The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-09-07
Mr.. Lamars View.

tuC u htttulptO VI DcIuOCTAI. AMI tg-
pecially n Southern Democrat, TO treat
the political situation philosophically.
The tone Of the speech 10 courteous and
manly. and It IS by far the ablcst Dem.
ocratic discourse In tone and temper
ever delivered upon the question. INT
the true criticism upon II Is that It Ia only
a Democratic speech. 1t Is a special
plee-adroit and, in many RESPECTS.
sound, but again e~vasive, and, as a
whole inconclusive. 1t Is, of course. n
campaign speech, and its peculiar sip-
niticance is its consciousness that the
Southern question is very likely TO be
| the controlling consideration In deter
| minating the wisdom and safety of "A
Democratic restoration. MFR. Tilden rs
| probably as conscious of this fact as Mr..
Lamar. But he is u politician of great
craft and skill, and he has devoted all
his energies to erecting reform, into
the sole issue of the canvass, and TO
avoiding all illusions to the Southern
question as a thing settled. and not wise
~ to be disturbed. This explains the
very brief and general reference to IL in
his letter. The blood of the Hamburg
massacre cried from the ground as he
wrote. That blood, he said. in SUBJ
stance, is due to the "misgovernment
imposed upon the States OF the South
This Is also the argument of Mr.. La
mars speech, andit Is the vital defect OF
the Democratic position on the subject.
Mr.. Garfield. in his reply to Mr.. Lamar,
cfrcctually shows this. Mr.. Lamar as.
serts that "the South" honestly and
fully accepts the results of the war. and
that the friendly relations of the whites
OF that section with the blacks espec-
tally fit them to guide the latter in pro-
gressive civilization. lie insists that
their old relation. in which one race
was dehumanized. and. under the cruel
ist slave system ever known. was treat
I'd as cattle-for individual exceptions
do not affect the rule-was one of char
mony, friendship, and confidence"
The words are Incredible, but they are
Mr.. Lainar's. They give the kind of
unrcality to his discourse that similar
fantastic assumption gave to Calhoun's
speculations. The relation between the
races, says Mr.. Lamar. was harmonious
friendly, and coniiding. 1t might have
beeu supposed, therefore, that the prop
osition to unite in an equal political COM
munity classes holding such relations
could hardly have been appalling. Yet
Mr.. Lamar compares it to enfranchising
four millions of Mongolians, with S0G,-
OOO voters among them, in New Eng
land, New York, and New Jersey:
81 ask you would not the repose of society be
disturbed, wouli not all assurance OF law, of
healthful industry, OF business arrangements
and Observation-Disclosures not all confidence give
way to disinay and perplexity, to restless fears
wild passions, bloody sccnssS Why. Sir, the
more splendid their political civilization, ........
the more hidcous would be the ruin and the
more refined the agony Of the people subjected
10 such u catastrophe.'
This is entirely illogical. If the en-
franchised multitude were OF a cruel and
treacherous race, suspicious, hostile. al
len, as well as ignorant and ~servile. DIS
aster might have been apprehended.
But If they were native to the soil, har-
monious, friendly, contiding. that fact
would have shown that they had no rca-
| son to tear, and by law of human ma
ture they would willingly and smoothly
have followed the counscls of those who
although holding them enslaved, had
vet treated them so like children and
human dependents that the mutual rela-
tions were amicable and gentle like
| those of the family. Mr.. Lamar quotes
from II message and n speech OF Gov
ernor Morton in 1865 depreciating the
political equality Of ofthe negroes. But
Governor Morton's remarks were based
upon the view of slavery which was
universal at the North. 1t was held
here to be n crime against human nature
the sum of all villainies. Had Govern
or Morton supposed it to be, ms Mr..
Lamar represents, a relation ofharmony
friendship, and confidence, he certainly
would have regarded eniranchisement,
in Mr.. Lamar's words. as a "shock," a
"thunderbolt." a 'terrible avalanche"
nor could he have imagined the attitude
of the master class toward the enfran-
chisement of coniiding and happy de-
pendents as 'the palled feeling Of the
Southern society upon whom it (the
%avalanchel was to be turned loose"
The truth is, that a relation IN which as
Jefferson said, God has no attribute that
could take part with the master, and OF
which John Randolph said that no
white mother in Richmond could hear
the iire-bell at night without clasping
her child to her breast in nameless ter
ror OF awful insurrcction, was not one
of harmony, and confidence. 1t Is the
worst aspersion of human nature to say
so. There where. OF course, kind mas
.Ila ""u u!ItI.ssos Wv ,.rn"uS
slaves. put the ~tyrahnirai coue on s'ate
inws-the pronloition OF assembly 'n'
dispersion oy the Dell AZ n,Sht' Inc en-
TIRE piack code-was itscli inc ceciar
alton OF the MANY. the ncohceivaDi
wrong the conscious crime, OF ih'
whole system, and of consciousness tina
it was one of subsection and terror, no,
of friendship and confidence.
fortunately the enslavcd race wa!
neither cruel nor treachcrous. Not all
the distrust and the inhuman injustice
OF the master class succeeded in maxim
; them so. Buh AS to the actual nature
, OF the relation between thom, every FL
' gitiye slave who escaped with u hero
i'm Of resource and endurance beg ont
c that of Sidney or Bayard, is a witncs
as competent as Mr.. Lamar. Forum
= ately in this case the lien can speak Il