The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1868-02-08
The Negro on Top of All.

Az AOAAoHAh6 CAinCHeE IS taken from
the Louisville Democrat:
VIII anything waken this people to a sense
Of their lost liberties?
Six years ago such legislation as now dis
graces congress would have promptly caused
the clearing out of that body by a vigilance
committee
DIX years ago nothing less than the imme-
aIate success Of the rebellion would have
Deen the consequence Of such legislation.
six years ago such usurpation on the part
OF Congress would have made every State in
the Union accept the Confederate Constitu-
ton, and Jefferson Davis as President as the
lesser evil.
Six years ago every citizen. between the
choice of freedom to the negro and slavery
20 the white man, would have kept the negro
IN bondage
1hese are strong assertions. Let Us see
what we have lost to justify them.
Inc negro IS emancipated against the viii
OF eleven States
He Is forced into an equality with the
white man on steamboats,, railroads, and all
cconVeyanees of travel in the Northern
States.
The negro children, against the wishes Of
Whlte parents, are forced into public schools
as ht associates for white children.
no teacher can expel them without being
liable to punishment under the freedmen's
bureau bill
No judge of a court can decide that the
hoteLkeeper, conductor, steamboat eaptaip
may govern IN his own house or vehicle. to
inc exclusion OF the negro, without being
liable to punishment
NO judge of a State court can, in ODE
dienee to State laws, reject negro testimony
without mourning penalty.
no Judge at voting poll can refuse a ne
gro Fote without involving himself in a
possible suit and penalties.
Every negro Of age is made voter spe-
clheally In the Southern States.
a large class Of white voters in the South
eFn States are excluded from voting.
Under these two provisions half the South-
ern States are directly under control of ne
groes; tho other half are indirectly under
the same base rule.
The negro Is master of half the Union,
the talrest and most productive portion, and
It Il IS cursed thereby with poverty, death and
restitution
We see no indication of a better time.
congress, instead of yielding to the popular
VIII eWnced IN the elections, in its usurpa-
tions still progresses Such papers as the
Louisville Courier, even in the South, so far
from diseouraging, assist this degradation,
Dy urging that even the Democratic party
shall side with the negro, and pledge itself
IN declaration of Federal principles to
protect him in all his civil rights, suffrage
excepted (Why the exeeption2
The negro rules. He is master of the
situation. He has Congress, the army, the
navy, the Genera[in-chief, ali at his back,
pledged to sustain him It is made criminal
even to question his right to rule.
Let as turn from the negro to the white
man and his liberties
The courts are annulled. The Supreme
Court decisions are defed, and now it is pro-
posed to dispense with the court as a useless
and obsolete branch of government The
tWO-thlrds rule means no less than this. If
two-thirds Of such a court were to declare an
act of Congress unconstitutional, the court
would be abolished altogether
The coordinate branch of the Govern
ment the Executive, is stripped of his power.
1t IS mere she'll. Tee GeneraLin-chief has
all his powers, and if the General dare dis
obey, he. too, will be removed, and a more
trucking knave found to fill his place.
Congress has asserted its right to go be-
hind the action of the peaple, and say who
shall and who shall not be a member Of that
body from the loyal States, Ithas excluded
the representation of nine States altogether
1t mas ceased to be representative body.
It lays taxes where it will without repre-
-sehtation. 1t robs one part Of the country
by its system of taxation to reward the
other. Its servants, military and civil, from
q corporal to the General in-chief, pervade
the whole country. 1t is an irresponsible
tyrant
what have we left2 We can elect men
to Office, and they are denied their seats.
We have in some places trial by iury-as
long as Congress permits it In half the
country it is practically annulled.
The writ Of habeas corpus is gone The
military arrests whom and when it pleases,
and tries when it pleases, or not at all. The
speedy trial, and the requirement that ac-
cuser and accused shall be brought face to
face. Is at an end, for that exists no longer
which is given as a favor that belongs as a
right
Freedom Of speech or freedom of the
press is over. We know, while we write
this article, thar il is in the power of Genl
Thomas to arrest us, and suppress our paper
for it. and that there is no power to prevent
It but his own will
WHY should we complaint Even the
President of the United States Is substan-
TALLY forbidden, by the reconstruction bill
now before Congress-, to speak and encour-
ago the oppressed South
All powers, executive, judicial, ministerial
are concentrated in.one place. body called
the CONGRESS of the United States.
We have arrived at that disgraceful period
when it is real cause Of oongratulatiOn If
liberal, generous master, ike Hancock or
Thomas, is made department commander
over US. instead of a vindictive despOt
We are so humbled, enslaved aud cowed,
that we are thankful If kind man, and not
a Beast Butler or Burbridge, is prOcOnsul
over our State. We have reached the limit
of humiliation when we praise our chains.
How long win this last How long before
an enraged people will break the bonds that
bind them, and in outrage and terror seize
their liberties from ruin or wreck them al
together
lis it possible we can ever peacefully re-
gain all wo have lost, and see once more
government Of laws made by representa- ses
Of our own choice, and governed by Presi-
dent Of our own makingk
Referring to the doings" Of old rotten
ness, the Clarksville Chronicle of last Friday
says
A hill is before the Legislature, providing