National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-10-24
RoR 20 REooNQUER rRE soUTR

The serious consideration Of the present
condition of the Southern States, which has
been provoked not only by the results of
the recent elections, but by the repetition
of outrages against the life and property of
peaceable, law-abiding citizens, has resulted
in numerous suggestions of needed changes
in that section. 1t is true that such cop
perhead organs as the Tribune, Times and
World, of New York, have dehed and in
suited the intelligence of their readers by
denying that riotous condition of affairs
prevails; but the accumulation of reliable
statistics, in contradiction of that assump-
ton, has opened the eyes of the people
generally. The facts referred to prove
that the Southern people, with rare excep-
tons, are so thoroughly dissatisfied with
the results of the late civil war that they
have been aroused to the verge of renew
ing the rebellion. With a wholesome
dread of the result of organized conflict
with the arms of the United States, they
have resorted to intimidation and sssassi-
nation Of political opponents, and have
developed theirintentionb by thesemethodst
gain that supremacy within the Union which
they failed to gain outside of it. In palmer
words, they have been forced to abandon
their cherished idea of separate form Of
government, and have substituted for it q
design to rule the entire country on the
same principles on which they expected to
found the Southern Confederacy. The is
sues Of each recurring political contest
prove this TO be true, because they are based,
even in the conservative State of Virginia,
upon the bold declaration that the South
should be ruled by Southrons alone" The
literal meaning of this declaration is that
the leaders of the rebellion, with their fol
lowers, sympathizers and successors, are
alone entitled to power, not only in the
South, but throughout the whole country,
because they cannot rule one section in the
Union without ruling both.
To accomplish this result, as we have
repeatedly explained, they have ignored
the terms of their paroles, have proved
faithless to their pledges of loyalty, and
violated the oaths with which they rehabil-
itated themselves as citizens of the United
States. They have set at defiance the re-
construction acts, and have ruthlessly dis
regarded every law of Congress intended
to preserve or protect the rights of
those who were enfranchised by the war
amendments TO the Constitution. That
they will continue to do these things is
now as certain as that they have done them
in the past and that they are encouraged
to continue by the result of the recent
elections is so apparent as to defy contra
diction. We are, therefore, confronted
with the existence of great sectional con-
spiracy to destroy the liberties of millions
of our fellow-citizens, and to repudiate the
great results of the war. To overcome this
conspiracy we must reconquer the South,
and as we cannot do it by force
Of arms, because the opposition presents no
tangible form of overt rebellion, we must
60 about it in another way. There is no
time to lose in this matter. Already the
proposition of the infamous Hunter, of Vir-
ginia, that the slaves shall be paid for by
the General Government, has found echoes
and re-echoes from every nook and corner
Of the late slaveholding States, and the sug-
gestion is made that the Government shall
assume the further responsibility of paying
for the destruction of rebel property during
the war, The next step-akin to the repu-
diation Of our own debt-will be the as
sumption Of the Confederate debt
These are not wild surmises. They are
facts which are more palpable than were
the surmises Of conspiracy to overthrow
the Government when Mr.. Lincoln was
first elected. They have assumed definite
shape-more definite than the incidents
which preceded the fall of Fort Sumter,
and should serve to warn us of impending
danger. Can we avert it by removing
from the South the great bone of conten-
ton? We mean, of course, the removal of
the blacks from their present homes to
some place of safety, where they
would be enabled to work out their
own destiny, undeterred by political
strife and intimidation. The bare sug-
gestion Of this thought will strike the
majority of our readers as a piece of
cowardice because it at once admits the in
1Bl41tl VI luO OONCIu4uCul W pIObcCt us
own citizens in the exercise of constitution
al rights Its execution would be followed
by the ruin of the South, the beggary of
rich planters, and a general stagnation in
those branches Of commerce which are
maintained by traffic in Southern products.
At the same time, however, it would teach
the Southern people thatif they would gain
a livelihood by working their plantations
and developing the resources which boun-
tiful Providence has placed at their com
mand, they must protect and encourage
rather than outrage and depress the class
of labOrers on which they depend for every
thing. This is one way to reconquer the
South.
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