The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-27
Free sneech in the South.


TO his plans for the future has only been
broken In reference to one subject, since the
publication of his letter Of acceptance. In the
course Of q conversation about the Camilla
butohery, he quietly remarked to friend that
if lfs is elected President call men will be per-
mitted to speak their honest convictions
wherever they may be within the boundaries
of the United States" This declaration is of
the highest importance. Notwithstanding the
stern lessons taught to the Rebels, they have
mot yet learned the virtue of liberation, and
the common law Of the ruling classes
of the South is that every Kepuo-
lioan must be crushed out at all hazards.
Emigration is necessary to reclaim that region
since its double devastation by slavery and
war. The people Of the South, of all parties,
have even deeper interest than the men of
the North in its reclamation, aud ths pros
pe,ity of the entire country is dependent in a
lsrge degree upon the rapidity of its recupsra-
tion. There is an abundance of fertile land
which impoverished owners would be glad to
sell for very small sum per acre. Many cot
ton plantations would be disposed of at mere
1.-THE Of their former value. There are many
mineral treasures, valuable water powers, and
eligibls town sites offered to purchasers on
terms which would be considered in the
North ridioulously low for similar property.
But there is a custom, which has gained all
the force Of a law, of attaching to all these
properties a disgraceful condition. He who
buys must be a Democrat, or incur the
vengeful wrath of his Southern neighbors. II
he mingles in politics at all, it must be as
champion of slavery aud treason.
II might be possible for a Republican to
escape active persecution in some communities
by maintaining strict reserve, but even this
policy would excite suspicion; aud the free
citizens of the North are so accustomed to the
enjoyment of an unquestioned right to freely
discuss public affairs, that no mau feels like
putting paddock upon his lips at the bidding
of brutal barbarians. The man of Northern
birth who emigrates to the South and openly
advocates Republican principles becomes
at once an object of the most
intense hatred. From the outset he
must encounter every form Of So
cial ostracism and social antsgonism. If
he is q merchant, the faithful are besought
not to purchase goods of a "Black Rspubli-
can" If he is a planter, his brother planters
improve every possible opportunity to en-
tangle him in difficulties and disputes; and il
they should result in a fatal quarrel, the
neighborhood resounds with rejoicngs if
the Republican is killed, while if the R.
publican should despatch his antsgo-
mist he must prepare to encounter tho
l.
inhiot under their favorite Lynch law
code. Thousands of Northern men have
sought to establish themselves in the South
since the war. Many have been murdered
outright. Others have besn plundered aud
persscuted in the most shameful manner.
None have escaped serious danger, save those
who fraternized with the rampant Rebels and
swelled the chorus of their euloges of Lee,
johnson, Blair, and Seymour. Aud yet these
short-sighted victims of their own psrsecu-
tions complain of their continued poverty
With one breath they deplore the absence of
labor and capital, and with the next they utter
anathemas against the men who are able to
advance their material prosperity to a much
more exalted level than it ever reached bsfore
the war, and whose assistance is only withheld
because, under the Andy Johnson regime, it
can only be extended under degrading condi-
tions. General Grant, in announcing that
hereafter Gall men will be permitted to speak
their honest convictions wherever they may
be within the boundaries of the United States,"
g ives an assurance that the great obstacle to
a thorough, benefcent, aud complete industrial
and political reconstruction of the South will
soon be removed. Free speech in that region
will speedily dissipate the delusions by which
it has hitherto Teen spell-bound. Honest men
of all OOlors and all parties will have an oppor-
tunity of hearing the vital truths which the
old Democratic leaders never uttered, nor per-
mitted other and better men to speak on
Southern soil. And whatever be the result Of
the future contests of that region, the folly and
injustice of persecuting political adversaries,
even unto death will be abandoned, and Re.
publicans will be freely permitted TO partioi-
pate in the development of the States which
have been so deeply injured by the Democracy.
CHOW to Garry Pennsylvania"