The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1874-03-28

.dldIio nr r.olDdlon ON lhcowm
4Iilrn, M na most persons consider NE
quasi radical ticket, under tto plen ~
fcplylntlo n slnelo paragraphs IN thoI
llGHALp, hna pnlllslcda long porsonm /
dissertations profcsscdly unrrntlng his |
'1lrc aud tlmcs,". with his personal
character we have nothing 10 do he.
yond H. political bearing with III
political and official conduct past and
present, the people have u RIGHT TO
deal, provided II II done properly.
lie admits, In reply to our question,
that In the darkest period the people
of Dallas have seen since the war, In
those days when southern men were
ostracised and at the mercy of power
that was not of them, and inimical to
them, he was at the head of the loyal
league of this county, composed of
about all the adult negroes and few
white men. IL was u secret political
society, and throughout Texas and the
south, wherever the negroes Were in
the majority, or very powerful, the
men and families in the land looked
upon them as standing menace
to their peace and safety. This
is simply n fact which no man, we
presume, will deny. And Mr.. Long
admits that he belonged to it, which
substantially comedies all that we init
mated. We did not refer to his going
to Mexico to avoid the war. 1t is too
late in the day to assail consistent
union men for peaccably doing so,
unless, after peace, as some did, they
became oppressors, or committed other
wrongs. He says substantially that he
went to Matamoras, opened business,
gave employment to union refugees
and southern deserters alike, made
money and spent it freely. That was
combination Of taste, pleasure and
business, with which we have no
concern. ....
1t has, however, been said thous-
|
and times since we came to Dallas, that
| fter the war, when southern men were
DISTINGUISHED and oppressed when the
peoples governor, judges and other
officers were driven by military power
from the posts to which they had been
elected, and when radical law prohib.
tied thousands of our best men from
holding office, and much larger num-
Der from even voting, this gentleman,
memberof thesecrei league, held sew
eral offices in this town and county
under the dispensntion of the radical
party. We were not here, but our
older citizens were, and they know
whether these things were so or not.
He assumes in his circular that he was
Il law and order man, terribly in earnest
afte- thieves, and that union men in
Guiding himself, were in constant dam
ger of assassination. We have all the
while understood that it was not "union
men, but "southern men" who were
thus exposed at this time. His party
were in power, backed up by federal
bayonets and all the power of the
freedmen's bureau, while the people
were held in continued dread, often
arrested without cause, and in various
ways ill-treated. In some counties
there was u reign of terror among the
people from these combined causes,
and many old and law-abiding citizens
for time fled the country to avoid
persecution, and sometimes to avoid
apprehended assassination. How far
he individually acted in or approved
these things we do not pretend to say,
for we do not know. The point which
seems to be uncontradicted is that he
belonged, acted with and held office
under the authority by which these
calamities existed.
His conduct as mayor is as well
known to the people-indeed, much
better to most of them-than to us, for
we were absent at one time five months
and twice for short periods, and the
people are capable ofjudging for them
selves. That he has good qualities and
has done many clever things, we have
no doubt, and, personally, we have no
ill will to or quarrel with him. His
public acts and party principles in
connection Herewith, are public prop
erty, and them only would we discuss,
and if we We're to make n wrong state
ment about him or any other political
opponent, whenever informed thereof,
we have and always have had both the
courage and the will to correct it.
Under such facts, we cannot see upon
what ground Mr.. l.. could expect DEM
ocratic or conservative support.