The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-10-04

them TO enforce it by appropriate Legislation,
| and every man of sense knows that constitu-
tional provisions which are intended to pro-
| tect personal rights cannot enforce them
selves, and without legislation to that end
would be dead letters upon the statute book.
| Take for example,, that amendment which
| guarantees suffrage to the colored people of
| the country. suppose they are deprived of
that suffrage, what remedy have they il there
il no act providing punishment for such
violation of the Constitution?
THE KUKLUx ACT.
| Considerable is said about the Kuklux act.
When the colored people of the South were
| enfranchised. combinations of lawless men
were formed 10 deprive them Of the right of
| suffrage by terror and violence, and to that
end numberess whippings, burnings aud
murders were committed in different locali-
| ties To abolish this secret, oath-bound and
| insurrectionary association of persons, ana to
prevent the commission OF crime by them
upon persons whose only offense was devo-
| ton to the Union OF adherence 20 the Repub-
t1ican party, this Kuklux act was passed. All
those acts of Congress, which are supposed
| to indicate the Capitalization OF power, were
passed to enforce certain provisions OF the
Constitution, and protect the constitutional
| rights OF the citizen, and were therefore not
| only within the power, but 1T was the duty of
| Congress to enact them. Does Mr.. Greeley
wish TO be understood as saying that If he is
elected President he will favor the repeal of
these acts of Congress, and so allow crimes
| to be perpetrated upon citizens of the United
| States contrary to ths provisions OF he Con-
sttution. with no interpositlon on the part OF
| the General Government to prevent or pun
| sh them All the acts OF Cong, ess which
are so bitterly denounced by the Greeley
| party operate equally in all parts of the
| Union. South Carolina and Mississippi have
| -, el.A u.
ton and these acts, as the States of Pennsyl-
| vania and New York. Are you conscious, az
| citizens of Pennsylvania that you have been
deprived Of any Of these rights and privileges
which are necessary or essential to local self
| government Do you know of any practical
difference between the condition OF Pennsyl-
vania at this time in that respect, and its
| condition during the administration of James
| Buchanan? l will tell you what makes the
| difference between this State and the States
| that were in rebellion. Congressional en-
croachments upon the rights of the State if
any, are the same everywhere, but in this
| State the people submit to and obey the au-
| thorities and laws of the United States, while
| i'm some portions of the Southern States there
| is popular element antogonized to the au-
| thority of the General Government, and the
| eff ort to repress this element is what makes
| il appear that there is more interference by
| the General Government In the Southern
| States than in the Northern States
THE MILITARY DEsPoTIsM.
Kindred to this is the charge Of military
despotism made against the present Admin
| istration Nothing can be more unfounded
than this charge, and the only possible coun-
teflanee it has is derived from the fact that
| the President during the late civil war was
at one time, in command of the Union army
| To show the falsty of the charge that mill
tary power is employed to suppress the peo-
IL Gtatn x1-;ll ata 1,at
hold in my hand a record, certified by the
| Secretary Of War; which shows that, with the
| exception of Texas, where there are large boz
dies of hostile Indians and an extended Mex
lean frontier to protect, there are only A, 1856
men divided among the other States that were
| in rebellion. Virginia has no soldiers within its
| borders except the ordinary garrison at Fort
| Monroe. There are only 266 soldiers in Ala
| bama; there are 63 in Arkansas, and $40 in
Tennessee. After dividing the whole num-
Der of troops by the ten States, you only give
TO each about 400 troops including the garri-
sons, so that less than one-seventh of the
army is stationed in those States. Nowhere
is military power exercised except In subor-
dination to the civil authorities.
RECONCILIATION
Reconciliation is one of the watchwords of
the Greeley party. Horace Greeley and
Charles Sumner appeal for reconciliation.
This il one Of the wonders of the day.
Who are the parties to be reconcied, and
what are the existing differences Consider
ing the thousands who were slain in fighting
for the Union, the thousands who we're
starved in the prison pens Of the South, the
coDspiracies that were formed to destroy
| Northern people, without discrimination of
age or sex, by Greek fire and pestience. and
all the mutitudinous crimes committed dur
ing and after the war, and then considering
that no one has been punished for all these,
| \ tbnSa vNho bava AL contro1 nf
/ the Government cannot be charged with a
; harsh and revengeful policy. Such leniency
/ and forbearance, l undertake to say, is with
out parallel in history. What are, then, the
obstacles to reconciliation Are not the
, men, women and children of the South-with
} the exception of few leaders in the rebel
I lion. who we're guilty of the double crime of
: perjury and treason, and are, therefore, ex-
l cluded from ofiice-in the enjoyment of all
[ the rights and privileges of American citizens
' IN other parts OF the Union! Can anything
, be done more than has been done to effect
reconciliation except to repeal those laws. OF
I | Congress which give vitality to the Constitu-
l | tional amendments, and repress lawlessness
l and crime by the turbulent spirits of the
: South Is this what the Greeley party pro
n | pose to do for reconciliation While he was
O in command of the Union army is 1t pretended
that he ever treated rebel soldiers who fel
into his hands with hardness and cruelty? i
il not admitted on all hands that the terms O
: surrender granted to Lee and dis forces wer,
r a. generous as they could possibly be unde
: the circumstances Can anybody point t
, | an expression or act of Gen. Grant since n
: has become President, indicating any ill-wil
: OF bitterness of feeling on his part toward tn
o people of the Southern States !? On the con
, trary, has he not expressed an earnest desir
Q to have the passions, animosities and preju
d dices of war give place to those Offices 0
, kindness and fraternal feeling which ar
G requisite to make Us united and happ
/, people?
i THE cHAsM BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATS AND TIL
! OFFICES.
o We are invited to shake hands across th
h bloody chasm. Doolitle il the man. / be-
u lieve, who invented this bloody chasn
II Elected to the Senate by Republicans, he de
n serted to the Democratic party, since whic
5 time he has been largely engaged in til
q bloody chasm business. Andrew Johnson
convention here in 1866 was a part of tn
bloody chasm programme, with Doolittle {
n furnish tears for the occasion. He tried {
N come the bloody chasm dodge upon the pee
ID pie Of Wisconsin year or two ago as Demo
m cratic candidate for Governor, but they didn
il see 1t. He took his bloody chasm show int
10 North Carolina, but it didn't pay there, an
g. since he has had it on exhibition in Main,
,e Artemus Wards wax fggers" were nothin