The Galveston Representative. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 17, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 30, 1872 Page: 1 of 4
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VOL. I.
GALVESTON, SATURDAY. MAECH 30, 1872.
No, 17
The Representative.
RICHA.RD ^TElLSOlSr,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
Office: Twenty-fourth Street,
Between Market and Postoffice Sts.
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"NOT LONG."
BY MRS. M. A. KIDDER.
'Tis hard sometimes to be patient,
To suffer and still be strong—
To sing, when the "oldlife's shadows" stay,
Hope's beautiful morniug song!
E'en though an angdl wisper us.
" Not long, poor soul! not long!"
Not lone tilll the clouds be rifted,
Till the shadows pass away;
Not long till the sun shall shine again,
Of a happier, brighter day—
Till the arm be rendered powerless,
Now lifted but to slay!"
'Tis hard for us all to carry,
While journeying up and down
Life's hills and vales, the heavy cross,
Who rather would waet the crown—
To look for the smiles of a grateful world,
^ And get bnt its thankless frown !
Let us take up the angel's whisper,
Let ns echo therheavenlv song:
Though oar cup a£joK and peace aau>i vQ
He mingled with ill and wrong,
Soon shall we " know as we are known
'•Notlong, poor soul! not long!"
The Colored Vote.
During tlie days of slavery,
and nntil after the ratification of
tlie Fifteenth Amendment, the
colored people of this country,
though constituting in 1870 more
than one-seventh of the whole
population, were not deemed of
much political significance. The
comparatively few who in the
Northern States enjoyed the elec-
tive franchise were not sufficiently
numerous, as compared with the
great body of voters, to enter
into the calculation of political
parties or make any considerable
impression as to the result. Poli-
ticians did not consider them of
consepuence enough to be worth
any special attention. Politics
belonged to white men as their
exclusive right and privilege,
while black men were of no ac-
count.
This state of things has been
wonderfully changed by the des-
truction of slavery and the en-
franchisement of the colored peo-
ple. History centains no record
of so great a revolution on so
large a scale and in so short a
time, It seems more like a miri-
cal than an event transpiring
under the usual operation of
moral causes. The victims of
cruel* prejudice and long oppres-
sion snddenly, and without any
of those calamities so often pre-
dicted, stand up in the full man-
hood of American citizenship.
This is no longer "the white
man's government;" but, rather,
the government of the people,
holdidg to each other the relation
of civil and political equality,
immaterial what may be their
race or color. The principles of
the Declaration of Independence
have at length been incorporated
into the fundamedtal law of the
land. The Fourteenth Amend-
ment says ihat" all persons born
or naturalized in the United
Siates, and subject to the juris-
diction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State
wherein they reside." The Fif-
teenth Amendment says that
"the right of citizens of the
Uuited States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by* the
United States, or by an State,
on aecount of race, polor, or pre-
vious condition of servitude."
This is a slightly different doc-
trine from that of Chief Justice
Taney, who denied the citizen-
ship of the negro, and declared
that he had no rights which
white men were bound to re-
spect.
The next national election will
be the first in the history of this
country affudpig to colored men
a full oppBBmity to participate
as citizens in the choice of Presi-
dent and Vice-President. The
colored race in 1870 numbered
4,880,009 in a total population of
38,555,988, which is a fraction
more than one-eighth of the
whole. If we estimate one-sixth
of this number to be voters, then
acdording to the census of 1870,
th*, colored voters will be 813,-
334. There increase since the
taking of the census must bring
the number up to about nine
hundred thousand. These voters
are for the most part in the South-
ern States. In Missisippi and
South Carolina they constitute a
large majority of the voting popu-
lation ; asd in Louisiana their
number is slightly in excess of
the white vote. There is hardly
a Southern State—if we except
Deleware, Maryland, Kentucky,
and West Virginia—in which they
are not sufficiently numerous to
hold the balance of power, and
by their vote determine the re-
sult of any election. Nor are
they by any means and insignifi-
cant element in several pf the
Northern States. In 1870 Penn-
sylvania contained 65,204 colored
people, which would give 10,882
colored votes to say nothing of
the increase since that period.
The State of New York has
about 10,000 such votes. Ohio
has nearly 12,000 more. In Illi-
nois there are more than 5,000,
and more than 4,000 in Indiana.
