of Congress to deprive
any man of the right of suffrage. Congress even left the voting
franchise in full force with those who were under such political
disabi