Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1872-10-05

obcdicnt servant, JOHN =. HALE.
What They Mean by Reform.
We call attention to the conclu-
sion arrived at in the report 0f the
minority of the committee appointed
to investigate the KukluX Outrages.
This report was signed 10y Frank r.
Blair, 4. i. Bayard, =. >. Cox, James
B. Beck, p. Van Trump, A. NJ. Wad-
dell, j. & Robinson, J. NJ. Hanks.
Let it be remembered that all these
gentlemen are warmly in favor of
Horace Greeley, and are to-day
among the active leaders in the
Liberal movement" From the
minority report we catch a glimpse
of the reform " which the Demo.
cratic party hope TO ipaugurate after
the 4th of March, 1873. After admit
ting the existence of the Kuklux
Klans, and the horrible outrages
charged against them, these Lib
eral" statesmen and devoted disciples
of Horace Greeley indirectly justify
them by the following language:
As we have just remarked we do
not propose to dis cuss atlarge the ques-
ton of negro government in these
pages but we feel that it would be
derellctiOn of duty on our part if after
what we have witnessed in South
Carolina, we did not adnlonish the
American people that the present
condition of things in the South cam
not last. 1t was an oft quoted polit-
ical aputhegm, long prior to the
war, that no government could exist
g. half slave and half free" Tho
paraphrase of the proposition is
equally true, that no government can
exist half black and half white"
"There can lie neither sympathy
nor harmony in any pOlity where
such antagonism is attempted to be
overcome by law. Gods law is higher
than mans law. Mans puny stat
utes can not repeal or nullify the
inmutable ordinances of the AL
mighty. Those whom God has sep
arated let no man join together.
There can be no permanent partition
OF power, nor any peaceable joint
exercise of power, among such dis
cOrdant bodies of men. One or the
other must have all or none. 1t is
the very acme OF folly and fanatIcism
to suppose, in this day of eplighten-
ment and its consequent pride OF
feeling among the superior race, that
there can be reproduction of the
ancient fable of tying the living and
the dead together without causing
death to both. Who would have
dreamed, fifteen years ago, what
highest aud most far-seeing intellect
among the great men who esta ablished
this Government upon the basis of
homogeDeity of race and color, could
have imagined that in the first CEN
tury of its existence, African freed
men, of the lowest type of ignorance
aud brutality. would rule a sovereign
State of the Union, and be the arbi-
ters Of the rights and property of u
race who have ruled the destinies of
nations ever since government was
known among men? Such state of
things may last so long as the party
shall last which had the power and
audacity to inaugurate it, and no
longer. But when that party shall
go down, as go down it will at some
time not long in the future, that will
be the end of the political power Of
negro among white men Oh this con-
tinent.n
This is not our language, but the
words OF an earnest report; the hon.
est convictions of every Democratic
member of the committee. The poll
icy foreshadnwed in this extract Is
the policy of the "Liberal - party.
The Lberalites who signed this re-
port are not extremists, but fair rep
resentatives of the party to which
they belong. We desire to be fair,
10 utter nothing in malice against
this desperate combination to defeat
President Grant, but the open decla-
Tations of our opponents force us to
believe that this liberal movement,
if successful, will inagurate reign
of terror throughout The South, such
az the world never before witnessed.
When eight conservative men, who
claim to be loyal, and whom We
know to he intelligent, come to the
conclusion that the right of citizen
ship, conferred by the Constitution
on the freedmen of the South, is
nothing more than party right, to
be tolerated while a certain party is
in power, aud no longer, what can we
expect of the thousands of ignorant
and dislOyal men who live on viO-
lence, who believe the killing OF q
negro a divine right. who are re-
strained in the acts of cruelty by the
strong arm of the law, and who see
in the defeat of President Grant
their opportunity plunder, scourge,
and murder the unoffendng freed
men of the South? Ii the conclus-
ions reached by the minority and
published To the world, after care
ful investigation, after months of
deliberation, is not an Invitation to
begin the work of determination or
subjugation, as soon as the Demo-
cratic party comes into power, we are
no Judge of language. 1t Is the latest
echo of the old shareholders cry. "A
negro has no rights which white
man is bound To respect" The ma
tion canont be deceived by the figure
head of Horace Greeley. Back Of
him, and urging him onward, are all
elements which threaten our nation
al existence. His election would be-
tray our Government into the hands
ofils enemies, and in all human prob
ability, plunge our Republic into an-
other war more fierce aud destruc-
tive than the one which followed the
rebellion. The support Of the Re-
publican party Is a duty Of the hour.
Its triumph Is the triumph of
peace, law, justice its defeat, the
practical reinstatement OF labor and
the revival OF anarchy throughout
Cfae Of ltFaIfanfIa