ern States had to be rehabilitated with civil governments and
re-admitted into the Union. The men who had plunged the country into war
and had tried to destroy the Government were about to resume their civil
and political rights, and, through the election of Representatives and
Senators in Congress, regain influence and power in national councils.
Apprehending danger from the enormous power they would possess if
reinstated in absolute control of eleven States, some means had to be
devised to prevent this. A political element, loyal to the Union and the
flag, must be created; and again the ever faithful colored people were
brought into requisition, and without their asking for it, the elective
franchise was conferred upon them. There was no question about the
loyalty of these people, and the supposition that they would be a
valuable political force and form the basis of a loyal political party
in the South was both natural and just, and the wisdom of their
enfranchisement was demonstrated by the establishment of Republican
governments in several of the States, and the sending of mixed
delegations of Republican and Democratic members of Congress therefrom
so long as the laws conferring citizenship upon the colored man were
enforced.

If the South is to remain politically Democratic as it is to-day, it is
not the fault of the colored people. Their fealty to the North and the
Republican party is without parallel in the world's history. In
Louisiana alone more than five thousand lives attest it. While in nearly
every other Southern State fully as many lie in premature graves,
martyrs to the cause. Considering themselves abandoned and left to the
choice of extermination or the relinquishment of the exercise of their
political rights, they have, in large districts in the South, wisely
preferred the latter. Kept in a constant condition of suspense and dread
by the peculiar methods of conducting canvasses and elections in that
section, who can blame them? It is my firm conviction that no other
people under God's sun, similarly situated, would have done half so
well. The fault is attributable to the vicious practise, which obtains
largely even here in the civilized North, of apologizing for and
condoning crimes committed for political purposes. Men love power
everywhere and Southern Democrats are no exception. On the contrary,
deeming themselves "born to command," as I have already remarked, and
knowing that there is no power to