Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-16
aeoN.n isRooKs' spEkciL

importance of the first, the other question
must stand in allegiance tiutil the first is
disposed OF. Can, then, any body speak
eontemptuously of such an assembly as
this? 1t takes the utmost stretch of charity
to regard without a shudder the miserable,
living DOGS, who would send out TO the
country cOntemptuous report Ut siieh an
assembly IS this. , he story that We
are here 10 consider the third term is nd
iculously untrue. We have no delight in
considering such a state of affairs as exists,
but il is question which cannOt be put aside.
This conspiracy, this second rebellion, this
internal White League has assumed pro
portions that we cannot neglect If we would
have a government or a peaceful HON ,.
Not content longer, as formerly, with break
ing up a ward meeting; not content with
a ride through the country by night, max
ing night hide0us with their drunken, muir
derous yellS, taking negroes from their
homes TO murder them, they have dared to
attack State governments, and even menace
the national government ITSELF Who can
contemplate Louisiana without alarm? No
one can say that the President is not man
of nerve, vet a fleet of armed vessels is
moOred on her coasts, and fifteen regiments
are marching on her soil to put down this
armed demon that threatens her existence.
Nor is Louisiana alone. This conspiracy
against liberty and law that has developed
itself in Louisiana is cnscOnsed in its
dens in other States. Its OutcrOppings are
perceptible to men Of sense in every one of
the reconstructed States represented by
these delegations here tonight.
We are not here as mere paFtisanS. or
1D-,.,,l,1s-,,,- IsF.l grr
bid that we should blush to own the naine
or advocate its policy. We are willing 10
confess Our faith, if need be, at the stake.
Southern RepublicaEism and Southern
patriotism during the past fifteen years has
furnished hundreds Of as genuine martyrs rs
the world has ever seen. We have tried
cOnciliatiOn; we have tried, in the language
Of the lamented Greeley, TO clasp hands over
the bloody chasm. | was Greeley Re
publican, l believe that the great majority
of the party are still anxious for peace,
deprecating strife. But when we have
sought peace, our enemies have advocated
and practiced war. Not open, manly war,
but disguised, and with professions
of peace and reconciliation on their
lying and hypOcritical lips; or, as in my
own case, signing articles of peace. and in
less than l20 minutes after muir
dering member of Congress by my side,
and discharging a shotgun loaded with
buck-shOt az my own person. | am per-
suaded that We may have sometimes gone
astrsy. Il is not strange, if after a series
Of years like this, we should rise up and re-
pei this class of men.
As / came on 10 this city with a native
of our own State, conservative in all his
views, he said we could stand these things
no longer. We must repel this tide and
meet it in whatever form it may assume.
There are thousands in the South, old citi-
zens, that served in the Confederate army,
that are not aSsasSins, not political muir
derers, not members Of The White League.
not Bourbon Democrats. | believe that a
majority Of the Democrats disapprOye these
murderOus tactics. Why then does this
system OF murder prevail? Were sOcietyIn
an absolutely civil condition; We're the
courts unobStructed. there is, perhaps,
public sentiment enough in the South 10
enforce the laws; but few desperate men
can keep whole county or section OF
State in uprosr and tumult. Good citizens
now are 50 terrified at these night riders
and political aSsasSnS that they seek safety
for themselves aud families in stunning
contact with such men and in nuisl ietire-
ment,
[ will not anticipate the report of the
committee now industriOuSly engaged in
cOllating the facts. do not suppose that
it will ever be possible - collect all of
these fearful sragic facts. We are spoken
Of ~ a manufacturing company, temper
arily located in Chattanooga, manufacture
ing Southern OutIages to affect public Opin-
iOn." There needs no other manufactury
of Southern outrages than the White
League of to-day.
would sues6st, Tor your consideration,
the Dressing necessity for stable govern
ment. For the first few years after the
restoration Of government, in these recon-
structed governments, there seemed no
doubt of the stability Of these reconstruct
ed governments, sustained by national
authority, and, il NAV he, that we have
ourselves, as Liberals, done something TO
destroy this impression. The opposition
came to consider our prefer Of Teconciliai
ton as an indication o. weakness, and.
like te...td tiger. when their thirst for
blood once became aroused; they were an
imated with q fer0city such as the world
has never seen. They seem 10 haze SIP
posed, from the rsTy'ris Oh coTUptiOnS, that
tire lle which bound us TO the Republican
party had become so weakened that they
could take possession Of the Slate gO-en-
ments. not by honest voting, hut, 10y a rev.
OlutiOn. 90 place in the hands Of the worst
of all these elements tho control OF these
Stale governments, clinging 10 the idea
that the Federal Government may
not interfere. except on the call OF
the Executive or Legislature. How
long before such a government would
call on the President TO put down ku-hluN
or TO suppress domestic violence? Their
policy is to the effect of making all the
carpet-baggerS emigTate and Of so far OPP
pressing the cOlOred men as TO control these
governments for all time To come. This
carpet bag government is their slereOtyped
preteXt for oUtrages. That il is only 4 pre-
text. is evident. A. To what constitutes a
carpet-hagger, the best answer was that Of
an Intelligent negro, in Arkansas, Ia the
Congressional Committee a little while
ago-''a Northern man who won't vote the
Democratic ticket" When Inc does vote
that ticket he ceases 10 be a capst-bagger,
and becomes one Of our people. \ man
that will go back on his record and join the
White League; why the offensive OdOr fades
away, even from the negro when he votes
their ticket.
But for YOURSELF Mr.. President, and
others like you, men who used to overlook
YOUR slaves aud considered themselves
honest in leading pack of hounds 10 catch
runaway slaves now turn mp their nose at
Won and say, scalawag!
In regard to the eXtrayaganceS and cor
ruptions of the Southern government. il
was not the stealing which the opposition
objected to. but the fact that they were not
permitted 10 be the thieves. Such is the
unparalleled corruption of the present rev
olntionary ux-BOurbOn-BaXter adj
ministratiOn of Arkansas, that they have
rendered respectable the worst adminiStrd-
ton that eve. preceded them. They have
exceeded it fOur-fold. skiold. In less
than two years time, under b urhou rule,
associated with mOckery and complicated
with murder, the State script las gone
down to twenty-five cents on the dollar,
and still going till have got dizzy looking
down after it. They have polled more
votes for the Administration candidate
than there have been voters in the pre-
cincts.
They upbraid us that we are the party
OF great moral ideas. Such we ought 10 be
Such in point of fact we are, and we mus
aspire to fill much more exalted standard
than that which prevails among the OppO
SitiOn.