Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-04-19


himself once an exile--has pronounced
to be without a parallel IA modern times,
they have promptly and faithfully complied
with every condition which has been re-
ouired of them. They religiously ablded
by the terms of surrender demanded by
one whom they then regarded as mag
unanimous conquerCr; notwithstanding their
loss of more than three billions OF property,
their enforced repudiation Of debts due to |
their own people, and their utter impover- |
ishment they were compelled to pay heavy
taxes without representation, one of which |
taxes, amounting TO $65, OOO,O 900, was I'M |
posed in violation Of the Constitution; they |
complied "?ith President Johnson's require |
ments, and after starting their State gov |
ernments again, they were compelled to
undo all their work and submit to the new
requirements of Congress; they were re-
constructed over and ever again, and were
robbed with regularity by the horde of
rapacious rascals who were turned loose on
them they were Inundated and degraded
in countless ways, but they offered no re-
sistance, and only kept mp struggle for
bread. And although this process has
been going on for more than six years, to
the disgrace of the country, and, Gas ]
another Republican Senator said,) to the
4sgrace of the civilization of the age, there
seems to be no disposition in our rulers to
H.
Republican newspaper (the New York
Tribune) recently said that ''the condition
of the Southern States after six years OF
reconstruction can only be described as
pitiful."
Now, if this be true, and 10 one will
doubt it, where rests the responsibility for
it? Who did the reconstruction that pro-
duced it? Did we after the war establish
governments for our own degradation and
oppression, and organize the system OF rob-
berry of our own people which has resulted
in the general bankruptcy of those States
Did w. organize the secret societies called
the * League tn . Heroes OF America"
and the & Red Strings" which began the
system of intimidating voters by threats
and scourgings, and sought revenge by
barn-burnings and murder? Did we COM
NIT the crime of attempting to set the py-
ramid of government on its apex instead of
its base, which my friend from Indiana
MIR. NOOrhceS has So fOrclbly depicted
Did we put on the bench and in other
high places renegade ScccSSiCnistS, whose
highest ambition in life seems 10 be to hunt
down the very men whom they led into re-
sistance to the Federal power: No, we
! did not aud yet ali these things and worse
have happened to us.
The Republican party is responsible for
all the troubles which have befallen the
southern States since the wal. They all
resulted from the bad governments estab
lished and sustained by that party. Frauds
| and villainies previously unknown in the
history of those States were perpetrated by
that party to such an extent as to render
disorder and crime inevitable and then,
when the crimes and disorders naturally
followed, the virtuous and patriotic office
/ holders raised the cry of ku kluX," g re-
! belliOn" and * diSlOValtV.'
Let me read you the language Of an in
| telligent Republican on that subject. l
| quote from a letter Of ii. II. Helper to Sc
! cretary Boutwell,, dated March %, ISL
! After detailing numerous acts Of infamy
! committed by officers in North Carolina,
and after making ali earnest appeal for re-
! form i'll the Republican party, Mr.. Helper
| says
Zone of the greatest evils affecting society in
/ North Carolina may justly be set down to the
| incompetent and worthless State and Federal
| Off Gals in power. They are tor the N OSt
| part peStiterous ulcers feeding upon the body
! polite. They should be cut down Immediately,
| and lett to wlther and rot Oh the wayside of Re
puOlicanism, else RapublicaniSm will be
| throttled to death by these villain0us rascals.
! 1t is through these gentry that the political sty
! in North Carolina has become very filthy. II
! needs to be cleansed by introducing better men
into both State and Federal position. So far as
to act. Shall We have better men, through
whom the State may be redeemed, or shall We
ulLy-ually along, and thus permit the Republ-
! can party of which 1 am an uncompromising
member for Republican principle only, to go
down to irreYOCable defeat in 1877 g with major
. ity OF twenty thousand?
"One word more. Reconstruct for North
Carolina, as carried out by Congress and the
villanOus and incompetent State and Federal
| officials within her borders, has proved a total
| failure. When the historian comes to writ the
history of these evil times truth will mel him
TO declare that the Kuklux business of to-day
grew out OF things complained OF in these state
! lnents.
nv
of these wicked midnight assaSSns is to first re-
! move the cause which brought them into exis-
tence, and then apply rigid means for their
/ swift eXtirpation.'
This KukluX business has been a God
send to that party. 1t has enabled. them to
make the cry, ''StOp thief" successful; it
has been skillfully used to divert attention
from their own crimes to the crimes of
others naturally following them it has been
grossly magnitied and misreprescnted, bad
as it was, and has been used entirely for
party purposes. Now, sir, do not hest
tate to say that while have always in pub
lie and private denounced Kukluxism, yet
when l consider the UNANIMOUSLY corrupt
and tyrannical governments which produced
1t, the wonder to me is that it has not been
much worse. | believe that if the same
prOvOcatiOns had existed in the Northern
States, and particularly in New England,
which existed i'll the South, the crime and
disorder would have been infinitely greater,
and to sustain the assertion quote the Ian
guage of a Northern newspaper, which, in
commenting upon this report, says:
The North has been called phleematic. But
half the wrong endured here thai is endured
South would plant a gallows at every cross
roads"
Even without any such provocation more
crimes have been committed in Northern
than i'll Southern States during tho past
four years, in which, according to this ma
iority report, these ku-kluX OF vigilance
committees have been operating. 1t does
not afford me the same pleasure to EXPOSE
them which other gentlemen seem 10 take in
pOrtraying the alleged ignorance and bar
barism of my Southern cOuntrymen, and |
certainly 60 not intend to follow their ex-
ample by abusing and maligning the whole
northern people on account of their Crimi-
nal records; but justice demands hat those
who live i'll glass houses should be taught
not to throw stones.
Recently, when my friend from Delaware
Mr.. BiGgs was entertaining the House by
reading the number and character of the
crimes committed in Massachusetts, during
aperiOd of three or four Years, the geutle-
man from the latter State T Mr.. Hoarl tried
To lave it appear that the native population
of bis State were a race of innocent lambs,
(Which if their war record had been the
subject OF discussion would have been
cheertully acceded to by everybody and
that the foreign population there were the
criminals, (Which If making up the quota
of Massachusetts during the war had been
the offense would have been equally true;)
but it is well known that the infusion OF
foreign blood is all that saves that
race from rapid extinction and think
that sort OF interference on their part is
the worst crime for which the foreign pop1l-
latiOn is chargeable. They have high APP
nreCi1tion of education tlnr., hnu.erer fnr