National Republican., 1876-01-17
The Confederate Lash in the American Con
Rress.

TO the Editor OF the National Republican:
SIR: So long as the slave alone felt the lash
Of his master the cotton-loving North permit
ted the cry of the oppressed to pass unheeded.
But when the same arm which brsndished the
lash over the shrinking and humiliated forms
Of the bondman and bondwoman drew the
sword against the American Union, what an
uprising took place at the North But even
in that uprising the chief idea Of the majority
of the Northern people was to save the Union,
and yet leave the Southern lash to do its worst
on the back of the negro. 1t was not the
Shareholders lash to which the North OBJ
iected, so long as that lash confined itself to
keeping down the manhood of the slave. It
was the application of this same lash to the
back of the nation that reached our selfish
sensibillties, and aroused in US that "fellow
feeling" which made us during the last years
of the war and the first years of reconstruc-
tion so ''wondrous kind" towards the negro
and towards the native-born white loyalis:s of
the South. There was time when the negro,
wearing the uniform of his country, was a
most welcome sight to Northern eyes. There
was a time when the Southern white lovalist,
who had lain in the dungeons of Jefferson Da-
Wis, and fed our starving and suffering prison.
ers, had welcomed the advent iof the old
God. There was 4 time, we say, when the
negro was recognized as a man and human
brother; when these white Southern loyalists
were welcomed In every Union-loving home at
the North as brethren who had claims upon
us stronger, in some respects, than those of
our own Eoys in blue. But these days passed
swiftly away.
In time the negro soldier and the negro cit
izen became once more in Northern eyes
the ''nigacr'' of oldentimes. The native white
Unionist Of the South became "scalawag"
and the Confederate gentleman" became the
lion of Northern society, the courted, feted
favorite in Republican political circles and the
representative man of all that was deemed
best and most cultured and most thoroughly
American at the South.
This pleasing state of things brought forth
the traditional Southern lash, as naturally as
a hot sun and tepid water will convert the
hair of horses tail or name into snake.
The lash fell with mercilcss ferocity and power
on the shoulders of the negro citizen until he
was whipped back into the place which the
Confederate claims is not only the negro's
"propcr" place, but the place which nature
intends he shall forever occupy. The Southern
white Cnionist came in for his share of the
Confederate lash. Again, the cries of outraged
men and women arise from the land Of cotton,
Hway down in Dixie" The North replied,
''RUot hog or die" Again and again the
white Unionists Of the South told the tale of
outrage, which was gradually reducing the
South to n condition of political terrorism, in
which all civil and even social rights were
being trampled ruthlessly under foot. The
North replied that it did not wish to hear Of
the ''bloody shirt" and that the white "scaa-
wags" of the South had better make their
peace with the Confederate gentlemen" of
their own section and cease "bothering" re-
spectacle Northern people about their petty
grievances So long as the Confederate lash
was laid exclusively upon the backs of the
Southern Republicans. white and black alike,
therefore the North had nothing to say.
She bore the sufferings of her Southern
allies with the wonderful composure and en-
durance with which men so often bear the sor
rows of their fellow men. But when Ben.
Hill, as the representative political leader of
the Confederate power, brings forth the
Southern lash in the American Congress and
lays II across the back Of the North, what an
uprising we have again! How soon the camp
fires are again lighted all over the North
What Indignation is manifest even in gushing,
Confederate loving Boston.
We recur to this exhibition of the Confed-
crate lash in Congress in order to express a
regret. TO ask question and make suSges-
tion. The regret is that the debate on
amnesty did not continue for two or three
weeks longer, in order that the Southern COW.
hide could have been passed from one ex-
hausted Confederate arm to another until the
time-serving, Confederate-loying representa-
tives of the Republican party all over the
country should have had their coats literally
whipped off their backs. The question we de-
sire to ask certain Republicans % is this:
"How do you Ike the Confederate lash when
applied TO your own shoulders!" The sug
gestion we wish to make is this: In the event
of another trial of arms inside Of the Union
between the Confederate power and the Re-
publican party Of the North how many native
white Southerners can be counted on then to
stand sure by the Republicans, and how many
negroes will there be found in such a war
willing to wear "bloody shirts" in order to es-
tablish, preserve and Perpetuate white
mans 1nyernment2 ~ s =