Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-08-26
The Abyss before Us.

If it were possible that the American
people should commit their destinies to the
keeping of Horatio Seymour and Blair,
these consequences are inevitable
The seizure of aRboWnded potCer 0cef the
Southern States By the late Rebels. In sta
ting this, we state but what they, through
q thousand mouths, have already proclaim
ed. Not Frank Blair only, but nearly
every talking q Conservative" in the South
has assumed that the election of Seymour
will be a popular verdict against the whole
Reconstruction policy of Congress, and es
pecially against the right Of the Blacks to
vote. They tell us tIiat the election of Sey
mour and Blair will be ratification of that
plank of their Tammany platform, which
stigmatizes the Reconstruction acts as "rev
olutionary, null and void, and that they
shall proceed TO treat them accordingly.
That is 70 say They will treat the new
State Governments as nullities, and pro
ceed at once TO replace them by what they
call white Mems. Governments that il
governments based on their own good plea
sure. That they viii DC resisted, and that
bloodshed and anarchy will result, inevita-
BILE.
2. Another result of Seymour's election
will be the triunphot that Speaking, coward-
III form Of reputation, termed paying the
FIUc- TicentyS m greenbackS. We do not
mean that this villainy will ultimately pre-
vail, but It's advocates will for the moment
be uppermost, and will push ii to the ex-
tent of debasing our currency 80 that it
will have no definite value, and the prop
elty of the widow and orphan, now held in
trust, win be rendered worthless Knaves
will pay their debts with ten to twenty
cents on the dollar, and labor will be paid
off in money of little or no value Ulti-
mately, the infinite evils of this scheme
will strip its advocates of power, replacing
them by champions of financial integrity
so the debt will at last be paid, but not till
after it has changed hands to the loss of
many timid or needy holders, and its repu
diation will have wrought general bank
ruptcy and ruin.
3. The white unionists will be hurled
from the South as they were in the winter
and spring of l860-'6l. Many Of them
will be killed il the process, as they were
on the former occasion. "They (Republi-
cans) want free debate, said Clingman
Of North Carolina, in the Senate in Decem-
ber 1860, as the Senator from New York,
(Mr. Seward expressed it, in one of his
speeches. But Senator from Texas, (Mr
WigfalD told me the other day, that a great
many Of these free debaters were hanging
from the trees in that country, Texas ~
Such was the southern response to pacific
overtures from the aerth, after we had
elected our President. 1t will be rongher
than that if they should now elect their
man. From every southern stump it is
L., AZ,
pubHeans from the north, } and "scalawags"
(white republicans born in the south, } will
be run out the moment they can be without
foar of injuring Seymour's prospects,
Should he be successful in November, the
white republicans will be hurled over the
Potomac and Ohio or into their graves, be-
| fore Christmas.
4. The blacks will generally be allowed
to stay, il they .cringe enough and abiure
the right of suffrage. A few of the leaders
will be killed for examples sake; but the
great mass will be simply reduced to the
condition of beasts of burden, and tolerated
so long as they abide in it. If they grovel
sufficiently and keep their mouths shut,
their lives will be spared.
b But thelwhole business of black edu-
cation will be arrested at once The schools
kept by whites will be burned; those kept
by blacks will be peremptorily shut up. A
negro seeking education for himself or for
his children, will be regarded and treated
as an incendiary. All that has been so
nobly and well begun for the enlightenment
and moral elevation of the freedmen will
be stopped, and their education made a
crime, in fact, if not also in law. Dark
ness will again settle upon the face of the
land, and common schools, even for whites,
either be forbidden or generally allowed to
fall into disuse.
| Such are some of the inevitable results
of Seymour's election, were that election
possible The condition of the south re-
sulting from such a triumph would make
angels weep and devils blush Itwould be
victory Of darkness Jubilee of treason
"a long stride toward chaos and primeval
night. II is not possible that such fate is
in store for our 6re-tried Repubic.-NeC
| York Tribune