Such statements show that the great leaders of the Republican party long after the war had the correct idea of negro suffrage. If such was the opinion of these great and good men, why was it not made the policy of the Republican party? Why was negro suffrage finally determined upon? The only conclusion to which the student of the situation can come is that negro suffrage was adopted as a partisan political measure intended for the perpetuation of political power. The political situation in Washington in 1867 was exactly suited to bring about the evils of partisan legislation. There was only one party represented at the Capitol. There was no voice there to plead the cause of the people upon whom the ruin of negro rule would fall. They were at home silent and waiting, hoping that the evil might be averted. The extreme radicals of the Republican party, led by Sumner and Stevens prevailed and the reconstruction bill became a law on the 2nd of March, 1867. The negro was made an unwilling instrument for the oppression and humiliation of his best friends. He was made the controlling political influence in the South. He placed himself under the leadership of men who poisoned his mind with a spirit of misrule, and who taught him to mistrust and hate his former masters. The bitter humiliation of negro domination was borne with fortitude and patience. Under such conditions property was insecure. There was open and notorious plunder without the hope of redress. Ignorance, crime and hatred enthralled the white people. No such evil had ever before been put upon a suffering section. It seemed as if the wheels of civilization had been turned back a thousand years. Ignorant and vicious negroes filled the most important positions of honor and trust. They became county officers, members of the legislature, state officers, members of Congress and United States senators. The long continued rule of ignorance and vice could only have one result--the ruin of the country and the confiscation of all property by the power of taxation. The people of the South faced that condition after seven years of negro rule. What did they do to remedy it? They did exactly what the Anglo Saxon would have done under like conditions, no matter whether they existed in Mississippi, in Massachusetts, in England or in Germany. They met together in council and after mature and thoughtful deliberation, they pledged their honor, fortune and lives to rid themselves and their posterity from the blight of black supremacy; by peaceful means, if possible, by force if necessary.