Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-03-18
The Southern Democratic Address.

The late address ITO the People of
the Southern States" by the Democratic
Senators ana Representatives in Con
gress from those States is All exceeding
ly skillful paper drawn by very sagacious
politicians. They are gentlemen whose
residence in Washington and whose close
observation OF the sentiment of the coun-
try have shown them the feeling and the
policy which are approved by the great
mass of intelligent people. The advice
OF the address, therefore, is conforn,ed
to that sentiment, and its signers, as rep
resentative Democrats, present them
| selves as counselors of moderation,
respect for equal rights and pa
tient obedience to law The address
charges some of the Republican leaders
with endeavoripg to revive the
animosities of the war, but it de-
clares confidence in the independent pre- s
aud in the judgment of good citizens for
a vindicalion of the truth, and hopes for
friendly reunion, because the real inter
ests OF every part of the country demand
a patriotic fraternity. 1t begs "a brave
people" therefore, TO endure everything,
to welcome and protect every man OF
every opinion who comes to settle in the
Southern States and to share their for
tune, and, above all, to guard every right
of the colored man, to prove to him that
the interest Of white and black is the
same, and to respect and protect MIN in
| every way. And in the event of the
most oppressive and unconstitutional
measures against them, the address prays
the white people of the Southern States
| to be calm, and to rely for relief upon
the virtue and sense of justice Of the
American people.
! The address is brief, well written and
enjoins a feeling and conduct which
would instantly cement the uniUn more
closely than ever. If the whites of the
| Southern States would respect the equal
rights of the blacks, secure fair elections
and appeal to the courts, and not to the
KuKlux, White League and revolution
| to remedy evils, there would be no ques-
| ton Of Force bills or of any kind of
| trouble And if it were believed, if
| facts and presidents and reason and com
mons sense justified the belief that this
would be the consequence Of Democratic
| success, that success would be assured.
| But the first and strongest impression the
| address produces is its sharp contrast
with the actual conduct of affairs and
condition of opinion among the Southern
| Democrats. Reading the CHASTITY history
of color legislation and of political
crimes in the Southern States, it is not
! possible TO resist the conviction that the
advice of the address is protfered 70
those who can neither comprehend it nor
would practice it. Perhaps some of the
gentlemen who sign it wish that this
could be the feeling and conduct of their
party constituents, but they cannot ex-
pect that it will be.
| Yet they may be very sure that the
whole country will rejoice when it sees
that this advice has been needed. When
| White Leagues are disbanded; when
| Democratic Conventions cease to call
themselves the white mans party; when
they insist on dealing with the colored
citizen honestly and fairly" instead of
denounclng the tyranny" OF the
usurper" at Washington; when white
Republicans are no longer derided and
treated as white niggers;" when revo-
lutionary methods are abandoned; when
| the newspapers cease TO excite every hate
full passion; when it is palmer than now
that the feeling OF the active and con-
trolling leaders of public opinion and ac-
ton is due to the scalawaggeries' and
frauds and local misrule, rather than to
race and partisan hate, as in part it I'M
doubtedly Isl when the local white
Democratic authorities are prompt and
earnest in the prosecution and punish
ment of ofienses against the negroes
we shall believe that the good advice OF
the Democratic address has begun to
bear fruit.
/ In the meanwhile it stands only for q
wish, and tie success of the Democratic
party, which the address is intended &c
promote, would unqucstonably tend &c
prevent the fulflIment of the wish. The
remedy for the evils of the situation is q
friendly and wise Republican rule which
recognizes the extreme difficulty in the
Southern States of reconciling the old
and the new order; which makes every
allowance for conditions springing from
the past; which does not expect in Louis
lana the harmonious order of Massachu
sets; which, now that slavery the root OF
bitterness, is extirpated, trusts much to
the American principle of local rule,
and takes ihany risks Indispensable to
the existence Of free Institutions which Is
represented in the Southern as in all the
States by Federal officers honest, capable,
and more patriotic than partisan: and
which avoids the least sign of completely
with political fraud for any purpose
whatever. This policy is possible for a
Republican but not tor Democratic
Administration, which would be ac-
cepted as a ofrte biancte for the very mis-
chiefs against which the address advises
Among the signatures to the address
there is one which is an exquisite satire
upon its purport; for among those VINO
exhort their friends 10 patience and MOD
Grafton and good temper and conciliatQn
is John Young Brown, Of Kentucky, who
SO conspcuously exhibited his own IN
/ - {og3,ay's