Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-07-18
CLEARFIELD, PA, WEDNESDAY JULY IS, 1877

most OF them thought II best to simpli
fy their duty by postponing their re
sistencc to one until the other wa
conquered. They hoped that whel
the union was restored the constitution
would be allowed 10 reassnme it
supremacy without further opposition
, This hope was founded on very solemn
declarations by the President (Lincoln
that he was true friend Of the consti
tuition, and meant no war except pure
y in defence of the United States
Besides, Congress, by a vote nearly
unanimous in both houses, assured th,
country that the war had not any rev
olutionary purpose whatever, bu
should be conducted solely 10 enforce
the laws, and TO maintain the suprcm
acy of the federal constitution, with al
the rights Of the States unimpaired.
All these pledges were most perfdi
ously broken. Tho ultrs-Abolitionistt
at the close OF the war had two-thirds
majority in Congress, and could dc
what they pleased. They refused tc
keep faith. They insisted that the
government was revolutionized that
State rights had ceased to be- that
personal liberty in tho Southern States
had boen extinguished; that the peo-
pie Of the South, being conquered, bore
TO the conquerers no legal relation ex-
cept that which existed between King
Dahomey and the Guinea negroes
whom he captured and sold that they
might be governed without law, and
especially without regard TO that fun.
damental law which the Legislators
were sworn to observe in all their acts.
The constitution, instead Of being de.
Tended, had been shot to death on the
battlefield. 1t was dead, and could
not be pleaded to protect the weak, or
restrain the evil passions of the strong
party.
Upon this principle tho reconstruc-
tion act Of 1867 was based. 1t was
simply slavo-code. Not one prorision
Of the constitution pds LEFT uHriolated all
tho rights which our forcfathers, on
this or the other side Of the Atlantic,
shed their blood to maintain, were in
sultingly overborne. If the constiii-
tion still lived, this act of Congress was
a gross breach of the oath which the
members had taken to support it if
We suppose it dead, the act was most
indecent outrage on its corpse.
For some time the Southern people
lived at the mercy OF the military Off
GERS who were sont to keep the yoke
tight upon their necks. Most Of these
being gentlemen of honor and human
ity, they did the work of oppression
reluctantly and sometimes failed alto
gether. Gen. Hancock, for instance,
startled the authorities at Washington
by published letter in favor of civil
liberty. 1t became plain that this
''sabre sway" would not last long nor
be perfectly eflectual while it continued.
The divine right Of the negro to govern
the white man was then asserted, and
his ascendency secured, by the fifteenth
amendment, in the confident hope that
his ballot would be more effectual
instrument oftyranny than the soldiers
bullet.
Tho people would not have been
wholly crushed, either by the soldier
or the negro, II both had not been used
to fasten upon them the domination OF
another class of persons whose rule
was altogether unendurable. These
we call carpet-baggers, not because the
word is descriptive or euphonious, but
because they have no other name
whereby they are known among the
children of men. They were unprin.
cipled adventurers who sought their
fortunes in the South by plundering
the disarmed and defencelcss people
some of them were the dregs Of the
federal army--the meanest Of the camp
followers many were fugitives from
Northern justice; the best of them
were those who went down after the
peace, ready for any deed Of shame
that was safe and profitable. These,
combined with few treacherous "scal.
awags," and some leading negroes to
serve as decoys for the rest, and back
cd by the power of the general govern
ment, became the strongest body OF
thieves that ever pillaged people,
Their moral grade was far lower, and
yet they were much moro powerful
than the robber bands that infested
Germany after the Thirty Years war
They swarmed over all the States
from tho Potomac TO the gulf, and set
tied in hordes, not with intent TO re-
main there, but merely to feed on the
substance of o PROSTATE and defence
less people. They took whatever came
within their reach, intrudcd themselves
into all private corporations, assumed
the functions Of all offices, including
the courts of justice, and in many
places they even "run the churches"
By force and fraud they either con.
trolled all the elections or else prevent
cd elections from being held. They
returned sixty of themselves to one
Congress, and ten or twelve of the
most ignorant and venal among them
were at the Same time thrust into the
Senate. This false representation Of a
people by strangers and enemies who
had not even a bona fde residence
among thcm was the bitterest of all
mockcrics. There was no show Of
truth or honor about il. The pretend
cd representative was always ready to
vote Tor any measure that would op.
press and cnslave his so-called constit-
ucnts; bis hostility was unconcealcd,
and he lost no opportunity to do them
injury.
Under all these wrongs and indig-
mites the Caucasian men of the South
were prudent, If not patient. No brave
people, accustomed TO be free, ever
endured oppression so peacefully or so
wisely. The Irish, with less provoca-
tion, were in a state Of perpetual tur-
bulence; the Poles were always conspir-
ing against the milder rulc Of their
Russian masters but Southern men
"made haste slowly" TO recover their
liberties. They could not break the
shackles Of usurped control, but some
of the links gradually rustcd and fell
away Of themselves. The gross i'm
policy of dcsolating tho fairest half Of
the country impressed itself more and
more on the Northern mind. The
mere expense, in money, in maintain
ing this vulgar tyranny became dis
gnsting. Tbenegroes gradually opened
their eyes to the truth that they were
as badly imposed upon as tho whites.
With consummate skill the natural
leaders of the people boarded every
fresh acquisition Of sclf.governing pow
or. State after State deposed its cor