They could not endure that men, some of whom had
been bought and sold like chattels in the time of slavery,
and others ready to sell themselves, although they were freemen,
should sit to legislate for their States with their noble
and brave history. I myself, although I have always maintained,
and do now, the equal right of all men of whatever color or
race to a share in the government of the country, felt a thrill
of sadness when I saw the Legislature of Louisiana in session
in the winter of
1873.
There was a good deal to provoke them also in the character
of some of the Northern men who had gone to the South to take
an active part in political affairs. Some of them were men
of the highest character and honor, actuated by pure and unselfish
motives. If they had been met cordially by the communities
where they took up their abode they would have brought to
them a most valuable quality of citizenship. If Northern
immigration and Northern capital had been welcomed at the
South it would have had as helpful and influence as it had
in California and Oregon. But the Southern men treated them
all alike.
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