, 1874-10-17

rately how far it has been employed to de-
feat the justice of the law, or to remedy
the injustice of prejudiced or corrupt iuries.
At all events, the Whites in the Negro-gov-
erned States believe there is neither ascen-
dancy, nor equality, nor justice tor them
any more, and are r~esorting to secret
leagues, which the Negroes, Of course, are
compelled to meet by associations of their
own. No less than five armed conflicts of
the most dangerous kind have already oc-
cured and Austin, Vicksburg, New Or
leans, and Little Rock require for their
security garrisons of Federal troops. The
feeling between the races is exasperated by
fear and roce-hatred, till neither can be
trusted, and many States, especially Flori-
da, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and
South Carolina, are on the verge not Of
civil war-that would be q minor evil
but ofthe social war which De TocQueville
predicted q horrible struggle in every
parish of the South, a struggle embittered
by differences of race, colour, and civiliza-
ton, till it threatens to display all the hor-
rors which accompanied the earlier Irish
Instructions.
Under these circumstances, the preser-
walton of order in the South depends
upon the action, or rather the attitude,
of the President towards the contending
parties, If he swerves towards the
Negroes, the Whites, exasperated beyond
all bearing, may fall back upon their
organizations, and erdeayour to establish
by the rifle local Reigns of Terror. If
he swerves towards the Whites, the
Negroes, in a frenzy of alarm, may ex-
change their votes for rifles, and COM
mence, as in Austin, a social war, which
will spread throughout the South. If, on
the other hand, he holds the balance
straight, insists on external order, and
leaves the contest to 60 on by ballots
only, he may compel both parties to keep
within the pale Of party warfare until
they have discovered by long fighting some
m0duS Ujrendi, such as exists, after q
fashion, in Maryland and Delaware. He
has, it would seem, ample means, If he
chooses, of assuming this attitude, which,
we may remark, is the one permanently
maintained by Her Majesty's Government
in the colonies, such as Jamaica, Ceylon,
or the Mauritius, were two races OF differ
ent colours might, but for the pressure
of an impartial and irresistible authority,
come into collision. He has the undisput-
ed control of the Army, and the Army
small as it is, and overwhelmed as it is
with work, is still a most potent weapon.
Three hundred Regulars can restrain two
mobs each numbering thousands, both
armed, and each containing an immense
proportion cf men who have been engag-
ed in active service. This was conclusive
" shown in the last Louisiana difficult
ty," and arises, we presume, in the Union,
as in every other country, from the tact
that the Regulars cannot be defeated, that
behind them stands o powerful Govern
msnt, and that they would be supported
if necessary by the enormous masses OF
drilled men whom o call from the Presl-
dent would bring up from every State in
the North. Hitherto, we believe, General
Grant has used this ultimate power very
cautiously, very decisively, and with a
fair amount of impartiality between the
colours. His enemies say he has jobbed,
his friends say he has been too lenient'
but the facts say that the regular troops
Of the United States have never interviewed
without restoring external order, and COM
nallinO hoth narties to accent an arbltra-