The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-12-27
The Nation,s Shame.

IL there Is spectacle to bring a blush
~ shame to the cheeks of an American
citizen it is the recent scenes in the
three States of Louisiana, Alabama
ana South Carolina. In the first the
Governor, Yarmouth, by means of d
political election law, designed by its
authors (who, we are sorry to confess
called themselves Republicans) to so
cure their political ascen dancy, elects q
State ticket and Legislature by fraud.
His crime is Immediately met by
another. A partisan decision by az senile
Judge overturns the State government,
and, sustained by violence, the influ.
ence that dictated IL will declare man
Governor who is ineligible to the
office. In Alabama ambition to retain
a seat In the United States Senate on
the one side, and the violent determin-
alton of the people TO be rid of rule Of
incompetency and dishonesty on the
other, produce legislative quarrel
which eliminates in the organization
of two distinct bodies, each claiming
to be regular. The result is anarchy 4,
with probability of complications
still more chaotic unless Attorney Gen.
eral Williams compromise is adopted.
South Carolina, last on the list, is ex.
empt from violence, but not from
shame. A Legislature, one.half the
members of which cannot read, nor
one-third write, sends to the United
States Senate person whose qualiflca-
tions were his long purse and knowl-
edge of the weaker side of human ma.
ture. A few hours after he finds
himself arraigned in the courts for bri.
berry.
These events, shameful to free institu.
tions, and disgraceful TO all concerned,
have sprung from causes which are now
happily fading away. The political ad-
venturers who swarmed like locusts
upon the Southern communities at the
close of the war have fulfilled their
mission, and the day for their tolera-
tion is past. For years they were sus-
tained by the National Government
and the voice of the North, because they
were the conservators of the peace and
the protectors of the negro. These
duties are no longer necessary. Sec
tional animosities, prejudices against
race, and disloyalty to the Union are
being discarded by the Southern peo-
pie, If only to rid themselves of rule
that eats up their substance and de-
stroys their political liberty. The War
mouths and the Moseses may have
forced this political revolution, but it is
no palliation of their excesses to say
that they fought the battle for negro
suffrage and civil rights. The day has
come for their extinction. With it will
disappear the anarchy they have
evoked.
The Administration has an extremely
delicate task, but an imperative duty
to perform in this crisis. Now is the
time for complete and lasting recon-
ciliation. 1t will not hazard Republi-
can supremacy, but strengthen it, to
crush out the robbers who claim to lead
its columns at the South. 1t will, with
the downfall of Yarmouth and others
of his stripe, win the confidence of our
fellow-citizens there that are sincere in
their professions of friendship for the
negroand of loyalty to the Union, ,and do
more to establish commercial and busi-
ness prosperity than all the fine words
and apt phrases that fell from the lips
of orators in the last campaign Of
course, we would not have the Presi.
dent espouse either side in these fac
tional quarrels. None of the parties are
free from blame. But let the story of
intelligent men, the honest members of
these communities, be listened to, and
their promises accepted, in preference
to the falseboods and appeals of plum
derers, whose only title to considera-
ton is pretence Of Republicanism.
President Grant, by his appointment of
Of such men as Judges Orr of South
Carolina and Mitchell of North Caro-.
lima to high Office, has shown a disposi-
tion to recognize only the better
elements of the Republican party at the
South, and we trust that he will recol.
ect that there are thousands of men
there who are worthier of his confidence |
than the Spencers, and Pattersons, and |
Warners-such men as George w.
of fLouisiana,J. w. Throck-
morton of Texas, and Wickham of Vir.
sinia-who only need little encour-
agement to cooperate with the Repub-
ican party in the grand work of practi.
,al reconstruction.