Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1872-10-10
MIR. Greeley and What His Elec'
ton Will do About 1t,

The Columbia O7aaon quotes with
appreciation from the Chicago Inter-
Ocean an article, in which, in allud-
ing to the corrupt Governments at
the South, it sneeringly asks, what
will Mr.. Greeley do about it? 1t
thus places the will Of the people at
| defiance, and stands as the advocate
Of an entrenchtd host of public spoil
atora. When tie charge is brought
home of dishonest and corrupt gov
ernment, and incompetent and base
officials, instead Of repentance and
the attempt at regeneration, the arms
are folded, and the contemptuous ut
terance put forth, and what Of this,
how can Mr.. Greeley remedy it?'
In the words Of the Chicago oa1y-
nal, the question has been asked,
time and time again, what does Mr..
Greeley propose TO do with the South
ern States if elected. His orators
and newspapers talk about the vii
lainous carpet-baggers, and bewail
the election Of ignorant negroes to
Office; what are they going to do
about it?"
Nay further than this, they under
take 10 say that the only way this
can be effected is to .overturn the re-
construction laws and drive out the
carpet-bag governments, Tins is not
our language, but theirs. For to
quote further from the words Of these
organs of the Grant Administration,
"there is but one way and that is to
repeal the laws for the enforcement
of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments, and destroy all the
substantial fruits of the war" This
is of course the merest clap-trap.
Accepted as uttered, and it. is the Sc
verest structure on the Grant Ad-
ministration and the most sweeping
denunciation Of the Reconstruction
Acts themselves. Itis in fact, chow
ever intended) declaration that the
Reconstruction Acts and the corrupt
Governments and plunderers of the
South are co-existent and that to pre-
vent the latter you must destroy the
former. There is no other alterna-
tive. It is the direct logical conclu-
sion from which there is no escape.
The idea is. patent. It is to ensure
the continuance Of the. fearful mis-
rule and wrong at the South by per-
suadiug the Northern ming that the
correction of these can only be at
tainedby the overthrow OF tie amend
ments to the Constitution. .Ifntrue,
strange and damaging confession.
If falsat p mere bsgbesr to scare. 1t
is the man with the white. sheet on
the highway. playing the part Of the
terrifying ghost. The deception is
too plain, The plot Is too thin. Not
only Mr.. Greeley, as at Cincinnati
and Baltimore, but the whole South
through it's various State COnven.
tions stand fully committed to the
Constitutional Amendments as part
of the organic law, to be SO recogniz-
ed and accepted. There is not d
Grant organ which can cite single
representative Liberal Republican or
Democratic Convention which has de-
clared otherwise.
The great remedy, as both the Co.
lumbla Union: and Chicago Inter-
Ocean we'll understand, is this, that
the moment the Federal Government
withdraws its support and counten-
ance of the robber=bands who desc
late and despoil the South, that mo-
ment these fall to pieces, and honest
men, who will call them to account
and arraign them for their crimes,