The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-08-31

stituton, The very first principle OF
government your new.madc citizens saw
in operation was the principle Of race
discrimination. The very first lesson in
civil government which they learned was
the pr0scrip ption Of the white race as an
object of political distrust and resent.
ment,
The strange spectacle OF these two
races locally interminglcd, bound togcth-
er by the strongest ties Of interestand al
icction, yet rs completely separated po-
liticaIly rs ifa deep gulf had sunk be-
tween them; the passions incident to
party contests in which the contestants
differ not in convictions, but in race, and
now charged as one of the heavy items
against the south, find their authorship
and origin in the Legislation of the GOV
crnmcnt and the actiOnOt its agents. One
momnts consideration will convince any
iarmind Of this. The measure devised
for the sole benefit, protection, and asccn-
dency Of one race will surely command
the support of that race; and if the same
policy disfranChi,cS the other race, hurls
from its proud tradition into Il condition
rite with all the element, Of humiliation
and dcprvcs it even Of its ancient
guarantee against OppessiOn OF mhilra-
ry power, the inevitable effect ispcrtorcc
to drive that race into opposition to those
measures. Thus, | repeat, by policy
which drew one race TO it, support and
drove the other into opposition, the sep
aration of the two was produced without
the voluntary agency Of either and
against the natural tendencies Of BOTH
The report Of every investigating com.
mittcc sent to the south confirms this;
for, sir, the south has been
SUBJECTED To AN ORDEAL
that no other community in the world
has ever been subjected TO. 1t has been
uncovered and subjected to Il microscope
investigation into all the details Of its
society | hold in my hand report
made by Messrs. lloar, Frycand Wheeler
in which, speaking ofthc state of thing,
in Louisiana, one of the causes there
mentioned in the fact that the admtuis-
tration party is made up by passing to.
gcther almost entirely the black vote
with few whites, largely from other
states These few whites largely from
other states are a class Of men who came
~ agents of tho irCcdman'S bureau,
thence transferred to the military de-
from which they were carried
over by the bGyonet to the recon.
Structcd civil government. And there |
they have been maintained by the |
power of the federal government ever
since, gOrging themselves with the spoil,
Of that plundcrcd people until recently |
their grasps upon our throatS has bee,
broken by the protecting :orcc OF an en-
Iightcncd public sentiment at the north |
md west. 1t is not my purpose to de-
scribe the character of the governments |
which resulted from this policy. | call |
attention simply to two principles they |
embodied. Gibbon, in his history OF
Rome, speaking of Egypt, says that the
most absurd and oppressive system oi
government that can be conceived OF Is
that which subjects the natives Of II
to the domination Of its own
slaves. john Stuart Mill, in his work on
representative, says that Il govern |
mcnt administered by rulers re-
lponsible to the governed may be |
4 good government according to
the character Of the constituency |
which it represents; but that Il govern
ment administered by rulers whoMc not
responsible to the people OF the govern
mcnt, but to some other community or