Middletown transcript., 1874-06-27
CASTLE

these, pitted against the resident whites,
on whose intelligence and loyalty the fu-
ture welfare of the State depends. In
others, rebellion against this state Of
things has taken place, which drives two
thirds of the black. vote from the polls.
Taxes are heavy, and are too often absor-
ed by the corrupt schemes Of politicians.
Men are not only discouraged, but are
full of bitterness that comes from oppres-
sion They feel that they are wrongod,
that they have no future, that they can
not protect themselves, that the general
government does not and will not protect
them, and that nothing but death or VOL
untary exile will give them relief.
To say that the national government
cannot constitutonally help this state Of
things, is to acknowledge that the doc
trine of State rights, in whose name and
by whose authority the Southern States
strove to throw off the national rule, is a
sound one. The national government can
help it, and ought to have helped it long
ago BY the authority of constitution
which guarantees Republican form Of
government to every State, it could have
protected the ballot-boxes of every State,
and prevented mob from usurping that
form of government. A mob is not a
Republican form of government. No
government is Republican, even in its
form, whose ballot box is not accessible to
every voter, and is not preserved invulner-
able from all corruption. No government
is Republican, even in form, that is con-
trolled by mercenary aliens. There are
half dozen States whose governments
have ceased to be Republican, even in
form, when we come down to strict de-
tinition of the phrase. And these States,
or some of them, have appealed to the
President, again and again, for help, to
decide the questions which their conflicts
have involved, and appealed in vain
Why, any policy, that would involve a
decision, would be better than none. =
Are these States to be left forever to in
ternecine strifes ? Give them military
government, because they would be pro-
tected. They can have no prosperity un-
til they are, politically at rest. Does any
one doubt. in the light which the present
state Of things throws upon the question,
that military government, in half dozen
States that might be mentioned, would
have saved those States from untold mise
res, and advanced them intellectually fur
ther towards a sound reconstruction than
they stand to-day? Is our national gov
ernment nothing? Is our Union with
out civil power? If it cannot control
these State strites, that, in one State, at
least, have gone on to bloodshed, we are
at a loss to know of what particular use it
is, and we cannot blame the people of the
South for regarding it with sentiment
more bitter than contempt.
What are the petty rascalities of two or
three contractors. over which we make SO
much ado, by the side of the terrible con-
dition of these States What significance
has the maladministration of the revenue
laws by the side of whole peoples, ground
into the earth by poverty, and torn by
civil dissensons? We strain at a gnat
and swall How camels by the caravan. Oh
for a man, or body of men, who will
take the responsibility If the old
Dutchmen of Pennsy lvania, who are said
to vote at every Presidential election for
Gen. jackson, are simply loyal to an idea,
We have profound respect for their in
stncts and their ignorance. They are
right. He is the kind of man we want in
every department of Federal power. DR..
j. G. Holland, IN ScriJner'S for July.