Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-05-30
that the party which saved the nation

that the party which saved the nation
and which embodies in its creed the |
immortal principles upon which 1t
must live, if live it does, and which
has record the most glorious in the
annals of human organizations, shall
commit suicide as an act of concilia-
ton to the late enemies of the rcpub-
lie, silences comment by its audacity.
We are but realizing what has been
visibly coming for several years.
From 1868 it has been apparent that
the Republican party of the South
would be overthrown by force, if it
could not be done otherwise. The
opening scenes of carnage in that
year, in which more than 1900 Re-
publicans were killed and wounded
in Louisiana alone, were but the pre-
lude to the campaign of violence
which eliminated in the bloody field
of last year.
The destruction Of the Republican
party would make the Democratic
party supreme and fasten upon the
country its odious policy and princi-
pies. The men who directed the
bloody crusades in the South for the
last ten years, that have now culmi-
mated in final victory in South Caro-
lima and Louisiana, are still living
and have lost none of their power
The men who, within seven years,
have welded the Democratic party
in solid column, North and South,
against the fifteenth amendment, are
still in the ascendant. Is any man
weak enough to believe that they, or
a majority of them, have been sound
ly converted and are honest advo-
Gates of the equal rights of men? 1t
is my opinion that the body of the
Southern Democracy have not chang
ed in regard to the civil and political
rights Of the negro, and that if Tilden
had been elected President within his
term of four years the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments would have
been substantially overthrown in
most Of the Southern states. This
would have been accomplished by
methods recently illustrated in Mis-
lsippi and other states, and it is alto.
lgether possible to that exquisite po-
litical genius which can extract a
! Democratic majority of 10000 from a
: Republican majority of thirty.
i In Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, AL.
ALBANIA, Arkansas, part of Missouri
and Middle and Western Tennessee
free suffrage exists chiefly in name
Georgia, in which there is not diff
ference Of 5000 votes between the
two parties, gave Nlden majority OF
$1,000. In six counties not repub.
lican vote was polled. Mississippi
with republican majority of 10000
was made to return q democratic
majority of 10000. In four counties
containing 5000 republican votes
seven republican votes were polled
which were admitted Just to show
that republicans could vote. Ala.
bama with clear republican MAORI.
, ty of 10000, was made to return 9
democratic majority of $4,000. In
Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas ap.
proximate results were produced by
like processes. 1t is folly to allegt
that in those states there were liber.
ty, protection and equal rights. The
| voluminous testimony taken by the
Senate committees establishes the fac,
that the liberty enjoyed by republic.
: ans, both white and black, was but
! nominal. They were outcasts from
, society, oppressed in business, hunted
| like criminals, and denied the protcc'
ton of the laws. Peace and com.
, mercial prosperity based upon such
: conditions are hollow and worthless
and are but another form of the bar
ter of rights for gold. The quiet was
that of strangulation and paralysis
and audacious falsehood at last grows
weary in asserting that such result!
were anything but crimes.
) If SOUTH CAROLINA, WITH RErUB
d LICAN MAJORITY
| of $4,000, and Louisiana with a like
majority of $1,000, are to be concili
: ated and pacified in the same way
, the hope and promises held out t
, President Hayes will be broken il
i every part. If, on the contrary, re
7 publicans in those states, white ani
black, shall be protected in person
. property, freedom of speech, action
: and occupation, shall be the first tt
S acknowledge the grand result. l viii
9 ignore the past, let bygones be by
l cones, accept the new conditions will
4 joy, and believe that the rebellion
was not suppressed in vain. 1t is tc
l this happy condition that Presiden-
: Hayes aspires, and all should earnest.
: ly pray for the full realization of hi
t hopes.
The republican party of the South
5 with all its errors, waged nobl
i contest for the right, and the courag
and self-sacrifice displayed by II
q members are embalmed in history
u publicans of the North attend thos
Q of the South in their desolate and un
done condition, with the earnest hop,
: that the dark oyerhanging cloud may
J. have a silver lining, and that there
may be day Of speedy resurrection
BY the voluntary withdrawal of tn,
army the South has been placed up
: on her good behavior. Followin,
bloody campaigns for political pow
er, they have been treated with mag
nanimity, and should they fail to pro
tect all classes and races in the enjoy
), ment Of their rights, the most con
: servatiye republicans will see ther'
!, is no security but to preserve the gov
eminent in the hands of the repub
. lican party.
: As the democracy have acquired .
solid South by force, the republican,
should acquire a solid North by Wig
!, lance and the eternal justice of theil
:, cause. Northern republicans ar,
now admonished that they can en-
!. dure no divisions that will endangel
' their success. Should the North by
unhannv discord ha d;y;dod ond TIM,