National Republican., 1876-10-25
THE SOUTH.

THE SOUTH.
1t is very hard TO get the people of the
Northern States to understand the situation
of sffairs in the South. We are often asked
the question, "Why is it, if there are such
"large Republican msjorities in the States
"of South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisi-
" ana, thst these msjorities can be intimi-
" dated and overawed by the minorities p
The answer to this is very plain. Any SOL
der who met the late rebels on the battle
field can answer it. And it does not i'm
pugn the courage of the Southern Repub-
Iicans. Soldiers know that unorganiZed and
urarmed men, no matter how brave or in
what numbers, cannot contend successfully
with well org anized, armed and equally
brave men. The Democrats of the South
are well organized and armed. They be-
long to. the white race. The Republicans
are disorganized and unarmed. Besides
this, the large majority of them are colored
men. They have been for generations in
slavery to the very whites whom they now
find armed and organized against them.
Is it any wonder that they are driven from
the polls in terror-that they fear to hold
political meetings when it is known that
these meetings will be attended by bodies
of armed rufians, who on the slightest ex-
cuse will commence shooting down all Re-
publicans? Thousands of good citizens in
New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore are
deferred from attending the polls and po-
litical meetings because they fear the Dem
ocrstic roughs who congregate at these
places and Vilify or assault respectable men
who desire to vote These thousands would
be multiplied, if instead of mere abuse or
simple assaults the roughs should use the
deadly revolver or Winchester rifle. Yet
those men in the North who are thus de-
prived of the right of franchise are white
men, the descendants of freemen. How
much more is it to be expected that the
negroes can be intimidated as they have
been by the means of which we have
spoken.
There is another class of Northern men
who may be called doubling Thom8ses."
They doubt the reports made by Southern
Republicans of the outrages in the South.
They cast imputations upon the veracity
or courage of the men who make these re-
ports. They take as true the reports of the
Associated Press and the lying ISLANDERS of
the Southern Democrats. They seem to
forget that committee after committee of
Congress have confirmed by sworn testi-
mony all that has been said by the South
ern Republicans about the conduct of the
Democrats. They do not remember that
one distinguished Democratic lawyer,
Reyerdy johnson, declined, after examin-
ing the testimony, to defend some of the
banditti who had been arrested and were
on trial for their crimes, and that another,
Roger A. Pryor, advised Gov. Ames, who
was his client, to resign, as it made no diff
ference whether anything was proven
against him or not the Mississippi Senate
would find him guilty. Nothing has been
more clearly established as fact than the
existence OF these outrages, yet it is not
uncommon to find these doubters.
Still another class is found who hold the
Republicans of the South responsible for
the condition. These men consider all
Southern Republicans as disreputable and
dishoDest-mean scallawags or contempt
ible carpet bsggers, and the cause of the
alleged bad character of the Republicans.
They hold the party in the South respon-
sible for the condition of affairs there.
With such men we have no patience. We
do not propose to defend the personal
character of every Republican in the
South, any more than we would the char
acter of all the Republicans of the North;
but we do know that in the South there are
thousands of native born, as well as North
ern-born men, who, in point of character,
compare favorsbly with the same number
from other sections. That there are dis
honest and disreputable men among the
Southern Republicans is unquestionably
true, but not more than among those of
the North, and not tithe as many as
among the Democrats, both South and
North. The attempt to fix the response
bility of Southern outrages upon the
Southern Republicans is q shallow device
of the Democracy, and would be unworthy
of notice or refutation but that some re-
spectacle men North have been deceived
by it.
The truth is that the Democratic leaders,
the Gordons, Ben Hills, Lsmars, Wade
Hamptons and others of that class, are the
really responsible men. While they may and
possibly do not usually take any personal
part in the murder of men for opinion ssake,
they do not discourage it. They openly
consort with the men who do these acts,
and they privately applaud them for doing
them; otherwise they would not be done.
The Northern people must understand
these facts before they can fully appreciate
the condition of affairs South. The remedy
is partly with them and partly with the
Southern Republicans. The latter should
assert themselves more boldly-should put
themselves in communication with the
people of the North, and by this means
prove the falsity of the Democratic charges,
while the former should discard the preju-
dices born of Democratic lies, aud judge of
men and affairs in the South from the evi-
dence before them.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
The Congressional districts of New York,
Pennsylvania, Illinois and other States
that xvpra offanfad b1v tho GI;da1 rrovaSS of