Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-09-25
Senator Morton on the situation.
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. is.

calmly, and his remarks were applauded
Thousands who came to hear him wer,
, turned away for want of room. The fol
lowing is condensed report of hi
speech:
We are told that reconstruction is failure
and that the recent disturbances by Tn,
White Leagues are evidence that II was baseC
upon false principles. dissent from this en-
tlrely. so faf as reconstruction has failed, 1
has been by the conduct Of ita enemies, mo-
because Of the intrinsic defects Of The system
The resistance offered to II by murderers ant
dcsperadoes does not prove it unsound any
more than the violation of the criminal law b,
felons proves the law to be unsound.
The system of reconstruction is based OF
the broadest principles Of justice, equality
and republicanism. The Fourteenth Amend
ment excluded a certain class Of rebels from
holding office, but that class has been dimin
ished by Congress until it docs not number
| over $50 men. The resistance to reconstruc
tion grows out Of the fierce opposition to the
abolition of slavery and TO the elevation Of the
negroes TO civil and political rights. The
proposition to establish white mans gov
ernment, excluding the negro from participa.
ton, is at war not only with the system of re.
construction but the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendment. The White Leagues are an
armed organization, having but a single
| principle, which is that all political power
State and National, shall be vested only in
| white men, excluding negroes totally. They
recognize no line of demarkation in politics
except the color line; their weapons are MUIR
der and perjury, and they point to their own
deeds OF murder as evidence that the system
OF reconstruction is unsouud and failure.
The recent outbreak of murder and vic.
| lence, NOT only in Louisiana, but throughout
most of The Southern States, has, in great
part grown out Of a notion that the President
would not again interpose to suppress yio-
lgnpp Spntl N 10
and liberties of the people and TO maintain
the State Governments yeNthe exercise Of their
authority. They were mistaken, and .,ter
President has again interRna, and has notified
the inspGtffar States that he will enforce the
laws for the protection Of life, liberty and
property. This shows what would he the
condition of things in the South if there was
Democratic administration at Washington
that would not interfere for the protection OF
life and property.
For two moRths in majority of the South
ern States there has been high carnival Of
murder-a reign OF terror has again been es-
tabished the like of which has not existed
since the war. But small part of the crimes
are made known TO the Northern public.
When negroes and white Republicans are
shot in droves we hear about it with all the
excuses and justifcations that can be offered,
but of the solitary shooting OF negroes in the
lonely fields and woods, and In their cabins,
the public hear nothing. The men who send
out the news from the South are, with few
exceptions, Democrats and sympathizers with
these crimes; sometimes participators. III
they give news of even the larger massacres
they accompany it with apologies and
iustiications. The solitary killings pass un-
noticed. In many parts of the South the news
papers dare not publish them; the telegraph
Is loaded with reports that the negroes are
rising, and havq conspired TO eXterminate the
whites, and that the whites are standing on
| r f..
it turns out that only negroes and white Re-
publicans are killed. These stories are dis
gustingly stupid and silly, and when Northern
newspapers republish and credit them they
degrade their own intelligence. We remem-
ber how the negroes behaved during the war
when they knew their masters were fighting
for their perpetual slavery. All the negroes
ask is TO be let alone; they know very well
that they cannot cope with the whites in any
struggle with arms; they have little property
and comparatively few arms; they are not
able to defend themselves.
These wicked calumnies are made the pre-
text for assassination. In every part of the
South the White Leagues, or the Ku-Klux, for
they are the same, go cunning for negroes;
they hunt them like squirrels; they murder
them singly and by the score, upon false pre-
texts or none. In many cases white Repub-
licans are murdered. 1t is not war Of races
it Is war of one race upon another aud,
Fl,
of the South, white and black. This is not
from apprehensions of social equality or fear
of the Civil Rights bill, but to make this a
white mans government and reduce negroes
as nearly as possible to slaves. You have
heard of the butcheries recently committed
in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and other
States, and have not time nor strength to
enumerete them.
The recent outbreaks have not been confined
to one State; they run through nearly the
whole South. Louisiana is just now attract
| ing more attention than the other States. On
Monday The White League conspiracy broke
| out i'm Louisiana, overturned the State Gov
ernment, and attempted TO establish a new
one. In the conflict in New Orleans thirty
| men are reported killed, and fifty wounded.
| To understand the condition of Louisiana we
must go back eight years. During that time
| the State has been made vast slaughter
house. the murders extending to almost every
plantation. In 1860 the Republicans in con.
vention at Mechanics Institute to propose
amendments TO the Constitution were set upon
by the police and vast mob of armed rufians
and more than 200 killed and wounded in less
than thirty minutes. The details of that
| butchery, given by the committee that inyes
tigated it, are sickening, and never excelled in
atrocity. In the spring of 1865, the State
| being reconstructed, an ELECTION was held
under protection of the Government of the
United States. confessed by all fair election
and the Republicans carried the State by
| 20 600 majority. In the summer the Ku-KluS
were organized. Between Sept. and the No
vember election they killed and wounded oYel
200 persons, mostly negroes, as shown by the
report of the committee Of Congress
The cruelties perpetrated were nevel
exceeded by the Indians, nor did tha
committee examine the whole State. reigr
of terror was created; Republicans were KEEP
from the polls, and the Democrats carried
the November election by 1000 majority
making change Of $1,000 votes. In somC
parishes the Republicans casten singl
vote, in others two, and in others ten. Ate
that negroes, for some time, were not shot II
droves but the stream of solitary droppin!
murders rolled on. Warmoth, then youn!
man of character and promise, had beel
elected Governor in the spring by the Repuh
licans, but he turned out TO be corrupt, an,
engaged in many schemes OF fraud, In whlcl
most Of his partners were Democrats. II
ISL the Republicans cast him oil, and tn
Administration ut Washington rejected hin
Then the Democrats, who had denounee
him as having ruined the State, took him
their embrace and formed coalition b
which they were 10 carry the State, and h
was to be made United States Senator in tn
bargain. His control of the machinery {
election, which was all In his hands as Coy
ernor, was counted equal TO 10000 votes. Lou
lisiana was notoriOusly Republican a
clearly as Vermont and Mississippi
The Democrats believed that Warmot
could commit fraud enough to overcome thO
majority. Their entire hopes were based o
fraud. They went into the election with tn
full knowledge that they could only suecee
! by fraud II was the most fraudulent elcctio
ever held in the United States. Senator Ca
/ penter and the majority of the Senate Con
, Inittee declared 1t an organized fraud an
void. Republicans went into it, knowing the
| were to be swindled. When the election WI
over they still claimed that they carried IL
State by 1900 or 5000 majority, and that
the election had been fair they would hay
! had $4,000 or 10000 majority. It was prove
J. before the Senate Committee that returns fro
[ seven parishes, that were relied on to ele
: McEnery, were forgeries out and out. I'll
q majority of the Senate Committee, throue
Mr.. Carpenter, reported bill to provide +
a new election, and that nobody was electe
:, l made a minority report insisting thai H
9 logg was elected, having q majority. Nc
n wthstanding, 1t seems 10 be understood
V many that the majority reported in favor
/ McEnery; they did no such thing. They !
/ ported that he was not elected, do not
| That the Republicans did not also CONN