Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-03-13
GORDON ANn LAMA8,
What the Two Most Eminent eX-CGElCd.
crates have Said % the Northern
People about their South.
eTn Constituents.
Plain Talk on q Thoroughly COBserVa.
tive Basis-The Southern Dem0c-
racy Fairly and Candldly
Represented
LAMAR'S Speech,

has come north on brief visit, spoke n
the citizens of Nashua last evening on
the condition OF the people at the south.
Though the hall was engaged by the
Dem6crauIo committee and he was IN
vited by it to speak, lG was by no means
a party gathering that assem- oieu. Ise-
p1blicans and Democrats, attracted by
The r.uutatIon which he bears for elU-
uuence, ability and worth, crowded the
large hall till they filed it to overflow
ing, His address was exactly suited to
the mixed character of his audience; 1t
was remarkably nOn-partisan, consist
ing merely of statement of facts and q
logical tracing OF the causes which have
led TO whatever turbulence and dIsquiet-
ude exists. The speech contains scarce
lv an allusion to either OF the two pOlit-
ical parties, and none whatever 10 the
approaching election. He spoke fer
about two hours, not concluding TIL
nearly eleven o'clock, and retained
the close attention to the last. At
the close, ss several times before,
there were loud calls for him to con-
tinue. The address was earnest and
forcibIe, aud made a deep impression
upon those who heard it. be said that
he hOped these times of disCOTd would
soon pass by. He did not believe that the
mass of Republicans desired to further
punish the south. ApprehensiOns are
rife at the north that local self-gOvern-
ment at the south did not give political
rights to 9ll glasses. II he had in his
heart thought of party benefit he was
not aware Of it. He admitted dis IuieJ
in political affairs amounting in some
instance to bloody scenes. These
strifes were not to further party ends.
One of the great evils of the south is
the tendency of the masses to withdraw
from patty contest. The fact has been
fully revealed in Louisiana that there
was no intention of resisting Federal
power. The south regarded the cOnstl-
tutioIal amendments % valid and biUd-
ing ss the original instrument The
President, in q message had said that
the south wss pre- 3traled. This fact w9s
the cause of their disquiet Taxation
and oppression had produced this pros
tratiOn. The cOpgrG G9siOnal committee
had testified that no general lntimlda-
ton had occurred. The returning board
of Louisiana had illegally returned
enough Republicans to give majority
in the legislature. The committee on
affairs in Arkansas reported the State
government to be the free choice
of the people, and three hun
dred colOred men held offices there,
elected by the Conservatives. He ap-
pealed to the men Of New HampshjTetO 10
believe these committees and not detest
the southern people. As Anglo-SaXons
the southern people abhOrred desp0tlsm.
Outrages were laid before the New
Hampshire people at this time to intlu-
ence the elections, The committees fad
\ - ! 4 1,Al r-g.Vav
sions were crushing these people, ssad
not a single specific remedy had been
proposed by the Federal government.
Society in the south resisted the en-
croachments Of Federal power by politi-
cal action. Eight hundred thousand Vo-
ters had been created in Ru instant, and
this had disturbed the equanimlty OF the
States, and their high-spirited people
had in some instances resented 1t. Ii
was an adjunct foreign to their sympa-
thies. The blacks held the offices to the
exclusion of the whites, and this drew
lines between them. The government
was responsible for tearing the two races
apart; different action would have unit"
ed them. The first lesson the blacks
learnedswas one Of distrust, and gov
ernment was encouraging this. The ar
row aimed at the south may yet be found
uuivering in New Hampshire. There is
no danger to the Union in the south.
The southern people would not accept a
separate government day were it offered
them. They are thirsting TOR Union
around which they can gather with love.
Grant them self-gOvernment, and they
will govern themselves well.
GoRDON's STATEMENT.
Boston Advertiser, March 9Th.
Senator Gordon, OF Georgia, and
Representative Lamar, of Mississippi,
arrived in this city lest evening, on their
way to New Hampshire, where the
former will speak ia Concord on Mon
day evening, and the latter III Manches-
ter. These gentlemen said, in cODyersa-
ton with an Advertiser reporter last
evening, that they came with feelings
very different from the ordinary feelings
Of politicians. Their people were too
serious to think of mere triumph OF
parties. They were Just in that cOndi
ton when they were willing to embrace
ANYTHING that promised relief and good
government. The sum Of ali they
wanted was honesty in their public
officers. Speaking of the condition of
property in New Orleans, Senator Cor
don, quoting from a letter of lady
friend residing there, said il cost more to
pay the taxes than could be obtained
from rents. The lady continued
in the letter: ave are called a
company of muTdeTers and assassins. |
tell YOU that where one white man can
be found who has committed a murder,
for any cause at all, will name to you
two who have committed suicide from
sheer desperation" This was simply q
a private letter written to friend, with
no expectation that it would be made
public. She subsequently gives long
! list of names of prominent citizens Of
! New Orleans who had gone mad and
| taken their own lives. "It is hOrrid
! state of society and government" add
| ed Mr.. Gordon, that drives people TO
that sort OF resort They had come,
/ he said, with the hope that by an hon
est, plain representation, braced by facts
and by the testimony which they pro-
pose to present, mostly from Republi-
/ can sources, they can show the people
of the north the true condition Of the
/ southern States. They felt sure that
whenever we dldundeTstand, as brave
/ and generous people, with a common
| history and a common destiny with
theirs, we Would not tolerate the abuses
/ to which they were subjected )
the interference OF the Federal admin
| istration. OF course, if they could not
! redeem themselves through the ballot
box they must &c on suffering, but they
wanted the same rights at the ballOt-bOX
as We had. They did not want men
forced upon them by fraudulent cleo
/ tions as was done in Arkansas, as was
done every year in Mississippi, and as
was done last year in Louisiana. They
/ had come here not TO make political
/ speeches, but merely to spread out be-
4 fore the people their condition. Speak
ing of the condition of affairs IN Geor-
gia, he said there had not been q life
taken in that State unless 1t was IN an
infrequent stree5 row. The negroes
lived happily and peaGesbly. he sug-
gested that It was not very good argu-
ment for those who tried to make II ap-
pear that the whites we're hostile TO the
negroes when in this State, where the
former race Outnumbered the latter ioul
to one, quiet reigned. He mentioned as
one significant fact, that the Legislature
appropriated the same amount Of money
for the negro college as for the college
which was the pride Of every Georgian
In all the States the older citizens saw
that the negro, so far from being -Inn
sible, was simply made tool Iu tLt
hands of men who used him fOT tine
own purposes. A bad government Wa