American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-01-27

In turning from the peaceful situation In
our own State TO the national field, we find a
condition of things that deserves the grow
ing discomfort, disappointment and suspicion
that ii has provoked,
The first Presidential term of the dominant
party's asccndNncy was period of open war,
and although six years have elapsed since the
surrender of the Confederate forces removed
! the last ycstigo of resistance to the authority
of the government, and although no opposi-
ton has been made to Federal laws since
that time, the recent proclamation and en-
forccment of martial law in one of the
Southern states and the existence of law
on the congressional statute book winch an'
thorizcs the proclamation and enforcement
of martial law in any State or Territory OF
the Union ut the discretion of the President,
warns us that we are still living under the
stern maxms and methods of war, without
an actual war to Justify their application, IT
! thc triumph of the government over the late
! rebellion has been as complete as the DOM
! inant party boasts, and us facts undeniably
prove, and if the peace which the dominant
] party vaunts of having restored to the land
! Is All actual condition, and not delusion,
we might ask, why are not warlikc habits
| laid aside and the processes of peace allowed
| to have their legitimate sway Why, at
| time when the rebellion ought to have passed
/ into history, is the government diligently
engaged in lighting the imagined remnants
of 1t in South Carolina, with measures des-
tined to provoke the cNCcratiOns which mar
rasscd people never fail to heap upon their
tormcntors That unhappy state is little
better than wrcck-itS society dislocatCd,
lis people burdcncd with an enormous debt
fraudulently contracted its treasury robbed
by the officials whose duty il Is to protect 1t
its agriculture burdencd with oppressive tax
cs, and its legislative halls filed with body
of persons too ignorant and inscnsiblc to feel
shame at the exposure of their venality, and
too barbarous to be affected by the com
plants of the victims of their misgovem-
ment. Yet this ruin of State is the field
selected by the National Administration for
the exhibition of the harsh rigors of military
law; and 1t is amournfu evidence of the dis
trust of the Federal Government, with which
the dominant party has inspired our subiu-
gated countrymCn of the South that the
people in no one of the reconstructed States
can mediate change in their constitution,
the election of Democratic Governor, or
any other important measure of domestic
concern without considering whether it may
not provoke the extension to their State of
the draggonades that are witnessed in South
Carolina There is no hostility - the
Federal power, and no opposition to
the laws Of Congress in single
Southern State. No attacks on the
Federal forts, arsCnals or dockyards is
threatened; no ndignty to Federal symbols |
is heard of and squad of Federal soldiers
may march through the length and breadth of ,
that section without molestation Yet n .
large share of the legislation of Congress for /.
the last six years has been system of force |
bills to deprive our countrymcn of the |
Southern States of those rights and priVi- |
leges which are not less Il heritage from their .
revolutionary fathers than from ours and |
even as late as the last session of Congress /
the dominant party, Notwithstanding the OPP /
position of number of its most enlightened .
and liberal minded adhercnts and of the en-
tire Democratic minority, passed an act plac-
ing the great writ OF personal liberty at the
discretion of the President and authorizing
him, without the consent of Governors or
Legislatures, to invade States at his pleasure,
set aside their laws, usurp their functions,
and arrest and imprison their
citizens. The passage of this
and kindred extraordinary enactments
this and kindred extraordinary cnactments,
and the vigorous execution of them by the
military arm of the government, in districts
where the execution eXcites no other feeling
than vague terror and dismay, proves, if
proof were needed, not only that the partyin
power has not restored the Union but that
it has not permitted the Union to restore it.
self through the operation of peaceful agcn-
cies. On the contrary, it has made rebel
lion suppressed SIN years ago the prcteXt for
military interferenccs, rapidly growing into
settled system, not only in the South but in
the North it has bewildcred the people of
the South, and harrasscd the whole country,
by subjecting the former to a cumulative and
indefinite cXpaion which they despair of
with, and which they see no relief
from except in listlcss submission to the
varying will of partisan government. The
Evil effects of such policy cannot, in the
nature of things, be located and limited in II
government whose powers and laws are gen
rral; and the fact that the so-calIcd ku-
kluX bill the Congressional election law,
md other similar measures of recent enact
ncnt, are applicable to all the States, and the
employment of armed Federal
soldiers to control Republican convention
n New Orleans, and to act as police at Chi
ago, teach us that the unrepublican system
IF force which the party in power devised
or the government of the South, is develop
ne into universal pOlty. The fact de
serves solemn reflection at the hands of the
American people. 1t was in the distant pro-
consular provinces that the military power
ipened which afterwards overthrow the Ro
nan Republic. 1t was in the applauded de
tructiOn of the liberties of these remote de
tendencies that the army learned how to de
troy the liberties of the Roman people, in
cpt at their peril, hold others in
creed subsection to special infections; the
of these peculiar hardships de-
clopes powers and practices that are foes to
IL freedom; and our sole hope for the cOun-
ry is in the conviction that the sturdy freed
men of the North will, on a fair appeal to
heir sense of justice, avert the menaced
LANCER of their own liberties by demanding
he full measure of these liberties to their
southern brethren. If the National Dcmoc-
acy shall make such an appeal, and attest
he patriotic dsinterestGdness of its own
motives in making it by waving its claim to I
make the usual party contest for the Prcsi-
q Democracy