National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-02-11


ing the question of Interstate railway COM
munication as applied to Cheap Transpor-
tation won for himself the lasting gratitude
of a thankful people.
But we claim that Internal improvement
and Cheap Transportation are not the par
amount questions of the hour. 1t is true,
as we have explained, that a lack of atten-
ton to them underlies much of the politi-
cal discomfort which now exists; but they
are not so important as to overshadow the
problems to be solved in the effort to main
tain intact the cherished results of the vic
tory over the Shareholders attempt to de-
stroy the Union. Occasionally, when some
Republican Congressman, holder than
others, and more honestly devoted to prin-
ciple, rises in his seat to speak of those re-
suits as in danger of being blotted out, the
country thrills with a responsive throb of
generous sympathy; and when some fear
less officer, like Phil Sheridan, epitomizes
the situation with single word, there is a
startling arising of the people that proves
how near and how dear the pledges of the
Government made as the natural conse-
quences ofthe war, are to the masses of our
fellow countrymen. But then some cur-lion
rises, and, with the natural tones of braying
ass, cries Bloody Shirt" Forthwith the
frightened and demoralized herd scatter
and refuse to follow, not only the bold and
honest leader, who has so successfully ap-
pealed to the sympathies of the people, but
the honest dictates of their own consciences.
There is not man among these affrighted
ones who will deny that the full force and
effect Of the Reconstruction Acts-laws
passed by themselves or their more compe-
tent predecessors being constantly
ignored. To instance our meaning: the
act to admit the States of North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia. Alabama, Louisiana
and Florida to representation in Congress
provides that the constitution of neither
"of said States shall ever be so amended
cor changed as TO deprive any citizen or
class of citizens of the United States of
"the right to vote in said State who are
"entitled to vote by the constitution there
"Of herein recognized, except as punish
''ment for such crimes as are now felonies
cat common law. whereof they shall have
"been duly convicted under laws equally
"applicable to all the inhabitants of said
Estate" This was the pledge demanded
by Congress of the Southern people before
they were permitted to retake their places
as political communities and State organi-
cations in the Union which they had so
treacherously attempted to destroy. We
ask of these affrighted ones again, are
the White Leagues Of the South acting in
good faith as regards this pledge? Are
they not attempting, by every imaginable
means. by devious legislative enactments
and by force of arms, to prevent citizens
of the United States from voting? 1t must
be remembered in this connection that the
Republican party OF THE NORTH commit
ted itself in these Reconstruction Acts to
the enfranchisement of the blacks. In
other words, Northern Republicans gave
The slaves Of the South the right to vote
made freemen of them-and then turned
them loose to shift for themselves in a coun-
try populated by thousands and hundreds
of thousands of ex-Confederate soldiers,
who had fought for years to keep them in
slavcry-turned them over, in fact, to the
cruel vengeance Of disappointed and de-
featcd men of great armies, who had been
sustained in the loss of blood and
treasure by an assumed or a mistaken be-
lief that they were made by the Creator to
remain as hewers of wood and drawers of
water. We hear it said that the result is
natural; that these ex-Confederates are
prompted by impulses consistent with their
past record when they now attempt to dis
franchise their former slaves. But we
deny this 1t is the argument of the
Bloody Shirt" asses in lions skins again.
The pledges to which we have referred
form part of that record. and they are, as
we have said, both ignored and violated by
the men who made them. The paroles
freely given when the rebel armies surren-
dered, are also a part of that record, and
they embrace solemn pledge to abide by
and obey the laws Of the United States
They were solemn oaths of allegiance, in
fact, and they are also being ignored and
violated. Not one of these affrighted gen
tlemen will dare to gainsay these facts.
But there must be purpose in the vio-
lation of these pledges, in the defiance of |
law, and in the extreme measures which a
portion of the Southern whites have |
adopted. What is it? Simply to gain
Irithin the Union what they failed to gain |
when they attempted to fight the Govern
ment outside of it: The supremacy of |
State Rights and the overthrow of those |
principles on which the Republican party |
relies for popular support. This they can
not accomplish by fair means because the |
majority of the voters of the United States |
are opposed to their designs. They have |
consequently resorted to foul means. In |
plain terms, they have begun a systematic |
war against law and order, against the ex-
ercisc Of the right of suffrage by their pO-
iitical opponents, and against the most holy |
aspirations of the loyal men who sacri-
feed so much on hundreds of battle.
fields TO preserve the integrity of the Gov
eminent. In pursuing this systematic war
they have been guilty of assassination and
murder in its most cruel forms. Their
armed batallions drill at night in the streets
of Southern cities. Theirarmed squadrons
ride at night through the Southern country