New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-07-29
Especial Correspondence of the Republican.
NORTHERN POLITICS.
The New Peril.

1
NORTHERN POLITICS..
The New Peril.
| Boston, July 20, 1876.
The massacre of colored citizens at Ham
burg in South Carolina continues to excite
deeply the public mind, not SO much on ac-
count of the occurrence itself as because
OF its peculiar relations and because of the
year in which it occurred. 1t is related to
the question of credibility as this affects
| the case now on trial before the American
people. This case, in legal parlanc may
| be said to be Southern Republicans vs.
| Southern Confederates' on the charge Of
systematic political assassination. In this
| case the plaintiff has heretofore failed to
| less fair trial before an impartial jury.
| The respectability of the defendant, his
! social position, and the ability of his ceun-
| sci, added to his loud protestations Of inno-
cence, have served to blind justice to the
marits OF the plaintiffs case. Furthermore,
the aforesaid defendant very early in the
| proceedings commenced a counter action
against the plaintiff and succeeded in so
discreditirg the party of the first part
that anything like fair trial
in the premises was not to be
expected. The occurrence at Hamburg has
altered all this. The ''respectoble' de-
fendant, blood-stained, self-convicted, and
detected in the very act, now stands before
the public as the real criminal in this
Southern business. Adroit, powerful we'll
defended, it is true, but not the less pO-
litical assassin, both confessed and proven.
Then, again the ''year' imparts to the
Hamburg massacre an exceptional interest.
This is the presidential year, when, to
use an expression current in trade, the
American people take stock" AL mat
ters, both great and small, are now
overhauIed and examined. Matters of
national, and even of State inter-
est, which, during the past four years
have been allowed to occur without special
concern are now subjected to the closest
scrutiny. Among these matters are the po-
litical occurrences which have transpired
during the last four years in the Southern
States of the Union. Among these occur
rences is the political assassination of South
ern Republicans, white and black alike,
added to an organized armed purpose to
hold down the colored citizens of the late
slave States by force. The motive for this
policy is charged by Southern Republicans
as being ct a two-fold nature. /. The
negro is the victim of race hate.
=. His Suppression as q political force
in Southern society is demanded in
the interest of the Northern Democratic
party. These charges have eretofore been
vehemently denied by the Confederate
Democratic leaders The Southern Con-
federate declares that he not only loves the
negro, but that he is his only and steadfast
friend. The Northern Democrat declares
that he deprecates the policy of Southern
sectionalism. These disclaimers have been
very generally accepted in good faith as
true by the Northern people, simply be-
investigate the facts of the case. The
presidential year, however, brings out
thorough investigation, and 10! in the
very midst of this investigation comes
the Hamburg massacre to confirm all that
the Southern Republicans have ever charged
upon the Confederate league. 1t is as if
criminal should first murder an innocent
man at the door of the courthouse on court
day, and then stalk into the presence of the
Judge and with bloody uplitted hands defy
him to his face. All that has ever been
said about the bloody shirt" will now be
called to mind. The evidence on the Re-
publican side of the Mississippi case will
now be accepted without further question.
The nation now sees that it is dealing with
murder-with armed. organized, widespread
resistance to national authority and that
in fifteen States Of the Union the laws are
defed, life rendered insecure and the flag
trample1 under foot.
But Notwithstanding all this the policy
of peace will be pursued by the Republican
leaders. These leaders know that it will
never do to take the Confederate league
in hand, by military action, except in con-
nection with policy of Southern recon.
struction. which shall begin de noco, at the
point of Lees surrender. Such policy, to
be effective, must be backed by the whole
power of the nation, as it involves remand
ing the late Confederate States back
to territorial condition. The wiser and
safer policy on the part of the Republican
party, therefore. is to proceed with the
work Of peace en- which it has entered,
holding the national government in the
meanwhile, and pushing the agencies of
education and material development in each
Southern State, in every direction.
This condition of political affairs de-
wolves tremendous responsibility on the
conservative portion of Southern society.
This is 80 because this state of things forces
the nation face to face with one of the
two following alternatives:
l. Either the triumph of the Confederate
Democratic coalition, with negro serfdom
as its corner stone and resecionalized
South as the seat of its political power; or,
2. The territorial reconstruction Of the
late Confederate States under q congress
ional Republican protectorate.
In the face of altimatives like these, it is
needless to say, what the North will do,
and if it will not not do its duty volun-