The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-06-30

Il
;. the blacks and upon their new bor,
capidlty; they used remorselesSlv tin
Vilest tools for the vilest purposes the,
i. encouraged disorder, 80 that they mich
u more efectually appeal to the fedora
: power and to the Northern people fo
!. help to maintain them in the places the,
:. so grossly and shamelessly abused.
!. UNHAPPY LOUISIANA.
: The injury done to q community b,
+ the total failure of its rulers to maintaii
. order, repress crime and execute Justice
. Is more seriously felt in Louisiana thar
IN any other Of the four States of which
l am speaking. 1t Is a wonder to m,
that society has not entirely gone t.
pieces IN that State; and am persuaded
that It's white population possesses un
commonly high qualities when see that
IN spite of an incredible misgovernment
which encouraged every vice and crime
which shamelessly corrupted the very
fountains and sources Of justice, and
made the rulers a terror to the peaceably
inclined; in spite of this, order and peace
have been gradually restored and are
now maintained, and this by the efforts
OF the people alone, and in spite of their
rulers. No thoughtful man can see
Louisiana as 1t is to-day without gaining
Q high respect for its white people. The
State is to-day as fit for enforcement
as Ohio or New York The attitude of
| the races there toward each other is es-
sentially kindly, and only the continuous
efforts of black and white demagogues of
the basest kind keep them apart polite
ally. The majority of the white people
Of the State are well disposed, anxious
for an upright government, ready to help
honest and wise rulers, if they could only
| get them to maintain peace and order. I
sincerely believe that whenever they are.
relieved from federal oppression-and in
their case it is the worst kind of oppression
they Will set up a government essen
TALLY honest and just, and will deal fairly
and justly with the colored citizens.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS AC-
CEPTED.
4. There is not, in any part Of the four
States of which l speak, any desire for a
new war; any hostility to the Union, any
even remote wish to re-enslave the blacks,
and hope or expectation of repeating any
constitutional amendments, or in any way
curtailing the rights of the blacks as citi-
zens. The former shareholders under
stand perfectly that the blacks cannot be
re- enslaved They would drive US out
of the country if they thought we were
about to re-enslave them. They are
quiet and peaceable people, except when
they are exasperated but then they are
terrible. A black mob is a ruthless and
savage thing, said Southern man to me;
and another remarked. +" IF ever you, in
the North, want to re-enslave the negroes
you must give us three months notice, so
that we may all move out, with our wives
and children. They were source of
constant anxiety to us when we held
them in slavery. To attempt to re-en-
slave them would be only to invite them
to murder US and lay the country
waste"
In Mississippi alone did I find politi-
clans silly enough to talk about the
Caucasian race and the natural inca
pacity of the negro for selfgovernment;
and even there the best republicans told |
me that these noisy Democratic demago- |
CUES were but small, though aggres- |
sive and not unpowerful, minority; and |
even in Mississippi strong republican,
a federal law officer, an honest and faith
full man, assured me that the northern
half of the State, which is the most prone
to occasional violence and disorder, is to-
day, to his personal knowledge, as peace
full and orderly as any part of New York
or Ohio.
THE COLOR LINE A CALAMITY.
5. The division of political parties on
the race or color line has been a great
calamity to the Southern States. 1t had
its origin in the refusal of the Southern
whites, after the war, to recognize the
equal political rights of the blacks and
their attempts, in State Legislatures, to
pass laws hostile to them. This folly has
been bitterly regretted by the wiser men
in the South. A Mississippian said to
me, /" 1t was great blunder. We could
have better afforded to educate and train
the colored people and fit them for the
duties of citizenship, than to have had
them alienated from us" He was right;
it was great, though probably an newt
able, blunder. 1t flung the negro into
the hands of the so-called republicans in
the Southern States, and these, by adroit-
" appealing to his fears and to his graft
tude to the federal government and by en-
couraging his desire for official power and
spoils, have maintained the color line in
politics and by its means kept themselves
in power.
1t il an indisputable fact that there can
be no permanent and beneficial settlement
of political questions in any Southern
State until the color line is broken
While the white vote, or the greater part
of it. is massed on one side, and the black
vote, or the greater part of 1t, on the
other. as is still the case in Louisiana.
Mississippi, and Alabama, it is impossi-
bic to get good government, for the po-
Htical issues will, of necessity, be fair,
and will have no relation to any real
question of administration, but only to
questions of race.
THE INJURY DONE BY FEDERAL INTERFER-
ENCE.
But it is the federal interference un der
the enforcement acts, and that alone,
which enables INSCRIPTIONS politicians to
mass the negro vote upon one side, and
to use it for their own ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
The great mass of Southern colored vo-
voters are illiterate; they are easily I'M
pressed by exhibitions of power; they
| are readily alarmed about their safety,
and. like all ignorant masses, they are
very ant to follow leader. The repub-
Iican leader has always the United States
government to back him. Packard
Chairman of the Republican State tx
ecutive Committee of Louisiana, has, as
Marshal. the absolute command Of feder-
Al troops in Louisiana. Spencer, United
States Senator from Alabama and repub-
lican leader in that State, runs up to
Louisville and secures for the asking sew
eral companies of infantry and cavalry,
to be stationed in Alabama, at time
TT-.&aI Cta4or Marshal tpStI.