Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1868-09-25
From the NatiOl
ReconstTuction ns IL Stands.

Il j. three years and more since the close Of
Che war, anl to-day We have Tennessee demand
ing the aid Of the United States army to keep in
existence the State government which represents,
nvt perfectly perhaps. but still ,olerably well,
the principles in behalf Of which the war was
wagel by the North that Is to say the present
State government Of Tennessee Is in the hands
OF men who are ami have been better lovers Of
The Union than Of secession, and, under its rule,
the colorel citizens Of the United States there
resident are not oppressed, but each counts for
a- much politically as a white Tennessean cf
equal intelligence; vet the legislature has just
been obliged 70 send a committee Of its members
ro Washington to ask for the support Of the
Federal Government, and the request seems SO
reasonable that even Mr.. johnson feels bound 10
grant IT, Certainly this Is fact that chal-
.suges careful consideration and it will not
seem less important if we extend our view so as
tl include the rest Of the South, for the case of
Tennessee cannot. we think be held to be in
any essential respect exceptional The legisls-
ture Of that State has, to be sure, been sterner
ia disfranchising formerly disloyal citizens than
some, and perhaps most, Of the other Southern
governments And not unnaturally was this so.
Ia Tennessee the Rebel and the Unionist were
for years face to face in a hsnd-to-hsnd fight
for wife and life Many Of the Teunessean
years. been hunted like beasts, ard have set out
hy night for the Federal lines with their homes
burning behind them to light them on the way.
When a man has been compelled TO live in the
woods for days together, feeding his children on
uarched corn. or not feeding them at all, and
has worn a cow-bell round his neck in order 10
get safely past rebel pickets, where he would
have been murdered without mercy; when he
has watched from his hiding place while his
father or brother was first whipped and then
was shot. in cold blood by a man who, perhaps,
called him by his Christian name just as the
bullet was sent through his head or his heart, II
is not surprising if he is slow of belief that
persons formerly in rebellion ought TO be al
lowed to rule the State in which he lives Nhe-
ther it was bad or good policy, it certainly was
not at all unaccountahle that Mr. Brownlow's
government should have been harsh in its
treatment of disunionists as to deny them the
right To govern or participate in governing
their fe.l0w-citizens.
But ,utside Of Tennessee this prospective spirit
mild as it is at its worst-has not been very
actively at work In Georgia, for instance, no
body l. disfranchised BY the act OF the local au-
thorities the Congress Of the United States has
done all the disfranchising that has been done IN
Georgia. But what il it that we see there, and
what is it that we may reasonably expect to see,
The whites are in a majority in Georgia there
is as much likelihood that white Georgians Will
be oppressed by black ones as there is that
the earth will soon begin TO revolve round the
moon. Nobody in the State out Of it ever
aaid that the twenty or thirty colOred members
of the Legislature have ever shown a tyrannicsl
or cruel disposition, or that there would be any
reason to fear them if they had, or that the best
interests Of the State could not be promoted by
the legislature as ii was when elected. Doubt
less there were colored men in the legislature
who were not over-wise. Perhaps the legislature
has not vet been seen in this or any other coun-
trv which has not contained certain number Of
men whose opinions on almost any sub ect what
ever would be Of small value But regardless Of
good policy, Of the local law, and, as we think,
of atesmanship-regardless Of everything but
the traditonary prejudice agairst negroes-the
majority in the Georgia Legislature have just
driven out Of the House and Senate every one Of
the few men Of color who had dared to be elected
to seats in IT, And this is only the prelude TO
other things that none Of US will like well II
is not intended by the Democratic majority that
a Georgia negro should cast vote any more
than il is intended that be should be voted for
II is intended, in the case Of each negro In that
State, that the men who formerly bought ana
sold him shall regulate his whole existence, social
as well as political; and nothing, we take it, Is
much surer than that before this time next year
we shall see in operation Georgia Black Code
not so very different from the slave-laWs Of looo,
much as has happened within the decade.
There are hardly two other Southern States IN
which it !, impos-ible-indeed, in which il is not