The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-04-28

Railroad and everything else.
In has been happily observed that,
i'll the shipwreck of the State, trifles
float and are preserved, while every
thing solid and valuable sinks to the
bottom, and is lost forever" AT nc
period in our history, until now, has
Republican America been capable OF
the Stygian conclavc at Washington
which, happily for even the negative
tranquility of the country, has just
dissolved. The late war was but the
pantomimic prclude-thc compare
lively pacific introduction, as it were,
TO the more devastating war of legis-
lation which followed short upon the
footsteps of hostilitics in the field, and
10 that final catastrophe upon the very
threshold of which we are now tread
ing with fearful and apprehensiyo
steps, and in which we arc gradually
but surely being stripped of our most
sacred rights as freemcn. No man
capable of reflection, or who mas con-
ned the great lessons of history, and
whose views arc inocUlated with any
of the spirit of our fathers, can behold
the present aspect of affairs without
the most painful misgivings.
We believe it was old SAM JOHNSON
who once observed that "patriotism
Vas the last refuge of scoundrel."
This is as much truism nowadays
rs when the great autocrat of English
literature wrote and talked. Under
the specious name of Patriot, the iron
fingers of the Opprcssor are at our
throat. Daily they are tightening
and unless speedily relaxed, the last
breath Of expiring Liberty in this
unhappy country will have been
brcathcd forever. Who doubts this
If any, let him take brief re prospect
of the labors of the Internal Peers at
the Capital, during the past few
weeks. Step by step they have pro-
cccdcd from bad TO worse, as if in
crease of appetite for oppression had
)Dwn by what it fed upon, until its
anal elimination in that browning
ct of legislative infamy and despot-
ism, known as the ku-kluX Bill
az act which will forever insure the
Mild Congress an cmincnce of i'll
fanny upon the page of history; which
will pcrpetually stand a monument
to the malignity that testers the bo-
SONS and gangrcncs the souls of our
task-mastcrs, and which is a deep
and fatal stab to fundamental princi-
pies, which lie imbcddcd i'm the very
elements of Republican freedom, and
TO the living mastery of which MAR
SHALL and STORY and TANEY and
thcirgreat confrercs devoted the labor
of tfeir lives; principles upon which
the national cdiiicc might rest in per-
feet safety for ages; which made
Bunker Hill and Lexington and Con-
cord possible, and for which VIC have,
one and all, cherished an hereditary
reverence. Let all doubtcrs read and
iudge for themselves. Let them OBJ
serve how an American President
who, by universal consent, has been
wholly unequal 10 the high position
lac disfgurcs, and whom one of the
most distinguished of his own house
hold has described rs COLOSSUS of
ignorance is invested with impera-
torial powers; how the dearest birth
rights of the Southern people are left
10 an Unlimited, untutored discrc-
lion, regulated by naught save hos
tility TO their interests; how il open
~ violates without scruple and tram
pies upon, without dccency, the
whole judicial fabric, by withdrawing
from the cognizance oflocal tribunals
the trial of local offences how it cX-
cludcs from the jury-box, even in
those exotic forums, the virtue and
intelligence of The South, and sacri-
lcgiously resigns That sanctuary of
Justice TO the ignorant negro. thc po-
litical advcnturer, and, in fine, TO
those who are bitterly hostile to them,
since the decent and more rcspccta-
bic portion of Republicans will man
aye 10 cvade that unpleasant and obi
Gus duty; how it empowers the
Chief Magistrate, by nod, 10 cause
the powerful armam cnts Of tic Uni
ted States 10 hover about our borders,
TO feed upon our substance, and TO
bring decentralization and tyranny into
our midst; how it enables him TO
suspend at pleasure the blessed priv
lccc of the writ Of hd6cGS corpus
which is, in effect, 10 suspend the
mighty pulse of Liberty; how
bu; il were idle 10 so farther.
The man who cannot see these low
cIing clouds of darkness and dcspot-
ism. must indeed bc blind. Ii really
looks as though we were TO have
another down-tro1dcn Ireland in the
South. Ii SO, let our longsss8ering
people be true 10 themselves. Let
them rccur 10 the heroic memories
that cluster about the hills and val
lcys of the beautiful SoHih, and en-
,leavor TO drink in some of the spiri
which animated the immortal Or -
RAN,
Famous in story ard in song -
under similar circumstances. Ic,u
conduct ourselves. as hcrciofo re. wit
patience, foyhcaranco and auictud,
but with souls of men, haY INC an alb
ding faith in that ultimat ,retributiv
Justice which, sooner later, mu,
surely come.
LIQuoI is ahead % .eycrythin. els