The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1869-02-05
AFFAIRS IN ARKANSAS.
Clay oii.-sNew View Of tho situ-
H alton. pa,
Special Correspond enco Of the Couf1er-J Journal.
N4ff is3 ,rn, = Cc<orf Ida GA geo


! $ LITTLE Rock, Jdt. %, 1869.
Z Since the first of tho year two officials
--one an aid of General Grant and the
other an agent of the Government
have visited the capital of Arkansas.
They were both guests of Governor
Clayton. No one else was consulted,
no one else was visited; and their ere
ports" were made up exclusively from
the Radical side of the question of peace
or war, law or order, which now dis
tracts the State.
Before I write another line, let me
say that my object Is not partisan. 1
served with Governor Clayton during
the war; was born in Massachusetts I;
i was educated at Harvard; and / am
now and have always been Republic
can. Ivoted for Fremont in 1856, for
Lincoln in 1860 and 1864, and for
Grant last November. My purpose is
to give q fair notion of the condition of
things in Arkansas. That condition is
terrible. Nothing like it exists this side
Of the Cretan Islands. Common, every
day events remind on Of the reign of
Warren Hastings in India, or of Musta-
pha Asaph in Greece.
Ever since Aaron Burr failed, and
Sam Houston succeeded in erecting n
sort of one-horse empire on this side of
the Mississippi river, the idea has pre-
dominated in the minds of the many en-
terprising and ambitious leaders who
have, from time to time, held an ascend
ant in Arkansas and Texan affairs. You
will readily conceive how natural it is
that such be the case when you consid-
cr the geographical situation of the
country and the character of its inhabi-
tants. A great expanse of land, almost
terre tncOgpita, stretches ont from the
borders of water-course that has the
nature of an inland sea, and is as COM
plcte barrier separating two adjacent
countries rs the British channel which
separates the rival coasts of France and
Britain. The population of the region
farthest from the center Of civilization
and government is heterogeneous and
scattered. The Indian, the pioneer Or pio-
ncer's descendant, the adventurer. the
honest tiller of the soil, the wild hunter
of the forest, the vagrant abound and
have not always lived on the best of
terms, perhaps could not. Hence the
old combustible character of the times,
which invited the daring and the ambi-
ton of partisans.
The johnson family was for years an
autocracy. Then the star of Tom Hind
man rose to set forever in blood. The
war increased the middle; aud carpet
baggery and scalawaggery, negrophobia
and aboriginism have perfected it under
the guidance of the present dictator.
Clayton. He has Hindman's courage
and audacity and genius; is man
without feeling, but active and plausi-
bic; and he contemplates the erection
of a trans-Mississippi empire in which
he shall be, of course, the sovereign
spirit. His ideas are simple and direct.
He was Kansas jayhawker; and he
has faith in the John Brown principles
of war and politics. During the rebel
lion he commanded brigade of the
best cavalry in the Union service, and
commanded with vigor. After peace
he triedzconscfvatism found it insult
cd to his purpose ; plunged into radical
ism and now openly declares his inten-
ton to depopulatc the State and to re-
people it with loyal negroes.
This is the foundation of his militia.
This is the business as it is the basis of
his administration; and he calculates
with certainty that, so long as he is able
to keep Arkansas in disturbed condi-
ton, he is safe. Tranquility would be
fatal to his plan. The distance between
him and Washington; the friendiness
Of the Government; the ease with
which his acts may be concealed and the
acts of the people misrcpresented. make
him bold and careless. He knows his
game. He has studied the ground
And he will not fail. Indeed, see no
help for Arkansas. Nothing this side
of disorganization and reorganization
of society will suffice, and this can only
be the work of years. The quiet people
will move away. New corners will
fight and finally conquer peace, not
for themselves, but for their children
Ultimately carpet-baggers will become
respectable. Ultimately the negroes will
90 to the wall. But for the present the
State is doomed; and Clayton is its ex-
Old party differences have nothing to
do with the matter. The term "rebep
is nsed only Us pretext. One of Gov
ernor Clayton's most trusty agents is q
rebel bushwhacker whom / captured
duu ny
in 1864. He escaped my halter to be-
come the surer prey of my superior Of
ficer, whose confidential friend he is
now and has been for twelve months.
The very meanest cut-throat in all the
militia was private in Terry's body
guard and afterward scout for Whar-
ton and Harrison. One of John Browns
cronies, who went from New Hamp-
shire in 1856 with Sharpe's rifle, serv-
ed faithfully through the war as Union
soldier, and has since settled down with
a wife on farm, was recently murder
ed by negro militia captain, who had
been an ostler for Kirby Smith and who
killed, as he says, "many and many a
Yankee"
These are facts and l give them for what
they are worth. do not say the peo-
pie are unoffending. They resist as des-
perate men only can resist. But if they
did it not, it would be all the same
Clayton's policy is determination
Nothing can divert him. He is not a
milk-sop, but a man of genius; and the
field is fruitful. All he has to do is to
pass his scythe over the land and reap a
full harvest of blood, which is the ce-
ment of his power. l should also add
that he is personally intimate with Gen.