The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-10-31
ARKANSAS.

from the N0rth-lieckIoss Dcspcrati0n Of the
People-rnxes ON Everything TRngible and
Intangible, Animate and Inanimate-Thad
stevens, ss.diId C0uGscafi0no Improved
LITTLE ROCK, Oct. Is. 1858.
There ~ nothing to open this letter with but the
same owl-note sounded from Louisiana and Texas.
There ia danger ahead--danger great as In 1850.
Then II was armed, bitter, open hostility that was
threatened: now 1t Ia Heaven knows what Half
dozen things at once. A Malay when he starts To
ran muck knows as little where he is driving TO
where he will end do these people In their present
temper.
There are $4,000 or 10000 armed white men In Ar
kansas who have. most OF them, armed themselves
within the last two months The radicals will tellyou
this the most plausible, polite and smo0th-tongued
democrat will not attempt to deny It, Gunsm!ths and
dealers in revovers have made little fortunes. These
mostly banded together in that association
known as the TX. W. O." or Knights OF the White
Cameaa secret league whose ritual Is fair as the
flower from which 1t takes its name in outward
sembance, but whose members tacty Understand
that they arc to act together foot to foot shoulder
to shoulder and breast to breast whenever occasion
calls Ii Is white mans society, pledged to for
swear mscegenatlon and to defend white homes and
women from negro spoilers. On the face OF Ii, as
the military subcommander OF the State intelli-
gently remarks. this Organization Is absurd and
called for. Twelve million white men In the South
have no need 70 form secret league against four
million Blacks and further, OF my instance let
add this testimony TO the negro, who. IN the
| happy position into which he has been forced hos
had enough OF obloquy to bear. In twelve mon hs'
continuous residence and three months extended
| tour in the States OF the Southwest. sup
| renee In every southern State, from Vr-
| gnia to Texas, have found hut one instance
the abortive rising at Bossier Point, La where the
negroes Of their own accord melted by no unscru-
pulous white men and scared by no real or fanccd
necessity OF acting In sefdeience, have ever taken
| the initiative III any organized act OF aggression
| upon the whites. Their conduct has ben mild,
| pIacabe. ductile and inonensive it was during
the war. In the face OF the most ncendiary Induce
ments those savage british instincts which 1t
| the fashion TO ascribe to them have mani
| tested themselves, except in isolated individual
cases: and the truth, Invested OF partisan color
| ing would really seem TO De that the emanci-
pated slave IS timid, ignorant childish and credu.
| for any one who chooses to make use OF hIm for
good or ILL., but nothing more. or all the ST. Donin-
gos and Haytis that have been threatened where has
one been brought TO passf The history OF every riot
! from New Orleans down TO Camilla and 0pelousas,
has been the same story OF weak and terrified resist
The Southern whites, who have lived among ne
groeS all their lives who understand their pecuiari
ties OF character far better than the polite OF the
| North, know all this well enough. They showed 1t
While the war was going on by trusting their home
seads, their wives and their little ones TO negro
honor and guardianship and never was the trust be-
| trayed They know that by going among their ne.
groes to-day and exciting that influence which the
patriarchai character OF their former relations
ferred upon them. and which they have not yet lost
| lions, and In Mississippi and elsewhere they have
done 1t pretty elfectualy Against the negroes alone
| they know there is no necessity for armed secret
leagues, not even when, as here Arkansas, the
State authorities threaten 10 1900 negro militia
ito preserve the peace" Niger risngs and the
something else. r. Utsf0. ssa# s 4.alH &
This general arming OF the whites which, by the
has Interior objects in view in which the poor scapc
goat Niger plays Only o small part. What ~ viii
@ into W De- 70 gseat extent
strongly rooted determination to do nothing to en-
danger the democratic party North. now holds the
people back. ''fhese radicals charge tsays the
Chairman OF the State Executive Committeej With
fomentne and eycir1ng disturbances. Why, by the
mere raising OF hands could light such fire
as their puny squirts would never exnsuish ia this
world! But we don't want TO do it, II Is possible
have hitherto kept the vessel In the Launching WAYS
and let her Slide II So God help the calpet-baggers
and their allies!
The people are getting desperate-how desperate
| II would be hard TO show without communicating to
this letter an alarmist and sensational tone which
Is the writer's earnest aim TO avoid. Their pre-
sent condition Is so bad, their future prospect
lowering, that any change. however violent, would
be welcomed. the restoration Of military rule, In
whatever despoc form, has terrors for the peo-
pie after their experience OF Congressional recon-
MIlltary officers they argue ..though there may
perhaps be one black sheep in every dozen So
for the most part gentlemen and have the instincts
OF justice ana honor; but these men to wnom Con-
gress has turned us over, bound hand and foot
devourng our very entrails like rayenons wolvcsn
These are not the utterances OF rabd unrecon-
siructed re-eaters they are the calmly, deliberately
expressed views Of men whose past history and whose
present attitude cntte their opinions to respectful
| hcaring--men who were Union men before the war,
| men who fought IN the United States armies, men
also who fought, too bravey in the rebel ranks to
hour The feeling has grown gradually, but has de-
yeloped with startling rapidly during the last few
N mo s,ft ,o aIar
excitement and the extra tyrannlcal and offensive
state legislation which the approach OF the Presl.
dental contest has called forth.
The actual condition OF the south has been buried
too much under considerations OF LOYALTY and dis
loyalty. Its material condition and prospects have
been lost sight Of. so long as loyal men were Just
In possession Of the government and disloyal men
were @ ~ was supposed TO &c AL right
suffering Union men OF the south for whose protec-
ton the reconstruction plan OF Congress was osten
sibly devised not has been elevated high once
In the reconstructed governments OF any Statef The
Northern emissariea 10 whom entrusted the
Of putting things through In tho South have I'M
proved upon the Congressional plan by taking
possession themselves OF all tue fat Offices.
They did it stealthly ut first, boldly and
openly Ok late and now throwing up nfrencn-
mcnts TO hold till 1872. All their legislation tends
to this one end, deprive the peoplc OF all power TO
dispossess them. There they are, Briarean 'old
Men OF the Sea,n sitting alike the shoulders OF
The white rebels and OF the negro 'lolsts VINO put
| them In power. Having nothing to lose and every
thing to gain, they have inaugur2ted system OF
| agraran and territorial legislation compared with
Nlllcn I1ad rteNchS pony cOuDSCal0nt
was just and merciful; ard especial care Is taken
that every tax they levy, every dollar they raise
passes into their own hands aud their own alone.
A Legislature Of imported white men and iinpc-
cunicus niggers passes tax Dill: Imported Gov
ernor approves II; an imported state Assessor fixes
l the assessments: an imported Assistant Assessor
collects tic taxes; an imported State Treasurer
ceises them; an imported state Auditor voucnes for
them, and nobody outside this imported ring knows
what becomes OF the money. IL "a not Niger sur.
frage nor niger supremacy that has proved the last
straw on the southern camels back II Is grinding,
yIndiciive and enormously excessive taxation I'm
posed by legislative bodies not elected by the people
taxed, and not responsible TO them for the expendi-
ture OF the money thus raised.
| The Tax btu passed by the Arkansas Legislature
lies before IL Is. perhaps the most cxtraordl-
nary enactment Of It's kind In the present century.
/ The lrst clause sets forth that
All property, whether real personal, this State
moneys crad invesncnts In bonds stocks, Joint stock
otherwise, &c shall be subject taxation
so far, good. Sweeping and rather democratic IN
The matter VI bond taxing, but fair. Listen to the