New-York tribune., 1875-09-25

nfamy of the carpet-bag regime-was 30
! nearly made into a law. But about a year ago
a great change swept over the South The climax
of the New Orleans usurpatiOn, the raids OIL
Major Merrill, the Hays and Hester campaign
| i'm Alabama-these remarkable incidents, oc-
curing just at a time when the North WAS
beginning to see the financial result OF ten
years robbery and misgovernment of the re-
constructed States, opened the peoples eyes.
There came a sudden revulsion of sentiment
The elections of 1874 were an unmistakable
condemnation of the Southern policy of the
Republican ADMINISTRATION, and all over the
land the decision of the nation was pronounced
that the South should be allowed to govern
itself.
Everybody seems to have heard of it except
Gov. Ames. Mr.. Williams stepped out OF the
Department of Justice. The PROSTATE States
plucked mp heart and started on new career.
The Force Bill patriots retired to their post
Offices, or sailed away to the foreign ports
where d grateful President had given them
consulships. Spencer, Merrill, Hays. Hester,
Beach, VOney V. Smith, and all the rest
of that set, who once filled the land
with clamor, subsidcd so completely that one
has to stop now and reflect before remember
ing that they ever existed Blacks and whites
live side by side in peace, and there are signs
everywhere of reviving prosperity. Every
where, we should have said, except in the
Governors room at the capital of Mississippi.
There Mr. Ames still sits in "a dense atmOs-
plere of misconception, believing that this
year, just as last year, and the year before
and the year before that, the beginning
OF the Fall campaign ought to be the
signal for raids by cavalrymen and deputy
marshals. All down the September column
of Ames's Administration Almanac still runs
the usual prediction. "AbOut this time expect
"a war of races" AT the first symptom of
riot Mr.. Ames calls, according to custom, for
More Troops. 81 suppose we understand each
"other,' he wrote to the President, "and the
old arrangement holds good. We will con-
&" slider the proclamation OF last year still in
" force, so you can send along the soldiers
at once But very much surprised
was Mr. Ames TO learn that things
had changed at Washington. There We're
no troops for him, unless he could
aver, on his honor as Governor,
that he could not keep the peace without them,
and he has never yet done that. The riot oc-
CURED three weeks ago. A scandalous and
revolutionary condition of quiet has reigncd
throughout the State ever since. People are
forgetting all about the disturbance. Election
day approaches, and there is an alarming con-
tinuance of general good order. 1t
is too late to bring in federal troops
now. Even the State militia can
not be used. if the villainOus designs
of the Ku-klux Klan are to 80 unchecked.
For these disguised rebels have induced the
courts to forbid the payment Of expenses
caused by calling cut and arming the militia
in time Of profound peace. "Thus,' trlegraphs
a sympathetic reporter, "have the opponents
"Of the Administration again cndeavOred to
"prevent peaceabe and fair election"
1t is hardly necessary to add that with every
prospect that whites and blacks will both be
allowed to vote as they choose, the ruling pol
iticians OF Mississippi are in condition Of
panic. To say that among them intimidation
"regns supreme would be ridiculous under
statement Of The situation. Ii is an undenia
bic fact that bayOnet elections are out of date,
and most of us perceive that Governors of the
Ames variety are out of date also. There is
no place for Mr. Ames in the new order of
things, and the sooner he goes away to that
limbo of adyenturers. whittier Bullock aud
Moses and such queer lot of other defInct
statesmen of the reconstruction period have
preceded him, the better will it be for Missis-
sippi and all classes Of her people.