Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-02-18
L u q u . It a ,
From the Boston Journal.l
IS THERE NO DANGER :


published, taking serious view OF the
dangers of the present national situation,
has elected some light criticism in certain
quarters, as lift We're an attempt TO sound
an utterly false alarm. We know, how
ever. that many of the best and most
thoughtful observers of the times do not
share this easy Indifference, such as had
its most signal climax in 1860. We have
lately recorded the impression:of the true
hearted republican veteran OF Ohio MIR.
Wade, that the country is in danger oil see
ing another rebellion undertaken. A let
Ter in the Chicago Inter Ocean, written.
according to that paper, by zone OF the
most prominent men in public lille al
Washington" declares that ''this very
time in which we are, is pregnant with
more evil than any hour since March.
1861" The writer states that the cause
Of apprehension lies in an "organized and
50 far successful effort, by force or fraud.
to gain possession OF the Southern States,
to substitute by violence and intimidation
the will of minority in those States for
the will of majority, and to control BY
any means found necessary. however
criminal or violent. first the State Govern
ments, and next, the Congressional repre-
sentation and electoral vote
In other words, there is a conspiracy on
foot to neutralize and practically over
throw the last three amendments of the
Constitution in their grand object Of be-
slowing equal rights upon the freedmen
of the South The democracy in that sec
ton, sustained by the party elsewhere.
are determined that the negro shall not
have the same rights as the white man.
The negro is to be substantially suppressed
out of politics, and remanded to a subor-
dinate, dependent, abject condition, So
cially and politically. That is the scheme
at the bottom of the Penn movement in
Louisiana, of the blood-shed at Vieksburg,
the high-handed change of Constitutions
in Arkansas, and of the White League
movement throughout the South general
~. It enrolls in its support nearly all the
wealth, intelligence, organized energy,
social influence and-what is equally inn
portant-the race prejudice aud rascality
of the South. This combination, with its
mighty reinforcement of partisan allies at
the North, is, it will be seen, practically
arrayed against the laws of the land, as
we'll as against the security of the grand
fruits of the last supreme struggle tor the
Union-how, then, can it be otherwise
than pernicious and, in proportion to lis
extent, dangerousP
1t is none the less so that it is engineered
with skill and shrcwdness which have
been learned from former failures. 1t is
well known that many of the secession
leaders of 1861 have always deplored the
madness which then caused them to give
up the Government when they had COM
plete control of the Senate and the Su
preme Court. With such advantages. they
think they might have thrown upon the
republicans the ignominy of factious if
not of rebellious stand. Now they pro-
pose to take the Government and, while
holding it, practically nullify the Consti-
tuition. One of the most bitter of the I'M
repentant rebels-Mr. Hill of Georgia
recently said: "When we seeded we
left the Government in the hands of our
enemies, and we left our friends in the
hands Of those enemies Also" This mis-
take, he insists, must not be repeated.
With an affectation which would be anus
ing but for its terrible audacity, he con-
tinues: "Let all who love the Constitu-
ton unite and save the country by ballot
II possible being addressed to
Northern democrats, who are then told
"And if force. under pretext of any kind,
shall attempt to defeat the will OF the peo-
pie, let every patriot be ready to march
under the old Stars and Stripes to the
grave or to victory. Let us of the South
20 where we ought to have gone at first,
and where, if we had gone, we should
have crowded out this sinister power"
What precise programme he is here out
lining may not be so clear, but there is no
installing the drift of his instigations. He
means the recovery so far as possible of
what the South lost by rebellion in 1861
the reversal of what was secured by the
triumph of the Union arms in 1865. So
far the conspiracy goes on swimmingly in
the eyes of its projectors. One branch of
the Government has been secured, with a
majority Of the State Governments and
nearly solid South. All that is apparent
ly wanted for remaining success is either
blindness or else reercancy on the part of
the republicans of the conutry, who saved
it in the former trial Shall either fatali-
" be recorded now We do not believe
ii; the only ground OF fear is that the slow
ness of the people to realize their danger
may increase it and thus make the effort