Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-06-19


best use Of this right all had to confess. But
it was seen that it was intended they should
never be in a better condition, and the only
hope of improving them was by giving them
this power Of improvement. Whatever Of
evil there was in it the South compelled by
their own conduct.
Conquering the South did not change their
feelings or their opinions; they we're like
other people convinced against their will
To all the hate and bitterness which long
aud bloody war had eugendercd, were added
the modification and humiliation Of defeat. |
They went TO war TO strengthen and perpei- |
uate slavery. The result had been that sla.
very was totally overthrow and their slaves
made free. They undertook by State laws
to still keep them deprived of all civil rights
and in a practical condition Of slavery The
result was that the colored people became
their political equals, aud entitled to an equal
voice in the administration Of the government I
They knew perfectly well that during the
whole war the sympathies Of the whole col.
ored race were with the Union, aud that 70
far as they could they rendered it all the aid
in their power. They knew that the colored
people rcocod in our victories and in their
defeats, and triumphed aloud with us in the
final overthrow of the rebellion. Their for
mer menals and property had become their
political equals, and in States and municipal
tiles where they were the most numerous they
had become their rulers.
That all this was exceedingly grating, even
revolving to the feelings Of the people Of the
South, can easily be believed. Aud when it
is remembered that this people possessed all
the haughtiuess aud contempt Of interiors nat
urally possessed by the ruling class under
system Of human slavery, their utter disgust
can hardly be imagined. The feeling was in
no way soothed by the reflection that their
own folly aud madness had brought about the
existing condition Of things. The former con-
diton Of slavery had produced another ele-
ment Of large account in the events which
followed. A large number OF men had lived
in idleness, aud the fruits Of idleness had RI
pened. The country was full Of dissipated
horse.raciDg, cock-dghting registering fellows
many Of whom by the war had become des-
perate and dangerous men. The liberation Of
the slaves had deprived them of their means
Of living, and they were reduced to the des-
peratc and disagrecabe duty Of earning it for
themselves. That this class, under the cir.
cumstances, could tolerate equal rights, civil
and political, in negro could hardly be ex-
pected.
Again, slavery had produced another effect
upon the people Of the South. 1t had pro-
duced state of society sem.barbarous, like
that Of the Middle Ages, when the noble and
high-born rode rough-shod over the humble
and owly, and all personal differences among
themselves were settled by personal encounter.
This state of society produced a natural dis
regard for human life and for the sacrcdness
Of the human person. 1t made men savage
and cruel, and in the condition of things ex-
sting in the South, produced its natural fruit
: Of whippings tortures, murders, and brutal
ties of every kind aud degree They had
loved the negroes well enough as menials and
property, but now as men and political equal.
q they hated and despised them.
s had last winter book sent me writer
e by Mr.. Pollard, of Virginia. which care
y fully read, aud in which there are a grea
9 many good things, and commend the read
ing Of it to every gentleman here who una,
not have already read it. lie comedies al
that has been alleged of outrage and cruelty
against the colored race, but he argues thai
there is no political significance at all in it
that it grows entirely out of the hatred OF
the negro as such, and as freeman. But
there is more in this than Mr.. Pollard ad
mits. The negro would be tolerated as
freeman and even as voter if he would give
his political support to the ruling class in the
South. This he cannot and will not do. The
ruling white class in the South the good
blood, the property holders, we're in the rebel.
lion. Thoy are Democrats or Conservatives,
or Liberals now they support everything
and anything except the Republican party.
The colored man is in everything political
their exact opposite, and he must be. He
knows (however ignorant and unettered he
may be) that to the Republican party he
owes his freedom aud every civil aud poltl.
cal right he possesses. He knows but fol
that party he would still be but a chattel
. and that if the Democratic party had its wal
| he would still be slave,
This knowledge and this feeling make every
colored man in the South Republican, anC
make it impossible for him to be auythin.
4 else. do not mean to say that there ma,
o not be individual cases where some persona
interest or influence may induce colore,
C man to vote the other way, but do say tina
y every coored man who votes his ludgmen
y and honest feelings will vote with the Repub
e lican party. Aud here let me say to IN,
b friends over the way that you may nominal,
u as many Horace Greeleys or as many othe
e men as you please to be supported by tn,
: Democracy, you will get no support from tn,
1t colored men Of the South They are Repub
l. licans, "baptized by fire." and are sure to
l man for General Grant or whoever may carr,
d the Republican banner.
!. Mr.. Speaker, after the negroes had receive,
their freedom, aud thus become entitled t,
:, civil rights as freemen, it Was determined b,
u their old owners and oppressors that thei
y freedom should be nominal merely The,
d attempted this by State laws, to which hav,
d already alluded. There might by possibiit,
t have been some fear that there would be out
!. breaks and disturbances by them. though
IS there seems never to have been any decen
:. pretext for such fear and | do not belev,
e that it existed to any appreciable extent
y The whole current Of evidence on all side
' bears uniformly in favor Of the quiet auC
y good order observed by the negroes. 1t wa
o perfectly clear upon all the evidence takel
y by the committee that the secret organization
e known popularity as the Ku-Klux but havin,
(. really various other names, was set up for tn,
= purpose of keeping the negroes in IA state o
8 subsection to the old southern rebel element.
r After the ballot was given to the negro
! full use and scope was found for the organiza
0 ton. 1t was devised to work not only on the
, fears but also on the superstition Of the col.
I ored people. The strength of numbers in
/ which the Klans generally rode, armed to the
0 teeth, the bloody work they often made, were
quite enough to excite the fears Of drawer and
less defenseless people than the poor freedmen
Of the South but probably their horrible and
a ghosty attire by midnight torchlight was as
potent to influence as their lashes or theiI
pistols.
/ Now, sir, it was formerly denied that such
/ a thing as Ku Klux Klans existed. For a
> long time the Democratic press denied it,
have repeatedly heard it denied by gentle.
} men on this floor. But it proof of their ex.
istence was needed, it has been demonstrated