The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-06-27
A Picture Of kentucky Cons srvatisH,.

M EH
The travelling correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial, .'Mack.. gives E
the following lively sketch of Conservs-
tism
Il don't know of any better cure for |
Conservatism than few days residence /
in the blue grass region and careful !
observation of the political situation here +
and hercabout Not that there is any
thing in the political or social atmos- |
pherc having direct tendency toward |
Radicalism. and presenting 1t to YOU IN
all the beauty of it's holiness far from
il. But there arc two modes OF CONVEX
sion in religion, and why not in politics
In one church they scare sinners into
heaven by opening the furnace door OF
he'll. ana letting the brothers and sisters
see for themselves how high the mercu-
~ stands In another they coax them
into the realms Of bliss. on the direct
lire of piety and good works. II is by
the first of these two modes of CONVEX
sion that I should propose to care Con
serv:atism here in Kentucky. just let
the weak kneed brethren come over here
and see the awful example, and moth
ing short of post office apiece will keep
them in the Conservative ranks ten days
longer | came here on Saturday toll
cradle Conservative person. l shall
leave to-day in order to save myself from
Radicalism If remained twenty four
hours longer. / should go away hurrah
lug for Thad. Stevens, believing Ben.
Butler saint and seriously doubling if
Ashley ever had anything to do with
town sites.
The fact is Kentucky is living ana
chronism. She exists in the nineteenth
century through some mistake or other,
and ears upon her face indisputable ev
idence tt at she was intended for the pre-
Adamite period, or, at any rate. the an
tie diluvian era of the worlds existence.
Every year hundreds of live Americans
cross the ocean and travel through Eu-
rope to sec the Holy Land and other an
tiquities They can save much time and
money by coming to the unholy land of
Kentucky, where they'll see all the an
tiouities they want. The Covington and
Lexington railroad, starting from the
Ohio River, will take them back toward
the dawn Of creation at the rate of five
hundred years per hour, till, upon reach
inc the terminus at this end. they will
instinctiyely rub their eyes and inquire
for Adam and his accomplished lady.
"But if keep on in this strain fear
I shall be set down as one who don't
like Kentucky, which l am far from be-
ing. There has been no other place like
it since Sleepy Hollow, with its legends,
went out of existence.
Strange as it may seem for so ancient
land as this, they have politics and 20
litical parties here. But, above all, they
have id niggers.' The ID niger
is the glory Of Kentucky. He exists in
all his primitive simplicity here. Con
gross may legislate him into a citizen;
the civil rights law may attempt to
change the Ethiop's skin, or the Loop
ards spot; but here in Kentucky, he is
Id Niger stiil--ye Ell. and ever shall
be, world without end. In Tennessee
and the South, the race of id mig
gers is extinct. 1t was eNtinguished
by the reconstruction law. and in its
stead Immediately sprang up race of
respectable and intelligent colored citi
zens-hlack, it is true, possibly thick
tipped, perhaps kinky- headed-resem-
in n n vi ri ~ IpaI
fact that the hollow of it's heel makes a
hole in the ground--but intelligent and
respectable for all that. and worthy
full representation in a conservative con-
vention in Tennessee. Against all such
political heresy Kentucky stands firm.
No respectable colored gentlemen for
her Not Ill tie Establishments of polit-
icians can persuade her that id mig.
ger is anything OF the kind. She will
not sell her birthright--the inestimahle
privilege of hitting a niger with a brick
hat-for any such mess of pUttage rs
few thousand additional votes The
niger was a niger under the fathers !;
and wher. Macaulay's New Zealander
Shall sit upon the suspension bridge to
sketch the ruins of the Queen City, he
shall turn his eyes to the South, and they
shall rest upon the time honored insti-
tutions of Kentucky still preserved in
the 'wolloping of niger.
There is one important difference be-
tween the Republican party and its op-