National Republican., 1876-10-28
RETRospEcTryE AND PROPHETIC.

RETROSPECTIVE AND PROPHETIC.
History presents no instance where
conquered people were treated with the
magnanlmity and generosity that was be-
slowed upon the adhereats of the state
rights theory at the close Of the war. They
were not eTen required 10 pay the e1;
penses of that war. Al that was asked of
them wss that they render due allegiance
to the Government which for four long
years they had fought to destroy, and that
they pay their quota Of the nstional debt
And Just here was where the blunder was
committed that Talleyrand would have
pronounced to have been worse than
crime True, as an Offset to the expected
opposition OF the old Southern leaders, the
ballot was conferred upon the 1ew-made
citizen, but ther, by some fatal oversight,
his prerogatives were not adequately
guarded, and to-day we behold him vir-
tually disfranchised d in the States lately in
rebellion, in many of which he is hunted
as the beasts of the field, and subjected to
iudignities and wrongs which disgrace our
beasted civilization. The Inscriptions
Southern leaders saw in the new order of
affairs a political bonsrza for their commu-
mites. The accession of four millions OF
citizens to the body polite Of the South
entitled that section TO an increase in rep
resentation upon the floors of Congress,
and they did not long parley amongst
themselves as to the ways and means to be
devised before they resolved upon the
adoption of the infamous "shot-gu pol
ICY" This plan was inaugurated in
Georgia in 1870, under the immediate di-
rection of Toombs, Hill and Gordon, and
so effectually was the negro driven to the
support of the Democratic ticket that the
last-named gentleman, who had been the
Grand Cyclops of the Kusklux Klans, was
rewarded for his exertions against human
rights with seat in the United States Sen
ate. Instead of ftelling this lawbreaker that
his proper sphere was not In the Senate,
that the nation would not submit to 50 gross
an insult as seeing him in one of the most
exalted offices of the Republic, he was well
coined with outstretched hands by dough
faces and patriots alike. Bayard greeted
him because he despised the Union, and
had fought TO destroy il, and after his
Improbable life had been spared, success
fully connived at the disfranchisement Of
the black man, while loyalists like Sum
ner, welcomed him US one of the means
necessary to bridge the bloody chasm.
He holds his seat 81 the sacrifice of the lib
critics of the colored people OF Georgia, but
those who know his unenyiable anteee-
dents regard him as political monster,
guilty of every offense in the political dec
alogue. Texas, Arkansas and other South
ern States were similarly regained 10 the
Democracy, when, enboldened by their
successes, they inaugurated civil war in
Mississippi, bidding defiance TO the law,
both national and State, and finally added
that Common wealth to the 'tsoiid South"
combination. All Of these wrongs were
inflicted, despite the constitutional man
date which guarantees a republican form
of government to the several States. Were
republican forms Of government existing in
Georgia, Arkansas and Mississippi when
ruffians in paint and in disguise, led or in
spired by such men as Gordon and Lamar,
seized the innocent negroes, insulting, rob-
biDg and numbering them? When entire
communities were under the blighGug
shadows of the Ku-Klux klans, surely the
highest order Of despotism prevailed And
what do we behold to-day? In the State
of South Carolina there is an armed con-
spiracy against everything and everybody
not in accord with the reasonable designs
of the moral and financial bankrupt, Wade
Hampton. Under the guise of free dis
cussion the villainous supporters of Tilden
appear at Republican meetings, armed
in every conceivable way, and demand
'fhalf of the time" following up their de-
mands by the exhibition Of weapons Of
death. When the President at last inter-
poses to prevent the wholesale slaughter of
American citizens, the Democratic press
raises a cry of horror, and their dough
face allies in the North take up the refrain.
In many instances the masses. who have
grown callous to the sufferings of their Re
publican fellow citizens of the South, are
influenced in behalf of the conspirators,
and evince an ten-expressed disposition to
see the negro fall, if he cannot stand by aid
of the amendments to the Constitution.
They lose sight of the fact that in Georgia,
Arkansas, Mississippi and other Southern
States the constitutional amendments are
entirely disregarded, and that the new
made citizen scarcely dares admit that his
soul is his own. To sum up, as the law
yers say, the grand mistake was made when
the Southern States were permitted to
again enter the Union upon any terms.
They severed their connection with it TO
wage relentless war upon the nation, and
should have been kept out for several de-
cades as territorial provinces. The, ease
with which they paid the penalty Of their
treason and obtsined admission to the halls
of Congress made them lose all respect for
their conquerors, and they never fail TO ex-
hibit that contempt when occasion offers.
The country to-day presents pitiful spec
tacle. The States of the North are bent
upon healing up the breaches OF the war,
while the South seems resolved to remand
the negro to servitude. Treason stalks
abroad, and the large clsss in the South
who watched and prayed for the coming OF
our flag are driven into hiding places. For
eight years has the comparative peace oil
the country been maintained by the iron
nerve of President Grant. Whether or not
the nation will have cause to put on addi-
tional habiliments Of mourning when Cen
eral Grant retires from the Office which he
has so ably filed remains to be seen. The
South has at last secured her long coveted
''balance Of power" and unless recon
structed at an early day viii wage unceasing
opposition against the States Of the East and