The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1876-09-21

! Try during the whole of the struggle
l nor "llef II; no man was executed
5 lor treason; no man was tried
Ihere was no eXpatriation, no exile,
: no contiScatiOn after the war. The
, only revenge which the conouerino
r nation gratificd was this: In saving
to the South "You may como bacL;
to your full place in the Union when
you DO these things; join with the
, other States in putting into the Con
t stitution Il provision that the nation
al debt shall never be rcpudiated; ;
that your rebel war debt shall never
be paid; and that all men, without
regard to race or color, shall stand
; equal before the law; not in suffrage,
but in civil rights; that these great
guarantees of liberty and public faith
shall be lifted above the reach of
. political parties, above the legisla-
ton of States, above the legislation
of Congress, and shall be set in the
! serene armament of the Constitution,
to shine as lights forever And un-
der that equal sky, under the light
of that equal sun, all men, of what
ever race or color, shall stand equal
before the law"
That was the plan of reconstruc-
tion offered to those who had been in
rebellion, offered by generous and
brave nation; and | challenge the
world TO show an act of equal gener-
osity to conquered people. What
answer did he meet? BY the advice
of Andrew Johnson, bad adviser,
backed by the advice of the northern
democracy, a still worse adviser, ten
of the eleven States lately in rebel
lion contemptuously rejected the
plan Of reconstruction embraced in
the fourteenth amendment of the
Constitution. They would have none
O! it; they had been invited by their
northern allies to stand out, and
were told that when the democracy
came into power they should be per
mitted TO come back to their places
without guarantees or conditions.
This brings us to 1868. Had the
transformation occurred then? For
remember, gentlemen, | am search
ing for the date of the great trans
formation similar to that which has
taken place in the gentleman from
Mississippi. We do not find it in
1868. On the contrary, in that year,
we find Frank P. Blair, of Missouri,
writing these words, which, a few
days after they were written, gave
him the nomination for the Vice
Presidency on the democratic ticket:
There is but one way to restore govern
mentS and the Constitution: and that is
for the President elect to declare all
these acts.
And the constitutional amendment with
them
to declare all these acts null and void,
compel the Army to undo its usurpations
at the South, and disperse the carpet-bag
State governments and allow the white
people to re-organiZe their own govern
ments and elect Senators and Represen-
tatives.
Because he wrote that letter he was
nominated for Vice President for the
Democratic party. Therefore, as late as
July, 1868, the transformation had not
occurred
Had it occurred in 1872? In 1871
and 1872 all the amendments of the Con-
stitution had been adopted, against the
stubborn resistance of the northern and
southern Democracy | call you to wit
ness that, with the exception of three or
four Democratic Representatives who
voted for the abolition of slavery, the
three great amendments, the thirteenth,
the fourteenth and the fifteenth, met the
determined and united opposition of the
Democracy of this country Each of the
amendments now so praised by the gen
tleman, was adopted against the whole
weight of your resistance. And two years
after the adoption of this last amendment
in many Of your State platforms, they
were declared to be null and void.
In 1871 and 1872 occurred through
out the South these dreadful scenes en-
acted by the ku-klux organization, of which
will say only this, that man facile prtn-
ceps among the Democrats of the slave
holding States, ReverAy Johnson, who
was sent down to defend those who were
indicted for their crimes, held up his hands
in horror at the shocking barbarities that
had been perpetrated by his clients upon
negro citizens. refer to the evidence of
that eminent man, as a sufficient proof of
the character of that great conspiracy
against the freedom of the colored race.
So the transformation had not come in
the days of ku-kluk of 1871 and 1872.
Had it come in 1878 and the beginning
of 1874? Had it come in the State of
Mississippi? Had it come in one quarter
of the States lately in rebellion? Here
is report from an honorable committee
of this House, signed by two gentlemen
who are still members, Mr.. Conger and
and Murlbut-a report made .as late as
December, 1874, in which there is disclos-
ed, by innumerable witnesses, the proof
that the white line organization, an armed
military organization formed within the
Democratic party, had leagued themselves
together to prevent the enjoyment Of
suffrage and equal rights by the colored
men of the South. Without OBTAINING
the House to read them now, I will quote
two or three paragraphs from that report
dated December IA, 1874, and printed
House document No. 265.
:. THE WHITE LINE"
This interior organization has not yet
assumed definitely in the State of Missis-
sippi such precise form and so distinct an
existence as in the State Of Louisiana, but
is unquestional ly an extension into Mis-
sissippi Of the "White League" organiZa-
ton, whose headquarters are in New Or
leans. In Warren county il is called the
: "White Line" and by thHt name is famil-
iarly spoken of by the leading papers of
Vicksburg, as well rs by some of the
prominent witnesses before this commit
tee 1t is also known as Peoples Clubs"
but in all instances the reformation Of the
clubs or civil organization is accompanied
by establishing within the clubs them
selves military organization, oflicered,
equipped and armed ...... .
Thus the clubs and the taxpayers league
are open associations apparently directed
toward objects in which all citizens might
lawfully unite, but controlled from within
by the military and partiZan organizations
whose purposes are special and unlawful.
The purpose of these clubs or white
line companies are these. as they are
openly avowed or secretly cherished:
) l. They are first to make census and
enrolment of all the white men in the
State. .. .....
2. To incorporate into the interior mil
itary organizations all the whites who will
; join with them
3. To set aside, by whatever means
may be necessary, the election of colored
men to office, and to nullify in practice
the enabling and enforcement acts OF Con.
, gress, granting and enforcing the right OF
all citizens, without distinction OF color
to hold offices, if properly elected to them.
A. To allow none but white men to be
elected to office or to hold office.
: And how was it about the same time
+ and even later in other States? Here is a
| report upon Louisiana, the report from
, which the gentleman quoted, a report