The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-06-22
MORE TALK FROM TOOMBS.
He RepudIates the New Departure. and
Is not Afraid OF More Fighting.

He hepudiateS the New Departure. ana
Is not Afraid OF More Fighting.
e The New York Herald cOrrespon-
dent recently visited Robert Toombs,
/ and found him extremely pugnaciOu
in his views. We quote from the re
t pOrter's letter:
DO you think the people of the
, south prepared to accept the new plat
form of the northern democrats, Mr..
: TOOmbs ," said I.
: why, of course they won't accept
II. They can not do so without being
false to every principle Of justice and
freedom"
it?''
II don't know. But they can not
! support it. For my part / see no diff
? ference now between the democrats
/ and republicans. / should advise our
: people to make the best bargain they
r can, and side with whichever party
bids the highest"
: "YOu have given up, however, all
hope of making armed resistance TO
the United States gOvernment?'
mot at all. don't know but that
it is about time for us to fight again.
Our only hope is in ourselves; every
party in the north abandOns US.
never expected much from northern
; democrats since they deserted us at |
the beginning of the war, so / am not |
greatly disappointed. / know the |
men who are their leaders, and they |
are just as INSCRIPTIONS as the radi- !
Gals. The clique who run Tammany /
and the northern democracy don't /
want democratic principles to be sue
Ieessful they would rather lose the /
election than have it result in a vic
tory for the old doctrines of the party. /
They are bOndhOlders, and are just as
much in favor of centralized despOtism
as the radicals"
"But you surely do not seriously
think that the war ought to begin
again?"
ayes, 1 do.u
"And you remember the bIOOdshed
aud misery which that must invOlve?"
ayes; bat what of it? L am not a
peace man. There are many worse
Occupations for a gentleman than
Fighting. Besides everything really
in the way of political freedom has
been won in battle. Look at the
EblOOd that was shed during four CEN
turtles for the sake of the six lines in
Magma Charta, that contain the fun
damental principles of AnglO-SaXon
freedom. But, terrible as was the
price, the rights secured were well
worth the sacrifice. So with us. The
right we struggled for in vain-the
right of self-gOvernment-w be
eheaply purchased by n few genera
tions of fighting"
"When are you going to raise the
standard of revOlt?"
"Whenever a favorable OppOrtuni-
ty occurs. We will wait until YOU
people at the north are divided your {
selves, or at war with some foreign
power. The time will come, sooner
or later. And these men, there Mr.. {
TOOmbs pointed to some farmers {
standing near by "wOuld fight again, {
to-day, if need be. You
CANNOT CONQUER Us :
except by killing us all off, and that 8
is an impossibility"
"But, if you want to start fighting $
again, don't you think it unwise to {
talk about ito"
''No, sir; think it time TO let the I
northern people know that we are
ready to fight if they won't let us
alone. We ask nothing but that-tO c
be let alone. And if we can't get it, I
say we had better again have war I
than false pretense of peace, such as q
we have now"
"But success in such a struggle is |
impossible"
at would be a desperate undertake 1
ing, of course. But there is always a q
chance of success, and the chance is (
worth trying"
"Will nothing short of southern in q
dependence satisfy you ?'
"Oh, yes. / suppose the north and G
south might be kept together on the z
basis of the constitution. But you de- I
strOg cur local governments and inn q
pose another government upon us at
the point of the bayOnet. That can :
not be persisted in among a people +
who inherit traditions of freedom, c
without a revolution. When law is L
Overthrown, men naturally take to a
the sword. A lasting peace might 5
possibly have followed generous 4
terms, like those proposed by Sher- e
man, but it can never be the fruit of T
the oppression that we have had to +
suffer since the war;" Il
"Don't you regard the acts of the e
reconstructed legislatures then as Il
binding upon the southern peOpleW o
"Of course not. These legislatures Il
have not been legally elected, and e
whatever they have done is therefore g
invalid. They represent only part s.
of the peOple-and the worst part j.,
and 1 have nodoubt that most of what +
they have done will at some time or I
other undOne." +
"Would that involve the repudia- Il
ton of the state debts they have in y
CURED ?n I
"Of course it would" I
"And what is your opinion about Il
the debt of the United States? Do I
you think that thatw be repudiated I
also ?''
'I have never believed that public o
debts in a country governed by uni @
Versal suffrage will ever stand firm c
against any great pressure. Just now
the people of the north are very pros q
porous, and the debt is pretty well dis o
tributed among them, so there is no e
particular strong cry of reputation /
but as soon as the shoe pinches-in I
some bad season-the people will turn
round and throw off every dollar of }
their public Indebtedness. That would 5
happen in any country where univer-
sal suffrage PREVAILS
"YOu say that the democratic party
is being betrayed by some Of its leaders y
who do Otwish that democratic prin- I
ciples should be successful I
trYes. They do not want to keep 9
this country a free republic any more |
than the radicals do. This new plat !
form shows that. They are anxious I
for Office of course. Principles are '
nothing to them, or rather they are {
in favor at heart of much the same
principles as the radicals"
iBgt they seem 10 be supported en- 2
Enthusiastically by the masses Of the par
ty.n ,,lt
az don't think so. With the old
platform the democratic party was
every year growing in strength and {
would have been successful in lS72.-I
Its leaders, however, have changed 1t,
and now, so far as southern men can
see, there is no visible difference in
principle between democrats and rad
icals. 1t is mere scramble for Office.
I don't care now which party wins,
and think it is the best policy to make s
whatever terms we can, caring 7
nothing about the name of the or
ganization we support. The south
holds still the balance of power, and
can probably throw victory in either
scale.
''But if this platform is unpalatable
to the mass of the people won't the
democracy melt away into thin air.
"Why, you know as well as / do
that the northern democracy consists,
practically, of few score men, who
have seized upon is machinery and
do just as they please. Tie masses are,
for the most part, so many sheep who
coIIour than and l.nou nofbinu and