Nebraska advertiser., 1877-10-04
The Tyranny of Lincoln and Grant.

The Tyranny Of Lincoln and Grant.
Reading the speeches, ornate and
grandiloquent, of the Southern gen.
tlemen who have welcomed the Pres
ident, one would gain the impression
that vindictive and cruel despots had
ruled this country for the last fifteen
years. That Lincoln, sympathetic
and large-hearted, was Caesar. That
Grant, magnanimous and generous
the man who spared the pride of Lee
and his officers. and softened the cha
grin of their defeat by the nobility
and delieacy with which he received
their surrender-was a bloodthirsty
tyrant. who ground down poor, un-
happy people to the last verge of pos
sible endurance.
Such has been the tenor of the re-
ception speeches. and in one instance,
at least, the tenor of a speech in reply
that made by Wade Hampton, who
accompanied the Presidential party.
Could there be anything more rid
iculous than this? Wherein have the
Southern people-the ex-Confeder.
ates. the ex-rebels-been lily treated
When their great crime was defeated
of its object, after our Golfers bad been
emptied, and almost every household
shrouded in mourning, what revenge
did the Northern people wreak upon
the authors of the war? Did they
hang the leaders of the rebellion for
treason?
No.
Did they confiscate their property I?
No.
Did they forbid their restoration to
citizenship?
No.
Did they deny them any right un-
der heaven enjoyed by those who re-
mained loyal TO the government?
Not one.
The grass had hardly grown green
over the graves of the men who gave
up their lives to prevent the destruc-
tion of the government before those
who wrought their deaths were in full
possession of every privilege enjoyed
by any American citizen.
What, then, has been the trouble?
TLo
the laws give to all citizens, without
distinction of color, the right to act,
speak, and vote as they will. and
pledges them the equal protection of
the law.
This supreme enactment has been
defied, trampled under foot, spit upon,
and insulted, wherever the absence of
Federal authority has made it safe to
do so.
Accepting the amendments with
words, the Southern people have sys-
tematicaIly violated them in their
acts. They have kept the word of
promise to the ear and broken it to
the hope. Free speech has been sti-
fled free suffrage denied, and it has
only been by the firm attitude of the
Federal arm. and the known determ-
ination Of the government TO see to it
that acts of violence and intimidation
were punished, that anything like a
republican form of government was
maintained in helf a dozen of the
Southern States.
There was no formidable outbreak.
A company of soldiers, backed by
resolute will and unhamperad by Con-
gressionel weaklings, was enough TO
uphold the laws, and resistance was
only kept alive by the sympathetic
cries of Northern Copperheads and
lily-livered Republicans; but the vac
illating course of the latter lent the
conspirators courage, and so the
trouble continued, growing greater as
the stern policy of justice yielded to
the milk-and-water programme of
knock-kneed conciliators.
Here in the North we obeyed the
Constitution and the laws, and res
pected the rights of all men. But the
.ex-rebels of the South claimed priv
ilege we did not and would not enjoy
the privilege of denying the rights
of portion of their fellow-citizens;
and it has been this claim-still theo-
retically opposed, but practically con-
ceded-that has occasioned the troub-
lie. 1t is for insisting OH the observ-
ance of the amendments to the Con-
stitution that Grant and the Republi-
can party were tyrannical. 1t is for
yielding, or for doing what the ex-
rebels thus interpret, that the present
administration is lauded.
There is a mistaken kindness that
Is more cruel than the sword. There
is a false generosity more bitter in its
results than the law of the bayonet.
We shall see ere long If these mistakes
have not been ours, and if it is not true
now. as ia the days of King John,
that MERCY murders pard'ning those
l;lI u T,1Key. Ocean.