National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-09-30
AN EXAMPLE NEEDED

We have received so many letters from
Southern Republicans, acknowledging THE
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN to be the most re-
liable exponent of their partisan feeling,
that we feel privileged to speak for and to
them regarding a question which seems to
be uppermost in their minds Just now
Some of these letters we have printed, as
a reflex of the feeling to which we refer,
and others we have refrained from pub.
fishing simply because they are character
lied and prompted by a spirit of yindictive-
ness, excusable, perhaps, for the reason
that the authors have been the victims of
cruel persecution, but mainly because. they
were evidently written in hot blood and
under the excitement provoked by the re-
cent outbreaks and outrages in that Sec
ton. 1t is evident from their tone that
the day of moderation, as regards punish
ment for crime, has passed, so far as the
influence of the writers can serve to bring
it to an end. But, as regards purely po-
litical questions, such as the Civil Rights
bill, for instance, they are willing to offer
reasonable compromises, and TO make
terms which will secure free education for
both races without violating the prejudice
or liberty Of either, and without provoking
the luminosity of race. In short,
a spirit of Cancellation, of earnest in
vitatiOn, and Of thorough regard for
the honest differences of political oppo-
nents, demonstrates itself in every line
Written by these people on this subject
When, however, they begin to discuss the
responsibility which ensues as a conse-
quence Of the murder of their friends, the
assassination of Republicans in all the
Southern States as if by preconcerted &C
ton, and the intimidation of voters, or the
overthrow of duly-elected and duly-in-
stalled Republican State administrations,
they lose their temper, if not their discre-
ton, and with one acclaim demand that
under Federal or State law some exam
pie shall be made by the punishment of
guilty parties to prevent the constant re-
currence of the cruelties of which they
have so much cause to complain.
This explanation brings us to the imme-
date and direct consideration of serious
question. 1t is one that received wide
spread attention at the close of the war,
and one that has been discussed by every
civilized nation on the face of the globe.
Yet it does not involve exactly the same
precedents now that it did when the war
ended. Then great armies laid down their
arms, renewed their allegiance to the Gov
eminent, and returned Ostensibly to the
paths of peace. They had been battling
manfully for years in support of what they
deemed to be vital principles, and had sac
rifced Life and property as only brave men
could. They were entitled to recognition,
and received it as courageous soldiers,
who met defeat with the proud salts
faction of having done their duty, and
who returned to their citizenship with SOL
emn guarantees of future good behavior.
1t was to be expected that the bitter feel
ing, the sad disappointment, and the deep
chsgrin which they suffered at that time
would last for years afterwards. But it
was not to be expected that in return for
the magnanimity Of these conquerors any
portion of them would prove to be so
despicably ungrateful as to war against the
terms of their surrender. Least of all was
it to be expected that any portion of them
would so far forget the obligations of their
oaths and their duties as citizens as to re-
sort to assassination, to bloody instruction,
and to intimidation of their political oppo-
nents, for the purpose of reasserting them
selves in political power. No man who
reads the record these malcontents have
made for themselves from the day when
Sumter was fired upon down to the days
OF Appomattox and Greensboro, and since
then through the reign of terror under the
Ku-Klux down to Colfax, Coushatta, and
New Orleans, unless he be bitterly pre-
JUDGED, will deny that they have
proved themselves not only to be
traitors of the bssest stripe, but political
and social ingTates, who deserve the most
rigorous punishment for their double
crime of rebellion and instruction. They
have in fact revived their rebellion in
every regard save that of reorganizing
their old Confederate battalions under their