“It would have been far better,” said the Senator, “not only for the Republican party at the South but for the country at large, to have allowed the Democrats to inaugurate Tilden, and to have taken charge of the Government, than to have purchased Republican victory at such a fearful cost.  What inducement can a southern white man now have for becoming a Republican?  Under the present state of things he will be hated at home, and despised abroad.  He will be rejected by his old friends and associates, and discountenanced by his new ones.  He will incur the odium, and merit the displeasure and censure of his former friends, associates, and companions with no compensating advantages for the sacrifices thus made.”

The Senator spoke with deep feeling.  He could see that his efforts to build up a strong Republican party at the South must necessarily fail under such conditions, and that it was useless to make any further effort in that direction.  Under his influence and leadership very many of the best and most influential white men in his state had identified themselves with the Republican party.  His efforts in that direction would have been continued, in spite of the temporary defeat of the party at the polls, however severe that defeat might have been, if those efforts had been appreciated and appropriately recognized by the national leaders of the organization.  But when he saw that not only was this not to be done, but that one of those who was known to be fully identified with the political persecutors of southern Republicans was to be recognized,—­thus placing the stamp of approval upon their work by an administration that was supposed to be Republican and therefore opposed to such methods,—­it was time for southern white men, who had been acting with the Republican party and for those who may have such action in contemplation, to stop and seriously consider the situation.  It was now in order for each one of them to ask himself the question:  “Can I afford to do this?”

The appointment of a southern Democrat to a seat in the Cabinet of a Republican President, especially at that particular time, was a crushing blow to southern Republicans.  It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Senator Alcorn was a man suitable in every way for the office of Postmaster-General.  He had a commanding presence, he was an eloquent speaker, and an able debater,—­by nature a leader and not a follower.  He had taken an active part in the politics of his state before and after the War.  After he identified himself with the Republican party he was ambitious to be chiefly instrumental in building up a strong party in his State and throughout the South which would not only recognize merit in the colored people and accord absolute justice and fair play to them, but which would include in its membership a large percentage, if not a majority, of the best and most substantial white men of that section.