The New York herald., 1876-07-18
An Opportunity for Governor Tndsn.

Iue I1hnuuIS AudssdcIe gives NONCiAoA
Tilden text from which, if he knows how
he may in his letter of acceptance preach
an important lesson to the Southern whites
and draw a conclusion which will gain him
many votes in the North. The people Of
the Northern States are very tired of the
States and the continual calls for federal in
reference which it involves They would
very much like to see those States manage
their own local affairs, ns Northern States
do, and would be delighted with any peace
able and just settlement Of the Southern
difficulties. Indeed, they would gladly turn
over those States to their inhabitants and
get rid of the Southern question" entirely,
precisely as our democratic friends urge
should be done But just when everybody
is ready to agree to this comes some affair
like the Coushatta assassination, the Clinton
riot in Mississippi and now this brutal Ham
burg killing, to make not only every republi-
loves justice and fair play, grit his teeth
and resolve in his heart that it is
mot yet time for the democrats to
come in" For there is no doubt that
in all these cases Southern democrats shoot
the blacks and Southern democratic public
opinion is silent or utters but mild and
half-hearted rebuke; and the Northern voter,
reading of unarmed and defenceless negro
prisoners shot down in cold blood or mutt
lated after DEATH under republican regime
which does distinctly sympathize with the
blacks, wonders what savagery may not be
committed in the South if the federal ad-
ministration were in democratic hands.
This question, What would be the atti-
tude of democratic administration toward
the brutal and lawless class in the Southern
States? is an important and indeed vital
one in this canvass. So far the Northern
democratic leaders have not dealt squarely
with it. They loudly declaim about carpet
bag misgovernment; they fiercely talk about
local self-government- that is to say, they
utter noisy truisms, but they do not talk to
the point, and we here suggest to Governor
Tilden that he has in this Hamburg brutality
an excellent opportunity to meet and answer
q question which is in the mind of every
humane and Christian voter who thinks of
supporting Governor Tilden on all other
grounds, but hesitates on this Suppose
Mr.. Tilden in the White House and another
Hamburg massacre. what would he do?
What would be his attitude? What his
action?
That there will be more or less---and prob
ably more than less-of rioting and murder
in the wilder parts Of the South after the
election of the democratic ticket is matter
undoubted by many Southern democrats.
The Southern rough is an illiterate whiskey-
drinking brute, but one remove above one
Of Sitting Bulls Sioux. He is not amenable
to the decent public opinion of the region
he infests, because that is cowed and
does not ut the best amount to
what we call public opinion here. He
fancies himself gentleman" and there
is nobody in his neighborhood to dispute
his opinion; and his political theory is that
if only the democratic party can get into
power at Washington he may go around in
sulting and tyrannizing over and stealing
from ''the niggers" as much as he pleases,
and shooting them if they complain. He is
law-abiding body of white citizens, and,
with his political notions, if Governor Til
den were elected he would run amuck.
What does the Governor mean to do about
this creature if he should be elected Pres
ident? Will he regard him as democratic
camp follower, whose eccentricities must be
overlooked for the sake of the party, and
who ''may not be SO much in the
wrong, after all-there is something to
be said on both sides?" or will he
regard him as simply savage, whom
he will cause to be hunted down and shot on
the very first opportunity, and with no more
hesitation than he would have about shoot
ing rattlesnake? This is a question which
we put to Governor Tilden, in the interest
not only of the negroes, but of the decent
and respectable white people in the South,
and more yet in the interest of the demo-
cratic party, which cannot succeed if its
leader does not now reply to this question
without the least evasion. 1t will not avail
to say that misgovernm has infuriated
the Southern people, because that is not
true. The main body of the Southern
whites are inclined to peace. They own
property ; they cultivate crops; they have
families, and all their interests are
for peace, which means prosperity
They are soured by misgovernment,
but they are not murderers nor brutes
The class which gets up riots and shoots
and mutilates negroes forms but small
part of the Southern community 1t is
simply lawless, whiskey-drinking, gam
bling class of rufians, who live by violence
and who terrorize over the whites as well as
the blacks, though they have prudence
enough to rob and shoot mainly the latter.
Suppose another Hamburg riot after Gov