National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-08-14
HATRED OF THE coLoREp RACE.

The hatred of the negro. which is the
foundation of all Democratic inspiration
and aspiration, is the same among the out
spoken adherents of that party in the North
as it is in the South. 1t is this hatred as
much as anything else that prompts the
Democratic opposition to the constitutional
amendments, to the superior authority of
which they falsely declare their obedience.
Among the latest disciples of this belief
brought to the surface by the emergencies
of the political situation is "Shep" Leffler,
the Democratic candidate for Governor of
Iowa. Like old Bill Allen, of Ohio, LETTER
has been resurrected from the political
grave in which he was buried during the
war, and is now raying about the State
making loud mouthed declarations of ad-
herence to the newly discovered principles
of his party. His last appearance in public
life was in 1S47, when he held discussion
with Gen. Wilson. at Cascade, Iowa. In
that debate Gen. Wilson expressed the
conviction that the time was coming when
men "would blush at the awful crime of
"human slavery, misses and cheers, ] and
"the very men who hiss at my words to
ebay" said he, ''will welcome the negro
to his freedom" To all of which LETTER
made the following reply:
"My friend (pointing to WILSON, speaks of
human slavery Does he call s Niger human!
Had he said the awful crime of Niger slav-
ery,' his words would have been an insult to
the intelligent audience, but when he speaks
of niger slavery as human slavery he but
adds falsehood to insult-or else superior igno-
nance of that least intelligent of all the brute
creation-the Niger. He would have you turn
these animals loose upon the communicates,
more, he would make them free citizens of
Washington's and Jefferson's great Republic,
and then, no doubt, he would send them to
Congress-niggers in Congress, think of it;
and then after my fanatical friend had freed
the niggers, he wanted to free the dogs-say-
ing with Just as much propriety that 1t was
too bad to keep them in human slavery
Icheers and cries of good, and ofthe two an!-
mails, believe the dog is the most intelligent
This is white mans government, and dogs
and niggers shall never run In. Nor abolition
lists either! He says the time is coming when
will blush at these words. The gentleman
mistakes me. l love my country and her God
given institutions too well for that: may this
arm fall lifeless by my side if I ever tolerate
the thought of negro freedom! When that
time comes want to die. shall have lived
long enough"
1t is not only instructive, but amusing,
to unearth these almost forgotten declara-
tons of Democratic leaders at this time,
because it puts them on the defensive
against themselves when they attempt to
seek the votes of the blacks. For ex-
ample, the Pittsburg Commercial! treats
the foregoing extract from Letters ante
6eIIum speech as follows:
"Well, that time has come, and, strange to
say, LETTER does not want 10 die. He wants,
on the contrary, to be Governor of Iowa, and
he wants the ringers he despised so much in
lS47 to vote for him! OF course, he denies
the paternity of the dirty speech he then
made, and tries to lie out of it; but the record
is against him. The debate, as 1t occurred. is
| in print, and no amount of lying will wipe
out the record of it. Besides, does 1t not
sound perfectly naturall All of US whose
| recollections go back to that date can re-
call the memory of dozens OF such speeches,
and Letter was no better than the rest. But
he should have kept his word, and died when
the event he so much dreaded came to pass.
He has no business to be alive to-day; and If
he has been false to his pledge to shuttle off
his mortal coil when the negroes were en-
franchised he might, at least, have the grace
to stick to what be said generation ago. 1t
was mean enough to refuse to die, as he
promised, but it is still meaner to deny the
utteTances that came so naturally from his
lips"