To solve this problem, therefore, the disposition of the federal patronage will cut a very small figure.  The patronage question is not half so important, in a political or party sense, as many have been led to believe.  It really makes very little difference by whom the few offices are held, whether they be all Democrats, all Republicans, some white, some colored, provided they be honest, capable, and efficient For political, personal or party reasons some feeling may be created, and some prejudice may be aroused on account of the appointment of a certain person to an office; but if no attention should be paid to it, and the fact should be developed that the duties of the same are being discharged in a creditable and satisfactory manner the public will soon forget all about it.  The fact remains, however, that the disposition of the federal patronage will not produce the slightest change in the political situation in such localities.  If a national Republican administration should refuse to appoint a colored man, for instance, to any office in any one of the Southern States for the alleged reason that it might be objectionable to the white people of the community,—­and therefore might have a tendency to prevent white men from coming into the Republican party,—­at the very next election in that community the fact would be demonstrated that the Republican party had not gained and that the Democratic party had not lost a single vote as a result thereof.  The reason for this result would be in the first place that the excuse given was insincere and untrue, and in the second place, because the incumbent of the office, whoever he might be, would produce no effect whatsoever in the local situation in consequence of his appointment to the office and his acceptance of it.  If there should be any change at all in the situation it would doubtless be to the detriment of the Republican party; for there would, no doubt, be some who would be disposed to resent what would seem to them to be political or party ingratitude.

So far as the colored Republicans are concerned they have been in the past, and must be in the future, nothing more than party allies.  They have never dominated a State, nor have they controlled the Republican organization of any State to the exclusion of the white men thereof.  They have simply been the allies of white men who could be induced to come forward and assume the leadership.  This is all they have been in the past; it is all they desire to be in the future.  They are perfectly willing to follow where others lead provided those others lead wisely and in the right direction.  All they ask, desire and insist upon is to be recognized as political allies upon terms of equality and to have a voice in the councils of the party of their choice and in the creation and administration of the government under which they live, and by which they are taxed, and also a fair and reasonable recognition as a result of party success, based, all things else being equal, upon merit, fitness,