The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-12
SPIRIT OF TIE PRESS.
v ditOriaI Opinions Of the Lending Journals
Upon Current Topics Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph
A RELIC OF THE OLDEN TIME.

having
white men, shall De aIoheu lor Dy immediate
repentance or blood.
OF this ancient fre-eating sentiment the
Mobile RegiSt6r is the organ. 1t declares that
tbe election of Republican member for its
district is a calamity for which "the white
men who have thought proper to absent them
selves from the polls are responsible. 1t
propounds the inquiry, 'Are we for ever to
be the bondsmen and serfs of an invading
gang of plunderers?" and responds with
laundering No!
eve have as a people, been patient-oh, how pa
tienti-fOT years, because we looked to u united
people at home, and to a more generous feeling at
the North, for relief from our intoerable burdens.
II never entered into our plans or purposes to en-
now that after four years of enduranCe,we find
selves deserted by enough OF our own people to Sc
cure the n 3I q oc d. rule over us we are
measures. Those Of us VINO mean TO be free at all
hazards must do one OF two things first de-
sert this c. b. and negro-cursed land, and find a
home whose air we can breathe without stining, or
we must resort to the ultima ratio and drive our
tyrants away. Had the white delinquents at the
nolls come to the front, there had been occasion
Tor thoughts like these. The majority of this people
mean TO have their liberties, and If blood comes OF
it, its stain will be upon the garments OF those who,
having before them peaceful solution OF the coun,
trys difficulties and refusing TO aid IN IT, have forced
men to think of sterner remedies
But the Regjster reckons without its host.
The majority of it's neighbors are not of the
fre-eating fraternity, or the defeat it deplores
had not occurred. 1t was beaten at the polls
because the majority are on the other side.
They are quite as anxious for the maintenance
of their liberty, probably, as are the class for
whom the Register speaks but they interpret
liberty in a more rational sense. To the
mind of the fre-eater that much-abused term
formerly meant liberty to fog negroes and
rule the State; and now it means liberty to
eXpel Northern and colored citizens who re-
fuse to vote the Democratic ticket. The
aiority who are not fre-eaters prefer the
liberty which is according to law; tkey can
breathe the air of home without sitting, or
without wasting words about 1.-THE ultima
ratio, because they have made up their minds
to labor and to wait for the happier time
which little common sense and good feeling
will assuredly bring.
The Register, however, will be satisfied with
nothing less than another war;
"These reflections lead us to believe that we have
entered upon a new phase OF this extraordinary
revolution, and that the to come VIII not be
as quiet those that have passed. 1t is not in the
nature of men, especially of men of race, to sit
down supiney while they are taxed to a conhscation
OF their property by handful of strangers. Brutes
will fight for their lives their food, and their young
and our homes, our subsistence for wives and chill
dren, are threatened and when liberty is thrown
into the scale with the means of livelihood, and
when boldly told if we do not like it we can
abandon our country, issue is presented that is
not long debatable When that issue comes to be
made up-and it is imminent-it is one that spark
may at any moment klndle into q C0nflagrat1On-0ur
nOR-votng white people will disc yer that they had
interest in the late election They will nave to
fight, whereas they only had to vote"
Here is Southern Rip Van Wigkle-one
in whose veins courses the blood of the whole
race of fire-eaters! The slight excitement of
an election has awakened him from nine
years sleep. He rubs his eyes and sees those
who were once his slaves his equals at the
ballot-box; he sees white men voting for q
Republican candidate, and a large crowd of
white men content to let the Republican win.
The spectacle is too much for his venerable
nerves. He swears and raves like lunatic.
He threatens vengeance against white and
black alike. He sharpens his bowie-knife and
polishes his rifle. And then, rushing to the
file of the Register for August, 1859, he para
phrases its Vaporings, and dreamily contem
plates the sensation they will produce.
The multitude who have not been asleer
know that the intervening ten years have
somewhat materially altered the situation
They have had one war; and think that quite
enough. 1t has changed the relations of the
races, and in some degree the theory of the
Government; but they have faith in the supe
rior intelligence and capacity of the whites
and are not afraid of the final results 1t ha
left them embarrassed, with rich fields desc
late and old homes in ruins; but they az,
doing their best to reorganize industry anC
regenerate business and they feel that thei
efforts Will be rewarded with success. IheS
men don't treasure the files of the Register
They are ready to subscribe a moderate sun
with the view of transferring them to tn
archives of the Southern Historical Society
as a memorial of the madness that one
reigned in Mobile. But they have no though
of hearkening to an oracle that is behind th
age. They showed their purpose on this sub
iect by going to the polls in friendly compe
tition with the blacks, or by staying ava
from the polls, and SO helping the voters t.
defeat the Democratic candidate.
One thing is certain. If the Register ha
not sufficient influence to force the Mobil
whites to vote, it is not likely to be able t.
drive them into another fight. Its thunde
is too theatrical to frighten anybody.
The misfortune is that the threats of on
noisy fire-eater will be turned to account b.
his noisy counterpart in the North, always ol
the lookout for utterances of this sort, an
we shall be told III next weeks AHtj-SIdUe1
JStuRd0Id that the Mobile whites are prt
pairing for bOodshed and violence. and tn
words of the Register will be cited in proof
it, Passions are thus stimulated which a
good men would gladly see extirpated; pr,
texts for persecution are furnished whic
those familiar with the facts know to be III
tenabe and unjust. In this way the Sout
suffers from blows inflicted by those wi
pretend to be its peculiar friends Mobi
will be happier when the last ire-eater pass
to another and more enduring slumber.
GEN. FREMONT AND HIS RAILWAY
From the NJ Y. Tribune.
The fact that General John G. Fremon
now in Paris on business connected with IL
projected "Memphis, Ell Paso, and Paci1
4, & 90 l., 80, .l,,, ho, Ia,