The Pacific appeal., 1875-04-24

Of q period more disgracclul to tn,
country than were the years of th
rebellion itself. If the barharou
| atrocities perpetrated at the Soutl
had been committed only occasional
ly, they would have aroused d splr
it in the nation which would hav
brought swift retribution, upon tn,
! offenders; but so common hav,
wrong and outrages become-deatl
and torture for political opinions
that they apparently ceased to at
tract the general attention.
In the single State of Lo uisian;
more than four thousand citizen
have fallen victims to the savag,
and Unsuitable hatred of defeated
rebels.
Not ,alone are the blacks thu
hunted down, but throughout tn
lately rebellious States no whit,
man, whether of northern or south
ern birth, can avow himself a Re
publican without endangering hi
life. If he is from the North he i
insultingly denounced as carpet
bagger; if a native Of the South
even though he fought in the Cou
federate army, he is known only a
scalawag.
White Republicans of Southern
birth have first been scourged, anc
then forced to advertise a recanta
of their political opinions, or as the
phrase there is-to publish theil
principles" on pain of a repetitioa
OF the outrage.
Peaceable and thrifty citizens Of
Northern birth have been driven
out Of their habitations, and shot
like dogs on their way under a
pledged safe escort to distant and
more hospitable abiding places.
Women and children have taken
refuge in the woods by night, steal.
thily returning home by day for
food, having less to fear from such
exposure and deadly malaria thar
s4haz -hal- -c.-~--ttrE organized hen
ditti which has been strong effeogh
to defy the law.
White Leagues, Ku Klux Klans,
Pale Faces, and similar secret Or
ders have fourished, sworn to pre-.
vent the holding of Office by their
political opponents, whose fair cleo
ton by the people was not denied.
The ballot box has been forcibly
and openly seized and destroyed
when known to contain more Re-
publican than Democratic votes.
Churches and school-house have
been burned, and clergymen and
teachers foully outraged.
Surviving friends found the
slaughtered victims of the Vicks-
burgh massacre anburried, being
guided to the place by the foul
birds of prey which circled in the
air above them. Says one of the
Witnesses: Where we saw the buz
yards hover there we found the dead
men,"
Magistrates are powerless or in
different, juries are tainted with the
presence upon them Of the very out.
laws themselves, witnesses are in
timidated, and law and justice are
a mockery.
This reign of terror, inaugurated
and maintained for the sole purpose
of securing Democratic ascendency,
has done its work in most of the
Southern States, and in them the
hapless victims Of barbarity are
dumb. In the remaining States,
the Federal arm has now and then
been extended in aid of the local
authorities, in compliance with the
plain provision of the Constitution
of the United States las originally
framed), which provides for national
protection Of the States against do
mestlc violence.
In the presence of this long con-
tinued saturnalia of crime and blood.
shed, not a word of Democratic re-
buke or remonstrance has been
heard North or South.
Southern Democrats, when placed
on the witness stand, exhibit their
insensibility to shame, and their ig
norance of the most common rights
of citizens, by testifying that North
ern men are never maltreated unless
they meddle with politics" They
are unable to realize that any citi-
zen of the United States may select
his residence in any State or Terri
tory and be Republican, as we'll
as another may be Democratic
partizan.
The Southern Democracy are not
engaged as a whole in the deadly
work we have described: but neither
do they interfere for its suppression.