American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-03-23
The Presidency and the South.

Journal, $50 it is almost or quite u cer,a,nu,
that he can be beaten, if those who are o :
posed to Official corruption and for The per-
petuation al constitutional government, aci
in concert "
The plan for grand conglOmer-
ated opposition, here allnded to,
originated with dissatisfied and as
partX-It has been slowly looming
into vague outlines under the nmr-
ture OF Sumner, Sclluiz and Logan,
in Congress, and Greeley and IL few
coa,ljuiors III the press In calcu-
lainIg itSactual Orpotential elements
of strength, they count Oh the covert
or overt coalition OF the mass of
white citizens in the South With
this in view, they are at pains to
have themselves represented to the
Southern mind as liberal Republic
ans, and emit no end Of glittering
phrases about abuses of Executive
patronage, encroachments upon con
stitutiOnal liberty, central usur-
patton and tyranny, and so on.
They emulate Joseph Surface in the
art of calculating fine sentiments;
and if such Establishments could
captivate the Southern heart, South
ern feet would caper madly to their
piping, though the fantastic con-
jury should lead them dancing into
II whirlpool of fire or down the steep
of bOttOmless precipice.
But rejecting people in the South
will ask, what have these men done
to prevent the growth of official
| 20 a.,
guards OF constitutional liberty, to
arrest the drifting of the Federal
republic into the dead sea OF cent
radiation, TO win Southern conf
dence and affection and deserve the
political benefits of Southern adj
heSiOn?
Messrs. Sumner and Greeley, agi-
tating in their several ways and at
safe distance, did infinitely more
towards initiating aud shaping the
Had of the SOuth's undOing, than
the midnight apparitiOn of hun
bred thousand John Browns, with
rifle, knife and torch, could have
done.
AS for Mr. SchuIz, it is not for
gotten that he once, at the instance
Of President johnson, ''investIGat
ed' the South, and made a report
at great length, admirably adapted
to neutralize the effect of the test
mOny of Gen. Grant, when sent on
ii similar mission, to the peacable
and friendly disposition of the late
''rebels." Nor is it forgotten that,
in one of his most elaborate and
powerful speeches in the United
| States Senate. he has explicitly
doubted the fitness of populations
under the Southern sky for any
other than a despotic government.
AS for Mr.. Logan, it is known
that he was IA prime mover and the
presiding genius of a secret. oath
bound association for cherishing
hostility towards the PROSTATE South
in its complexion and spirit, one
of the most sombre and sanguinary
organizations OF it's kind to which
revolutionary passions and distem-
pers ever gave birth.
And as for all those men, it would
be sheer idiOcy not to remember,
ponder on, tie fact that they sup.
ported with all their might those
measures of Congress which raised
upon the ruins of State rights in the
South mOckeries of representative
State governments, and which de-
iiveCed North Carolina over to d
Holden, Georgia to a Bullock, Ar
kansas to IL Clayton, Texas to
Davis, Louisiana to Il Warmoth.
When they profess concern for con-
StituiiOnal government, must not
these poor spectres of these murder
ed States rise up and call them
GLARS! Aud when they talk about
their adherence fer official cOrrup-
ton, is it not Il wOntirOus stretch of
Almighty Mercy that Almighty
Justice does not suffocate them with
the stencil Of the fostering and lep-
rOus system of official rapacity and
prof gacy which their deliberate and
persistent policy fastened upon this
and other helpless States!
And now they complacently ex-
pect Southern cooperation in COM
batting a development of central
power as represented by President
Grant in any direction which does
not suit them. Aud it does not
happen to suit them for this power
to be directed to the confusion and
downfall of such a creation of cent
raj power AS the WarmOth regime
in Louisiana. They and WarmOth,
and the like of WarmOth, are united
in the natural alliance Of common
fear and hatred for Grant. Suppose
these pests of the SOuth-supremely
detestab.e to uS-are eminently OBJ
nOXiOus to Grant, what then! Are
we to get rid OF them-to get loose
from the nightmare of their lOath
some rule-by making common
eau sc with them and their Northern
allies against the man whom they
regard as most interfering with their
political hopes and calculations?
The question answers itself.
For the rest, six years ago, our
people in Louisiana, and in other
States similarly situated, had one of
two political courses before them -
to contend for the substance of
State rights, or to second prevailing
maXlms and tendencies of Federal
iauIhOrity in plain antasOnisin to
constitutional guarantees of such
rights, and SO make the most of the