The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-03-02
Freedom or the Negro.

For more than thirty years, every North
ern breeze waited to Southern shores, has
been laden with one song-redolent with
one sentiment-the utter aud entire abo-
lition of slavery in the Southern States.
For more than thirty years, fanaticism
has looked forward to the fulillment of
hopes which, in the last stroke of the
eleventh hour, have, like the tabled apples
outhe Dead Seas shore, turned to ashes
in her grasp.
And what have you, oh Abolitionists,
in return for all those long years, in
which you have slceplessly guarded the
watchfires of fauaticism /? A miserable
lazzaroni upon our hands-a fearful list
of starved out victims upon your con-
sciences-a currency which is tho laugh
ing-stock of nations-the phantom spec
tres OF oh how many good men upon
your souls, which will not down at your
~bidding-the knowledge that half a million
lives have been ruthlessly sacrificed gnaw.
ing at your hearts-a debt of three thou.
sand million dollars upon your shoulders
"a country staggering under n taxation
which threatens to~,overwhelm it in a gulf
of your own digging land yet cloth
ed in Grape aud reeking with human
gore.
For more than four years n civil war
blotted with blood aud tears the pages of
American history, for the extinction of
slavery; and now that the great contest
has been decided, compare the situation
Of the negro Mt this moment, aud his con-
dition.
At the Inauguration Of the war. more
than four millions OF negroes had their
happy homes in the Southern States. sur.
rounded by their humble p%enates, aud
identified with the localities where they
were born, aud lived, aud loved, and wor.
shipped God.
To-day-instead Of the natural increase
Of a race noted for its fecundity-not
much moro than halt hat number can
stand up and answer to the roll. call of
their atfoctionate brethren of the North.
At least a quarter of the number who
dwelt among us in peace. security and
comfort, four years since, have been
swept from the stage of life-by freedom
aud the remainder yet cling on by the
rotton cords of poverty aud disease
fntid, n~oxious, loathsome monument of
Liberty, if it be Liberty to die unknown,
uncarcd for-unregrettcd.
Tho negro is free,-to come-to go
to sell-to buy, if perchance he happens
to have the money-if not, TO starYe -
aud this noisome excrescence, this foul
incubus, is the ripe aud luscious fruit that
has fallen into the Radical hat after four
years of the toughest kind Of shaking
Step up, Messrs. Sumner, and Wade, aud
Stevens, and take a front seat in the dress
circle, with your free confreres-and
don't hold your noses. Glorious philan.
thropy, that in less than four years has
consigned a quarter Of It's pots to pau.
pers' graves, and ordered collins for half
the remainder.
Glorious patriotism unrivaled politi-
cal economy oh, We guardians of the na-
tons veal, that have swept n wild bosom
of destruction over a land once blossom
ing as the rose-nog rank as the weed of
dcsolation which fourishes in the briar-
patch of your own black hearts.
Well may you rest satisfied with the
work you have wrought-well may you
chuekle over the silent acres which once
whispered in the Southern breeze the glad
promise of a golden f%ruitioG.
Not in anger, but in sorrow, do VIC nov
hold up the stcreoscope of the future to
the peoples eye, and nothing do We ex-
t~enuate, nor aught set down in malice"
The war has been a terrible ordeal, a fear.
full four years gauntlet, through which
we ran; but before reaching the goal, the
clubs Of our enemies became too numer-
Gus for our exhausted strength, and we
succumbed-as brave men have ever been
wont to do-Gghting to the last.
Bntweare now passing an ordeal, we are
now running the length of a gauntlet
with as poor a prospect of success as be-
fore, with this material difference; that
in the FIRST instance We surrendered to
men who could honor and appreciate a
kindred valor, while in the second we
shall surrender to the harpies who fatten-
ed off the spells Of war-to the cowardly
vampires who suck the blood of a sleep
ing man to jackals who feast on the
prey the lion has slain.
And as much greater as is the differ
ence between each of these Glasses Of our
enemies, so much greater will be the hui
initiation of the punishment which will
be inflicted upon us, in the event of a de-
feat by the latter party in the present
contest and at this moment it is almost
a foregoue conclusion that such will be
the issue.
The end is not yet the revenge of ia
naticism-the direst Of all revenge-has
not yet been glutted. Wait till a MAORI
ty in Congress places in Radical hands
the heavy lash of power, and then go hang
your heads at the ballot-box beside the
negro. Wait till the bit now being forged
in the arsenal of Radicalism is in your
mouth-and then try to go haw when
Stevens says gee. Wait till the Civil
Rights bill, in all its hideous deformity,
is rammed down your throats with the
hayonet, and hen welcome Sambo to your
bed and board.
There is but one hope left us, that this
impending doom may be averted-one
star cleaning out to tell of a haven where
we may find shelter from the raging
storm. He who will come, and by force,
restore order, quell faction and prevent
anarchy, will be in reality the country's
deliverer. The final acf of the drama
will not be reached until some modern
Marius shall assume the reins of a Dicta-