National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-04-01
HOME RULE IN THE SOUTH.

The popular idea Of Home Rule, based
upon a truthful construction of the words
themselves, is seldom realized, although the
phrase is used by demagogues to mislead
the unthinking masses, through false repre-
sensations Of IFS real significance. Just now
it is a synonym for State Rights in the
South, and is q thin disguise through which
the horrid deformities of a new secession
may be discovered even at a casual glance.
The Democrats and sham. Conservatives
have taken it up for no other purpose than
to accomplish exactly this deception of the
pennles -1Ehen they speak Of Home Rule
TGSws:- not mean that the people shall rule
themselves through the will Of the majority
expressed without fear or favor at the polls.
On the contrary, they mean the white
people who vote their ticket who believe
in secession and who hate and despise
everything that bears the name Of Repub-
lican. When they speak Of the people as
demanding or enjoying Home Rule they
do not mean all the people, but simply the
minority who vote the Democratic ticket
and who would not hesitate to do anything
accomplish the overthrow of the war
amendments to the Constitution, the OBJ
liberation Of the reconstruction acts and the
restoration of their cruel power over their
former slaves. They do not expect
to accomplish this last result by
practical restoration If slavery that would
be, perhaps, impossible so long as their
States remain in the Union, and certainly
so long as the Republican party remains in
power; but they are gradually accomplish
ing it even while that party remains in
power by the enactment of State laws pro-
viding for an odious system of vassalage
which gives the owner of realty and the
employer of laboring men unlimited con-
troll over tenants and employees. These
cunningly drawn laws have been supple
mented in some instances by the enactment
of others providing that the crime Of petty
larceny may be punished by severe and
cruel sentences, which, being manipulated
by Democratic judges and juries, result in
the sale of black mem. e., "hiring them
QUITO planters and others for certain
periods of time, during which the master"
is called upon to pay the county or State
authorities merely nominal price for their
labor. Again, other laws have been enact
cd providing that in the event of laborer
failing to perform his part of contract with
his employer or quitting that employment
before the expiration Of the contract, the
employer shall have recourse against him
for the full amount of the money that would
have accrued as his wages if the contract
had been faithfully executed. Of course
all these laws are adroitly intended to de-
ceive the public because they are drawn for
the apparent purpose of Furnishing offend
ers Of every class and ostensibly apply to
offenders of both races. But their practical
application is, as all the world must know,
confined to colored victims The answer
TO any assertion to the contrary is plain. If
it was necessary that such laws should exist
for the punishment of whites, why were
they not enacted before the war when the
blacks we're in slavery? and why have
they been so promptly enacted since the
war, whenever the Democratic party has
obtained power, when the blacks are free
and are consequently amenable to them for
the first time?
This, it will be admitted, is Home Rule
with a vengeance; but it is of the kind
which prompted the Ku. KluX and White
League assassinations and massacres. 1t
prompts the prescription of so-called carpet
baggers, and the assertion of the false doc
trine that the South must be ruled by
Southrons only" Underlying it will be
found all the sectional luminosity, all the
sectional pride, and all the sectionalisms
which led to the war, and plunged the
people Of the entire country into bloody,
civil sectional strife. The same feeling
exhibits itself in the murderous proscrip-
lions of the White League Democracy now
that led the old-time slave-oligarchy to
hang Alb Jlitionists, rob the mails of opposi-
ton newspapers, and play the bully when
they came in contact with Northern dough-
face Democrats In short, rule or ruin is
their cry now, as it has ever been, and
ever will be, until the essence of treason
bred in the very marrow of their bones
has been replaced by something akin to
sentiment of loyalty to the General Gov
eminent. They will 60 on, however, under
the pretence of devotion to Home Rule,
wheedling their Northern sympathizers,
numbering their Southern opponents,
until the true and loyal men of the country
become alarmed at the progress they will
have made in the direction of renewed Sec
tienal strife. For the safety of the Re-
public, it is to be hoped this alarm will
soon be developed.
No man who has made study Of South
ern politics, or who knows anything of the
animosities, loves and hopes of the South
ern Democracy, will deny these assertions,
or that they are fraught " it'll danger in the
not far distant future. The Republican
party alone sustains the true principle Of
Home Rule, and attempts to maintain the
supremacy Of the system by which all the
people may have q voice in their own Gov
eminent. The fallacy Of State independ-
ence is rejected by that party because 1t be-
lieves the General Government Is by and
Of the people, and because the experience
Of the past fifteen years has demonstrated
the Impracticability Of a divided allegiance.
II is in fact the party of the people and for
the people, and history shows that 1t alone
is entitled to the credit Of having made an
effort TO protect citizens In every section Of
the country the same as they are protected
when their rights and privileges arc as
sailed in foreign lands. The Democratic
party, on the contrary, while 1t has made
some pretence at the protection of Ameri.
can citizens abroad, and now busters
furiously about Home Rule, has stood in
the way Of protecting citizens at home, and
stands convicted to-day Of cruelty ignoring
the complaints Of humble, though deserv.
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