New Jersey has nearly 6,000, and
Connecticut about 2,000. In all
the Northern State, with but few
exceptions, the colored vote is
large enough to make itself dis-
tinctly felt as a political power.
This vote ought to be entirely
Republican, from one end of the
land to the other. Such, as we
cannot doubt, it will be by an
overwhelming proponderance.
Dr. Garnett, himself a colored
man, and speaking in the inter-
ests of his race, designates a
colored man voting the Demo-
cratic ticket as a "black fool."
This race owes nothing to Demo-
cracy except indignation and
contempt. From first to last, the
Democratic party has been po-
litically its sworn enemy. Allied
with slaveholders before the war,
and opposed to emancipation
during the war, it did its utmost
to prevent the adoption of the
three great amendments which
have lifted the colored people to
their present position. Not one
of these amendments would have
been ratified if the Democracy
had been the majority party in
this country. Every State con-
trolled by Democrats voted
against all of them; and, when
they were proposed in Congress,
the whole strength of the party
was solidly arrayed against them.
The Democratic record in this re-
spect is much darker than the
skins of its victims. This one
indictment against it, were there
no other, ought to consign the
party to everlasting infamy.
Republicans, on the other hand,
have been the friends of the
colored race; and, having the
power, they have so wielded it as
to secure to this race the legal
status of complete American
citizenship. The constitutional
amendments, in their inception,
progress, and final ratification,
are entirely due to the principles
and policy of the Republican
party. Having conquered the
Slaveholders' Rebellion, it then
determined that these righteous
fruits of ■"ictory should not be
lost. Equal civil and political
rights are the law of the land to-
day because Republicans have
ruled the land for the last ten
years. So long as they shall re-
main in power this law will be
vigorously applied for the defense
of all men, wheather white or
black. - Their liberty record con-
stitutes the very brightest page
of their political history. General
Grant the Republican President,
has been absolutely true to the
principles upon which he was
elected; and for this he deserves
the commendation and thanks
of all who love justice, and es-
pecially the warmest gratitude
of the colered people. The law
in his hands has been made a
terror to evil-doers.
Congratulating colored men
upon the boon which they have
received at a great price, and re-
minding them that they had
nearly a million of votes to cast
at the next presidential election,
we exhort them, for the sake of
their own interests, and on ac-
count of the principles involved,
to buckle on the armor for the
approaching struggle, and do
valiant service in helping to elect
the Republican ticket. There
will really be but two parties in
the field—the one Republican
and the other Democratic; and
between these they must make
their choice. The one they can
trust, as its record amply proves;
and the other they cannot, as its
record equally proves. The suc-
cess of the Democratic party at
the next presidential election
would be a great disaster to the
colored race, especially to the
freedmen at the South. The con-
stitutional amendments are not
self-executing; and, hence, they
need to be committed not to
those who reluctantly accept
them as a political necessity, but
to those who believe injthem, and
will see to it that they are armed
with all the legislation necessary
to make them operative. All the
friends of liberty and all the
victims of lormer oppression
should unite in defeating a party
whose record will go to history
as the pepnauent evidence of its
iniquity. Its past treachery to
the principles of equal justice is
an abundant reason why its pro-
fessions for the future should not
be trusted.—Independent.
Smoking.—A correspondent of
a Georgia paper tells this story:
"One night, passing from Wil-
min„^ton to Florence, Alabama,
one car was filled with gentlemen,
and there was only one lady pres-
ent. After we had proceeded some
way it was proposed to have a
smoke, but one of the passen-
gers pointed to a card on which
there was, 1 No Smoking Allow-
ed.' So when the conductor came
through the car he was asked if
he would allow us to smoke. He
pointed to the lady and replied,
'If she has no objections, you
may do so.' I went to the lady,
and bowing, asked if it would be
offensive to her. She, lady-like,
answered: 'Not at all, my dear,
sir; 1 am so lonesome; if I had
a cigar I would smoke myself.'
She was at once supplied, and
we went on, a set of happy fel-
lows, smoking ourselves to sleep."
The Cleveland Leader has in-
terviewed a celebrated tom-can
at whom boot-jacks enough have
been thrown to keep the city it
kindling-wood for ten years.
The marriage of the Marquis
of Bute is fixed for the 16th of
April.
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Nelson, Richard. The Galveston Representative. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 17, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 30, 1872, newspaper, March 30, 1872; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth203077/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .