The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-10-06

a pure administration. Yonr statement.
and that OF other gentlemen equally re-
| liable, make it certain that Mr. Hayes
bears an irreproachable character in all
his private relations. / do not doubt
his possession of that negative honesty
which it is disgrace to wal /. accord
him those tame household virtues which
entitle him TO the respect Of his neigh
bors and the confidence of his family;
! but he can no more stem the torrent Of
republican corruption than he can swim
| against the rapids OF Niagara. His
! whole history shows that ne would not
even make an effort to do 80. He has
been most happily called "a man OF
! tired subserviency."
A reformerIn these times must be made
of stern material. He must have no
connection with, and be under no obi
CATION to, the authors of the abuses
which need reform. Above all things,
he must not have consented expressly or
implicitly to the commission OF the pub
lie wrongs which his duties as reiormer
would require him to punish. When
he comes to oppose wickedness IN high
places the consciousness that he himself
is pari delictO will make even a strong
man as nerYeleSS as infancy.
TO show how hard it would be for
man like Mr. Hayes to resist the worst
orders of his own partyj | must cite
case directly in point, and certainly
within your recollection as well as mine.
In the case of Milligan, you made an
eloquent and powerful speech before the
supreme court for those free principles
which ], at the same time, supported in
N,r al,
structible right of every citizen TO a
legal trial; you proved that Magma
Chdrta did not perish on the battlefield;
you demonstrated by irresistible logic
thatthe constitution was as supreme alter
the war as it was before you spurned
with lofty contempt the brutal idea that
law was extinguished by the victory Of
the forces called out to defend it; and
you closed with that grand peroration
on the goddess of liberty, which. If
spoken at Athens in the best days of her
fierce democratic" would have "shook
the arsenal and Illuminated over Greece"
These we're not the words of paid adj
yocate. for you had volunteered in the
case: : nor the sudden emotions of a
neophyte, for YOU had read and pondered
the subject we'll. You spoke the delib-
crate conclusions of your mind, and
there is 10 doubt that in your heart Of
hearts you believe them to be true this
day.
Yet when the reconstruction law was
proposed YOU suffered yourself to be
w1iipped in, surrendered your conscience
to vouf tartY, and voted against your
recorded convictions, for measure that
nullifed every provision of the constitu-
tion. whereby ten millions of people
were deprived of rights which you knew
to I've sacred and inalienabe.
If this was the case, what subser-
viencv may not be expected from Mr..
HAYES, when the party lash comes to be
laid on his back? You are his superior
in every quality that holds a man true
To lublic duty. You have been care
ruIlv s,,hooled in the morality of the
new testament, you have lived all your
life i'm the full blaze of the gospel, you
are gifted with logical acumen which
Few can boast, and with moral courage
FAR above the average. II you fell down
before the Molech of abolitionism, and
gave up all principle at once, what act
IF worship will Hayes deny to that grim
dol?
HoIsTED BY HIS OWN PETARD-
Speaking of reconstruction, and seeing
your broad accusations OF treason, l am
empted to ask if you are sure that you
Yourself and your associates did not
commit that crime.
In March, 1867, the then existing gov
.rnment of the union was supreme all
,yer the country, and every state had
eDarate government of its own for the
administration of its domestic concerns.
That government was entitled then, II 10
yer was TO the universal obedience OF
II citizens. and YOU, its officer, had
aiken n special oath of fidelity to IT.
YOU made deliberate ar
not only to withdraw your
upport from it, but. to overthrow 10
otallv in ten of the states and TINS
-ou did by military force. In all the
outh Won levied war against the nation
nd against the defenseless states, de-
trovcd the free government OF both,
nd substituted in their place an un-
empered and absolute despotism.
Now suppose you had been indicted
Or this. how could you have escaped the
ondemnation of the law? | know your
xcuses, and | can understand your
laims to mercy but what Legal defense
ould Won have made consistent with
our own argument and the decision oil
he court in the MilIigan case
| can not describe to you how un-
leasant is the sensation produced by
our professions Of n desire for peace.
Vhv do YOU not give us peaceIt you are
Wiling we shall have it2 You need
nut to cease hostilities and the general
ranouiity will be restored. You re-
use to do that because peace would
ndanger your party asc: ndency. 10
maintain your plundercrs in power you
ave uniformly resorted to the bayonet
You have made civil war the chronic
of the country wherever
ou have displaced liberty, fraternity
nd equality, and given nothing instead
nut infantry, artillery and cavalry. You
re Mt this moment openly engaged IN q.
your battalions for armed M
ervention in the struggle of the people
nth the carpet-baggers.
What makes this worse IS your Closing
eclaration that you will take no steps
ackward. There is to be no repent
nee. no change Of policy, and conse-
uontly no peaceful or honest govern
,ent. Onward" j" you say, is the word
what? TO more war, more
lunder, more oppression, more unlVeT,
Al bankruptcy, heavier taxes and sui
.orse frauds on htc public treasury?
J. s. BLACK.