Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-04-03
PUBLIC LEDGER.
WHAT WILL COME OF TT

of oratory in certain marble structure
ON n certain river in very uncertain
country, has admitted that reeonstruc-
ton of the Southern States on the white
basis was lmp-acticable. 1t had to be
done on the black basis. This notable
orator, in saying that, struck the key
note of the loyal anthem Six or eight
4 million white people being suspected Of
infdelity to a party, not to govern.
ment, are pushed into the back ground
and Invested of power, to make room for
two or three million negroes who cannot
read or write, and never heard OF Con
stitutions, and never knew law except
through its violation. 1t SO happens
that the white race, so thrust out OF
power, possessed intelligence, learning
and property, to say nothing OF pride.
They had been conquered by war, and 1t
became the policy of the conqueror to rob
them by laws enacted without their con-
sent. Meantime, over taxed and deprived
of suffrage, and the right to hold office,
they became FESTIVE. A tribe of people
popularity known as carpet-baggers, came
down from the country of the conqueror
10 rule them by making the negroes the
basis of re-adjusted society 1t so hap
pened that the loss Of property, and po-
litical ostracism, was not accompanied
by the loss Of pride. That could not be
overcome and crushed out by superior
numbers. That pride survived devasta-
ton and lived on in poverty. 1t was, and
ever will be, impossible to reconcile the
white people Of the South to a govern
ment predieated upon negro supremacy
manipulated by horde of mean
whites from the North. A people who
could accept voluntarily such situa-
ton, would not deserve to be reckoned
as particles in decent government.
Well, these six or eight million white
people in the South retaining, after all
their wrongs and misfortunes, pride OF
race not only unconquered but uncon-
querable, do not like negro and
capet-bag domination. But negroes
and carpetbaggers have bayonets to
back their assumptions, and they pre-
same on their advantage. They not
only do it, but do it Extensively. Our
descendant Of the Cavalier cannot brook
insult, nor will he tamely submit to pre-
tension that has no other foundation
than ignorance, and skill in the art Of
plumber. His nature, gentle as a childs
in repose, becomes a bursting. thunder
ing volcano when it is wronged or in
suited. how he has managed to sup
press it as he has for five years is, and
will remain, wonder. In some cases
IL has broken over the bounds Of a
studied prudence and swept to revenge.
Hence the Ku-Klux war in Congress.
Hence the agitation that disturbs tran
guilty, and hence the gloomy aspect OF
the future. There is not in all the books
in all the world any authority for the
policy which the North has pursued
toward the South since the war. Not in
the most despotic governments OF the
ancient or modern world is there an in
stance of an enforced ascendency Of
ignorance over intelligence, or Of
barbarian or mongrel race over
one that is refined and cultivated.
1t is reserved to the genius and spirit OF
the Puritan in the nineteenth century to
furnish it. It is legitimate for a con
queror TO hold conquered people TO
terms that arise from war, but not to d.
rect their future, or TO prescribe their in
stitutious. To do so is TO establish a sys-
TEN Of slavery, and no man is bound to
be slave any more than prisoner
is bound to be a prisoner If he can
break down his prison and escape.
And so, the people Of the South are
not bound to be ruled by negroes
and oarpet-baggers q moment Longer
than they can overthrow their usurped
authority. That overthrow is inevitable
The Administration sees it, and to aver
it, proposes to resort to the bayonet Thu
false pretense of Southern outrages i
put forth as a justification, when it j
publicly charged in Congress, and know
20 every intelligent human being, tina
the real object of the proposed Ku-Klul
legislation is to keep the Radical part
in power by means Of eannons, bayonet
aud drum-head eourts-martial. This
the situation. What viii come Of it2