The Ouachita telegraph., 1871-04-15
BLAIR'S LAST BLAST AGAINST THE
RADICALS.
The Issue Of the Next Presidential Cam
paign-Thc Fifteenth Amendment aot
Constitutional - letter from
Senator Blair.

10 AZ. M: Cooke, Editor or IN" montgomery
(Ala.) Mail
Heur Sir:
Yours OF the llth inst. has just been
received. l am tiattcrcd by your 10"
quest that l should cndcaEor to COM
pose the - dead issuon controversy
among our friends in the South, and l
might be tempted to prot1tr my advice
to them if l thought it would be eticc-
tive. But our people don't like to be
advised. They prefer discussion and
to form their opinions on public uues-
tons by that process. l have contrib
uted in that way and shall continue to
do so to the utmost of my ability. \
In my Judgment the actual issue of
the campaign is the broad one, whether
we have a Federal Union On a constitu-
tiOnal basis or an absolute government
with power in the hands of those who
possess it to prolong its own existence
indefinitely. This draws in review the
past and continuing process by which
the arbitrary government of to-day has
been established and is to be maintain
ed, and the reconstruction acts and the
amendments must necessarily figure in
this review; but the question of whether
they went through the forms that cnti-
tie them to be put on the Statutc-bOOk
is really an i1nmatcrial one. it docs
! not change the argument IL particle
whether the forms were complied with
| or not, and it does not affect our ability
to put the government in the hands of
the people if we carry the election,
whether they are valid or invalid
The manner in which these amend
ments were adopted, and the still more
significant measures passed and prcpOs-
ed for their enforcement, ought to sat
iSfx- NOR, ,f all Sn1tinpS and ,,ortio.. that
liberty itself is at stake in the coming
conflict. No thoughtful observer of the
present aspect of public atf:,irs who docs
not, from tilnidity, Willfully shut his
eyes to the conclusions of his reasons
can doubt that those who, to grasp pow
er, have subvcrtcd the organic law, in
defiance of the known will Of the peo-
pie, will fail to adopt any other meas
urcS of fraud or violence which ma! be
found necessary to maintain them il
the possession of it, and that our only
security against new and greater vio-
lence than has heretofore been pra"ticod
is by the timely awakening of the pco-
pie to the real danger which surround
them-sO that q spirit may be aroused
which will Overawc and disarln those
daring enemies. Not to see. or to affect
not to sec, this danger, and to engage
the public mind in the discussion Of
economic and civil service measures,
and to bclittlc the Iron man who lately
brought that Senat" TO hi, feet which
had its predecessor picadin@ al their
bar, is to cry ''pcace when there is no
pcacr,' and 50 :Hntrinut" to h"trsy the
country
If our friends would unite IL an earn
est effort to arouse the country, all will
be we'll. And to this end it is only ne
ccssary to let the people see what the
real issue is. Nor have l any fears that
they viii fail to see it. They already
see it in spite of the mistaken efforts Of
some Of our friends who counsel what
| they think is policy, rs if it was a mat
ter of convention among public men
what the issues would be, and not IL
matter Of fact, which they cannot con-
troll any more than they can the advent
of the seasons. They may not sec it so
plainly, either because they do not OBJ
serve it with sufficient attention or be-
cause they shrink from it from feeble
ness or apprehension. Let us go back
to the people fairly and boldly, and in
woke their judgment upon the record
RadicaliSm has made for itself All the
contrivanccs by which the Radicals
| have sought to trammcl the people and
fortify themselves in power can thus ;,c
effectually swept away.
The differences among our friends to
| which you refer arc not serious. They
| arise, I believe, chiefly from the mis-
taken idc;. that those who continue to
| ;lSsail reconstruction and tho amend
mcnts intend to abolish negro suffrage.
This is not the object, and it is !, very
inadequate view of the subject. This
suffrage really depends very little on
| the amendments, because, among other
things, it has not accomplished the OBJ
| jcct of those who imposed it, (Which
was to give them the control of the
South), and they have begun them
selves already to dispense With il in the
District of Columbia, where it was first
started. But the States which have
adopted it do not propose to revoke ii,
and will not, I am confident, unless
! after Il fair trial it is shown to be neccs-
sary for a good government. The F'if-
tcenth Amendment will, in this event,
be easily disposed of; for the Radicals,
who have already ceased to have mo-
tive to maintain it, vii! have ceased to
cant on the subject.
1t is not, therefore, to get rid of negro
suffrage that we continue to assail and
refuse to acGuicscc in usurpations by
which the governments of the people
have been and Will continue to be
wrcsted from them. The contest is not
to take away suffrage from the negroes,
but to preserve that wise distribution
of the powers of Government without
which all suffrage is but IA mockcry ana
to prevent that control by the national
functiOnarics which is sure to create
-.,t.