The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1871-04-07
A LETTER FROM SENATOR BLAIR
The True Issue Are we to Have a
Federal Constitutional Union or an
Absolute Government ?

10 M. III. Cooke, Edtt0r Ct me Mont
goasesy {Aa.) Nal:
DEAR SIR-Yours of the ! 1th in
slant has just been received. am
flattered by your request that |
should endeayor to compose the
"dead issue" controversy among our
friends in the South, and / might be
tempted to proffer my advice.to them
if | thought it would be Effective
But our people don't like to be adj
0ised. They prefer discussion aid
to form their opinions on public
questions by that process. | have
contributed 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 constitutional basis, or an abso-
Lutte Government with power in the
hands Of those who possess it to pro-
long its own existence indefinitely.
This draws in review the past and
continuing process by which the ar
bitrary Government of to-day has
been established and is to be main
tanned. and the Reconstruction acts
and the amendments must necessa-
rily figure in this review; but the
question of whether they went
through the forms that entitle them
to be put on the statute book is real
ly an immaterial one. 1t does not
change the argument a 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 arc valid
or invalid.
The manner in which these
amendments we're adopted, and the
still more significant measure passed
and proposed for their enforcement,
ought to satisfy men of all sections
and parties that liberty itself is at
stake in the coming conflict. No
thoughtful observer of the present
aspect of public affairs, who does not,
from timidity, willfully shut his eyes
to the conclusion of his reason, can
doubt, that those who to grasp pow
er have subverted the organic law,
in defiance of the known will of the
people, will fail to adopt any other
measures of fraud and violence
which may be found necessary to
maintain them in the possession of
it, and that our only security against
new and greater violence than has
heretofore been practiced, is by the
timely awakening Of our people to
the real dangers which surround
them-so that spirit may be arous-
ed which will overawe and disarm
those daring enemies. Not to see,
or to affect not to see, this danger,
and to engage the public mind in
the discussion of economic and civil
service measures, and to belittlc the
Iron man who so lately brought that
Senate to his feet which had his pre-
decessor pleading at their bar, is to
cry "peace when there is no peace"
and so contribute to betray the
country.
If our friends would unite in an
earnest effort to arouse the country,
all will be well. And to this end it
is only necessary to let the people
sec what the real issue is. Nor have
| any fears that they will 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, as if it was a matter of con-
vcntion among public men what the
issues should be, and not a matter of
fact, which they cannot control any
more thon they can the advent of
the seasons. They may not see it
so plainly, either because they do
not observe with sufficient attention,
or because they shrink from it from
fccbleness and apprehension. Let us
90 to the people fairly and boldly /
and inv0ke their Judgment upOn the
record RadicaliSm has made for ITSELF |
Al the o0ahiuances by acAich tie
Radicals haze sought to traaa9el the |
people and fortyy themselves j,sposoer
can thus be c9ectaally Srept array.
The differences among our friends I
to which you rofer are not serious.
They arise, | believe, chiefly from
the mistaken idea that those who /
continue to assaiI reconstruction and I
the amendments intend to abolish /
negro suffrage. This is not the OBJ |
ject, and it a is very inadequate view
of the subject. This suffrage really T.
depends very little on the amend I
ments, because, among other things,
it has not accomplished the object of
those who imposed it (Which was to
give them the control of the South |
and they have began themselves /
already to dispense with it in the
District of Columbia, where it was
first started. But the States which /
have adopted it do not propose to
revoke it, and will not, | am conf +
dent, unless, after a fair trial, it is /
shown to be necessary for a good
-nn,.nrnn,nr,t The Eiftnnnth Amnnl- |