486 



LOUISIANA. 



enrolled in the same clubs with Conservative 

 whites, for the purpose, it was alleged, of pro- 

 tecting them from intimidation by colored Re- 

 publicans. In other cases they formed Conserva- 

 tive clubs of their own. Colored speakers took 

 part in the canvass on the Democratic side, 

 and the antagonism to the existing State gov- 

 ernment seemed to extend among all classes. 

 An address to the colored citizens of the State 

 from one of their own number, named Joseph 

 A. Craig, dated September 14th, urged them, 

 in the interest of peace and good government, 

 and for the sake of their own welfare, to vote 

 for the Democratic candidates. In reply to a 

 letter from a colored Conservative club of New 

 Orleans, Mr. Nicholls, Democratic candidate 

 for Governor, under date of September 20th, 

 said: 



You may rest fully and thoroughly assured that 

 your faith and belief are well founded when you say 

 you are satisfied that the ticket nominated at B.itou 

 Rouge " givus to the colored people throughout the 

 State the assurance that if elected their rights will 

 be amply protected and a new era enacted in the 

 State administration." 



My remarks at Baton Rouge, made to the conven- 

 tion which nominated me, were not only the expres- 

 sion of my individual convictions, both of right and 

 policy, but the enunciation of the plainest principles 

 of official duty which will have to guide me in the 

 event of my election. 



The laws should be general in their operation, and 

 any law attempted to be passed directed against a 

 class or race or the community would meet my most 

 determined opposition. No such attempt, however, 

 will be made ; for, independently of the i constitutional 

 barriers which would stand in the way, the Demo- 

 cratic and Conservative sentiment of the whole State 

 is united against such action. 



To disregard and go back upon the pledges which 

 I have given on this subject would be to disgrace me 

 before the country ; I shall certainly not place my- 

 self in such a position. 



The national canvass was made entirely sub- 

 ordinate to that of the State, and occupied 

 little attention. Before the election in No- 

 vember, there appeared scarcely any indication 

 of political disturbance. There were some 

 arrests in the parishes of Orleans and West 

 Feliciana for alleged attempts at intimidation 

 of colored voters and for false registration, but 

 no outbreaks of violence preceded, attended, 

 or followed them. The election itself passed 

 off with a peace and quiet altogether unusual 

 in the State. 



It was some days before there was any defi- 

 nite knowledge as to the result of the election, 

 the process of making the returns being very 

 slow ; but it very soon appeared that a major- 

 ity of the votes actually cast were for the 

 Democratic candidates. Nevertheless, on the 

 llth of November, Governor Kellogg sent a 

 very confident dispatch to the North claiming 

 that there was no doubt of a Republican vic- 

 tory. He declared that the parishes of East 

 and West Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, More- 

 house, and Ouachita, had been " overrun and 

 intimidated by armed bands of the White 

 League before and on the day of the election." 

 He said that these parishes were strongly Re- 



publican, and that the vote claimed there by 

 the Democrats was "procured by intimidation, 

 violence, and assassination, and the proof of 

 this is overwhelming and perfectly conclusive." 

 The vote, he thought, would be close, " count- 

 ing the vote in the five bulldozed parishes as 

 the Democrats claim it; not counting these 

 parishes, while the Republicans will be de- 

 prived of a legitimate majority of nearly 4,000, 

 in no contingency can the Democrats have 

 carried the State." Many letters were made 

 public, written by colored men in different 

 localities, denying charges of violence and in- 

 timidation, while other statements were made 

 alleging that many were prevented from vot- 

 ing as they wished. 



There was from the first apprehension on 

 both sides that there would not be a fair count 

 of the votes, and a declaration of the result in 

 accordance with the actual will of the people. 

 President Grant on the 10th of November had 

 General Augur instructed to be vigilant with 

 the forces at his command " to preserve peace 

 and good order, and to see that the proper and 

 legal Board of Canvassers are unmolested in 

 the performance of their duties. Should there 

 be any grounds of suspicion of fraudulent 

 count on either side," he added, " it should be 

 reported and denounced at once. No man 

 worthy of the office of President should be 

 willing to hold it if counted in or placed there 

 by fraud. Either party can afford to be dis- 

 appointed in the result. The country cannot 

 afford to have the result tainted by the suspi- 

 cion of illegal or false returns." , He also re- 

 quested several gentlemen prominently con- 

 nected with the Republican party to proceed 

 to New Orleans to witness the canvass of the 

 vote by the Returning Board. These gentle- 

 men were John Sherman, of Ohio; E. W. 

 Stoughton, of New York ; J. H. Van Alen, 

 of New York ; Eugene Hale, of Maine ; J. A. 

 Garfield, of Ohio ; Cortlandt Parker, of New 

 Jersey; Wrn. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania; Sid- 

 ney Clark, of Kansas; and J. C. Wilson, of 

 Kansas. Several others were associated with 

 them in New Orleans, where they arrived on 

 the 12th, among whom were Stanley Matthews, 

 of Ohio; John A. Kasson, of Iowa; William 

 Cumback, of Indiana; Edward F. Noyes, of 

 Ohio ; Lew Wallace, of Indiana, and several 

 more. At the request of the chairman of the 

 National Democratic Committee, several gen- 

 tlemen also went out to New Orleans in the 

 interest of the Democratic party. They ar- 

 rived there on the 13th, and included John 

 M. Palmer, Lyman Trumbull, and William R. 

 Morrison, of Illinois; Samuel J. Randall, A. 

 G. Curtin, and William Bigler, of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; J. E. McDonald and George W. Julian, 

 of Indiana ; Henry Watterson and J. W. Steven- 

 son, of Kentucky ; Oswald Ottendorfer, of 

 New York ; J. B. Stallo, of Ohio ; Lewis F. 

 Bogy and J. B. Brodhead, of Missouri ; John 

 Lee Carroll, of Maryland, and others. This 

 committee of Democrats, on the 14th of No- 



