Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-02-15
The Old Tune.

In reply to speech of Senator Nor
toms the other day, Senator Thurman, of
Ohio, who is the ablest of the Democrat
ic leaders in the Senate, said that it had
become the custom for Mr.. Morton to
sound the keynote of the Republican
campaign He added that Mr.. Morton's
speech against universal amnesty was the
beginning of the campaign of 1872. 1T
is the same old note again." said Mr..
Thurman; cit is the same old tune
again; it is the same old horrors of the
rebellion; it is the same old wickedness
of the instigators of that rebellion; it is
the same old terrible suffering that that
rebellion entailed upon the country; and
it is the same frightful array of ghosts
found nowhere except in the Senator's
imagination, of what is to result to this
country should the Democratic party ever
get into power" Yet, at the moment in
which Senator Thurman spoke there was
practical ''terror" in very many parts of
the States lately in rebellion; an organ
lied and far-reaching conspiracy, the OBJ
| ject of which is to menace and punish
white men who would not join the re-
bellion, and colored men who are the
perpetual symbols of its failure. r.. g..
The old note is therefore inevitable, for
it is the old danger. What was the sub
ject upon which the Senators were speak
ing? 1t was the Amnesty bill, as amend
ed by Mr.. Summers Civil Rights bill. 1t
was a bill which released the late rebels
from certain disabilities, and which also
secured the protection of the late slaves.
And Senator Thurman and his party
friends, loud for amnesty, opposed the
protection. They demanded the utmost
generosity for the slave-holding class,
which, to perpetuate slavery, had at
tempted, without cause, to destroy the
Union in blood, and they refused justice
to the late slaves, whom the nation had
freed. Senator Vickers, indeed, col
league and party friend of Senator Thur
man, had, the week before, virtually reas-
serted the dogma Of State sovereignty,
and had painted, in glowing words, the
delights of slavery. Senator Blair, an
other party friend and colleague, had
justified the forcible dispersion of South
ern Legislatures, and was Immediately, at
the last election, nominated for the Vice
Presidency by his party. nfs
The revolving crimes of the Ku-KluX,
which make loyalty to the Union and
Government a perpetual cross to thou
sands of American citizens in the South
ern States, are denied or eXtenuated by
Senator Thurman's party. 1t has never
yet acknowledged the conclusive validity
of the new amendments. Its last national
declaration is that the reconstruction OF
the Union is revolutionary and void. Il
declared for virtual reputation. The
Senator's party is to-day passive, hoping
to find i'll the dissensions of the Republi
cans a breach through which it can pres:
to the citadel of national power. But i
does not heartily pronounce for justice
and equal rights. 1t still mumbles tn,
refrain of State sovereignty. His party
is the hope of every man in the countr,
who hates the Union, and who prayed an(
strove for the success of the rebellion
The tune of the party is still the old tune
Its professions and practice are substan
TALLY unchanged, and, of course, the at
titude of its opponents and their declara
tions can not be the same as before.
The denunciation of the Republican
policy in the Southern States, like that o
England in Ireland, is unfounded. Their,
IS in some quarters strange slowness ant
apparent reluctance to understand the ac
tual situation, and the evidence and tn,
report of Senator Scott's committee will
doubtless do much to give truer view o
the facts. While there is no confiscation
no disfranchisement, no penalty of an,
kind visited upon the late rebels, the col
ored and white Union citizens are in con
slant peril. We do not say that all ar
so, and at every moment, but it is not t
! be denied that whole sections and larg
communities are subject to that terror
The only excuse is that certain leaders O
rebellion are ineligible to Office Doe
that fact make an Ireland of the Southern
( States? Far from it. As Mr. Shellabal
ger truly said in the House, when til
Republicans began to reconstruct, it wa
not by resting the pyramid upon the ape,
OF privileged class, but by planting
upon the equal rights of all the people.
J And if, as Senator Thurman and hi
party friends now claim, there is no rem
edy for the outrages practiced upon
portion of the citizens in the Southern
States but appeals to courts which vii
: not protect, and to juries drawn from tn
Ku-KluX, then it is time that the Unite,
States fastened to provide remedy. TIL
tune of the campaign is aR old tune, be
cause this protection is still necessary
1t is idle to say that the laws against tn
Ku-Klux produced the Ku-Klux. 1t i
equally idle to say that citizens of tn
United States must submit to the Ku
Klux until it disappeares in returnin
peace and assured prosperity. Their
have been Republican mistakes in recon
struction. The situation in Louisiana
, ane1 eiO hhohSloi SliSls III otIcI SOulilcIl
States, are not defended by any SINGER
, Republican. Rut whatever may be th
, perplexities of the situation arising fror
J Republican mismanagement and corrur
, ton, the tap-root of Southern disorder
| is the sympathy with the doctrines an
3 the leaders of the rebellion which is sti
f constantly manifest in the Democrat
party.-Harper's Weekly.
<~<-
, IT is easy, no doubt, to journey alone i
the broad sunshine and on the beate
, highway of our lot; but over the midnigf
! | rlain nd hanaatb the ctill INN, nitrr