The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1874-09-23
SOME OF THE CAUSES,


Pending the efforts Of the government to
put a stop to the frightful outrages in the
South, it may be worth while to inquire into
the moving causes thereof. OF course they
have their roots in . feeling of applicable
hate towards the negro, bitter hostility to the
Republican party, and sullen defiance of the
government but there must be some cause
for the general and simultaneous outbreak of
this feeling in various parts of the South.
That it has existed ever since the war, con-
stantly generating spirit of lawlessness, and
giving rise to innumerable isolated cases of
murder and other outrnges, cannot be
doubted. But it is equally clear that it is
more bold and active now than for some
years past, and that its outward manifesto
tons are more defiant and destructive 1T
is, we think, quite clear that the recent cx
plosion is owing largely to certain political
influences, prominent among which may be
mentioned the following:
The agitation of the third-tcrm question in
the manner and form in which it has been
been done, has infused new and strange
hopes into the Southern hearts. That agi-
tation, it will be remembered, has received
its principal encouragement from Southern
politicians, some Of whom have even gone so
far a. to state that General Grant would GER
tanly stand for reelection, not as the candi-
date of the Republican party, but as an indie
pendent candidate, representing all the ele
ments of opposition to the Republican party.
This view has received some apparent cor
r.hn hA OFT of
the President in Louisiana and Arkansas
affairs, and from the persistent assertions of
the Democratic press that he had determined
to administer rebuke to radicalism, was
about TO cut loose from the Republican par
~, etc. The result of all this has been that
the Southern people thought themselves on
the point of captnring Grant and through
him the government. The suggestion OF his
apostacy to Republican principles, and of his
forming an alliance with the conservatives
Jumped exactly with their hopes and
wishes that they gave it full credence and
naturally enough they worked themselves
into the belief that they were on
tory. Under these circumstances the
Ent impulse would be to anticipate
the approaching triumph by throwing off alf1
reserve and giving full play to the Malignant
passions which they have heretofore withi
great difficulty partially restrained In other
words, they concluded to discount their i'm
pending victory by making open war on the
negroes and white Republicans. The White
League was organized with the avowed
purpose of breaking up the Republican
party, and of numbering or expelling its
members from every Southern State. TheI
carnival of crime by which this movement
has been accompanied has been sufficiently
set forth in the news columns ofthe JOURNAL.
Happily, the recent order of the President
will so far to dissipate the noxious vapors
generated by the third term talk, and disa-
buse southern people of the impression that
they have captured him.
Another thing which has undoubtedly had
above, was the statement very positively
made and widely circulated. that the Presi-
dent would veto the civil rights bill when
ever subinitsAd to him. Whether be will or
not we do not k.ow, but the runaor of his
intended action in this regard has rnques-
tionably eSerted a vers bad influence at the
South. In the first place4 has done much
to alarm, discourage and de-oralize the ne
rroes. They care less for the cl~,l rights bill
Der Sc tEan they do for the moral eject of il.
aud the rumor which has reached he ears
Of every eolcred man in the south thst the
President intended to veto IT, msnt, to tAeir
Honest minds, that he and perhAs the Re