Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-12-14

hua iukcns0 SAetleWbUb. IutTo LAS
been nothing like it since the NOM
inal surrender of the South at Ap>
pomattox, except the black week
that witnessed The assassination Of
Lincoln, and the stormy week in
which johnson was impeaohed. Sem
sation has succeeded sensation, with
Kaleidoscope swiftness and variety !;
and the changes in this living kaled-
oacope have been mado by human
hopes and human fears ; by snake
like craft and tigor-like ferocity-
the devious tricks Of the demagogue
and the manly resolution of the
patriot. The election OF new Dem
ocratic Speaker; his consistently
inconsistent decisions -defying the
rules ofjustico by obeying the rul-
ings of the caucus ; the national
triumph achieved in the "honest
count of the votes" of Republican
Louisiana, Republican, Florida, and
Republican South Carolina the con-
slant danger Of a bloody conflict of
races and of parties at New Orleans
and at Columbia; the orang-outaDg
device of the Democrats of Oregon
which is the strongest proof get
| offered of some mems descent from
the monkey, and demonstration
that it will need centuries before
I Governor Grover ascends To one :
the appointment of a Democratic in
vestigation into the recent elections
in three Of the Gulf States, and the
refusal of the House to extend it's
operations into Mississippi the
mastery and patriotic movement OF
Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, to
institute inquiries into the methods
by which at least five millions OF
American citizens in the ex rebel
States have been cheated out of th cir
electoral rights Sherman's Louisi.
ana report and the fierce debate on
it; Ingalls, resolution for tho calling
of National Constitutional Conveu-
ton MortoB's renewal of an amend
ment for reform in the mode oil
electing orr Chief Magistrates the
Presidents Message the reports Of
the Departments /; the threat of i'm.
peaching Grant; the election oil
Hayes and Wheeler; the grave Con-
stitutional issues that have arisen
from recent complications, ard the
rapid development Of the now South
ern Conspiraoy-these are the CHIEF
but not the only transoendent topics
that the annals of the week present
A full catalogue of them would FL
one letter.
WENDELL PHILLIPS OWL STORY.
But if we act like the fanatic in
Wendell Phillips Owl Story we
ehal neither be dazed nor confused
by these novel and dazzling compli.
cations 10 our National affairs. A
farmer (said PhiIlps) saw an owI
on his barn. He shot at it. The
wadding from the gun sat the hay
on fire. The barn was burned
down. When the news went to the
village knot of men talked about
it. One didn't see how the wadding
could have set fire to the hay
Another wondered whether the pro
perty was insured A third saw 8
mice legal question:" Would the in
surance company pay up when il
should be shown chat the owner him
self was the 'innocent cause" of thG
fire A fourth inquired, What the
loss was There was a fierce debate
Suddenly, in q lull of the talk, an ole
fellow asked did he shoot The
owl ?" That man (said Phillips
was fanatic he was not to be lee
astray by side issues
THE NEW REBELLION
So, the rebel rabble in Congress
and out, are trying to hide the rea
question of the day behiud a phan.
tom host of false or irrelevant issues
Don't let us be fooled by them. Lei
Us keep our eye on the owl They
failed to whip the nation in battle
They are now trying to defeat its
will in politics The tiger is fox
now. Fraud has succeeded force
The old rebel leaders. by terrorism
and fraud, have established a des,
potism in nearly all of the Gulf
States, and in several of the other
States and by these foul means
they claim that they honestly
elected the Tammany Hall trickster
to the Presidency of the United
States. Having conquered their
own States, they seek to seize the
Capital. That is the secret OF all
this turmoil. This is the owl on the
barn.
THE BLACK VOTE.
The thirteenth amendment abol-
ished slavery. The fourteenth
amendment annuled the representa-
of the old "three-ffths of other per-
sons" The fifteenth amendment
established universal (maIe) suffrage.
Under the "three-fifths of other per-
sons" clause in tho Constitution the
old slave States would have been en-
titled (under the census of 1870 to
twenty-five members of Congress,
representing the black population
that is to say, if the fourteenth
amendment had not abolished IT,.
The 4,455, 900 blacks now give the
South fhirty-eight members Of Con-
gress. There are 9,308,O00 whites
in tho old slave States. If we had
not enfranchised the blacks, 'the
solid South" on the "white basis"
would have had Only 68 Congress
men instead Of the 100 they have to-
day In every Southern State, ex-
cepting South Carolina, Florida and
Louisiana, the blacks are actually
or practically disfranchiaed. While
not one colored man in hundred does
nor hate tha DemOcretic party thcv