A NEGRO ON THE FORCE BILL.
The Dry Goods Men’s Democratic Club of New York entertained a colored orator, Lemuel C. Moore from Mississippi, yesterday, and was well entertained by him. Mr. Moore thinks that the Southern colored man is working out his own destiny and beginning to think for himself, and all he wants now is to be let alone. That is precisely the Democratic view, as often expressed in these columns, and it accounts for the fact that so many colored voters of the South are leaving the Republican party and voting the ticket of their Democratic white neighbors.
We have always said that the object of the Force bill is to enslave both black and white politically, and this is also the view of this intelligent colored observer from Mississippi; for he said among other things:
“If the Republicans retain their power long enough to pass a Force bill there will not be Republicans enough, black and white, this side of the Mason-Dixon line to protect the negroes of the South. That surprises some of you, I see. Let me tell you that the day of the bloody shirt has passed with us. The Afro-American has begun thinking for himself. He finds that he was taken from slavery to be placed in political bondage, and he sees that with a Force bill in operation there would be no such thing possible as political liberty for the Southern voter, black or white.”
The remarks of Mr. Moore evidently applied only to the South; but there is no reason to suppose that the Republican politicians would permit the opportunity which a Force bill would give them to control Democratic districts in the North to pass unused. Such a bill necessarily applies all over the country, and under it the bayonet of the soldier controlled by the Federal authorities would be thrust before the voters in one Congress District as in another; so that when the corruption fund gave out or could no longer be effectively used, force could be made to take the place of the persuasive dollars. But the people will take care of this in the coming election.