South, reconstruction and restoration of white rule in
Mississippi, and "the Southern Question."[74] In his analysis of the
"Southern Question," Lynch attributed the condition of the South to
certain underlying causes, namely: (1) "A continuous and unnecessary
opposition of the impracticable element within the ranks of the
Democratic Party to the system of reconstruction finally adopted by
Congress, and a stubborn refusal on their part to acquiesce in the
results of the War"; (2) "the persistent and uncharitable opposition
of this same element--the element that had obtained control of the
party organization and therefore shaped its policy--to the civil and
political rights of Negroes"; and (3) "the methods of the so-called
white-league whereby an armed military organization was maintained to
effect a condition of white supremacy." Lynch, in concluding, appealed
to the fairminded and justice-loving people of America to unite in a
common effort to eradicate these evils and secure to the Negroes the
rights that they so justly merited.

Referring to the same situation, Charles E. Nash, a representative
from Louisiana to the Forty-fourth Congress, held to be unjustified
the attacks upon the character of the white men and the integrity and
ability of Negroes in the South, who had joined purposes to promote
the principles of justice and of sectional harmony. Furthermore, he
entered a general denial of the charge that liberty in Louisiana had
been destroyed, and pointed out the need of a policy of cooperation
between the whites and blacks, to the end that the education of both
races might be fostered, that the indiscriminate and illegal killing
of Negroes might be eliminated, and that the reign of terror effected
by a union of the ruffian whites and ignorant blacks might be
prevented. Nash then extolled the record of the party in power for its
fairness to the Negro, and arraigned the attitude of the opposition to
all measures designed to ameliorate the condition of the race.
Concluding his remarks, Nash preached the sound doctrine that
sectional animosities should be buried and that all units and sections
of the nation should cooperate to the end that a greater, more humane
and more powerful America might be evolved.[75]

The most comprehensive remarks of Smalls of South Carolina concerned
the electoral vote and the policy of parties in his State.[76] In this
he pointed out that ruffians had intimidated the black voters, had