The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-08-28
A SOLID NORTH

the freedom Of the ballot; the ques
ton of the emancipation of the minC
and the viii from the slavery Of feal
that now envelops them. Slowly
but surely the seeds sown in the sur
render of the government to the bull
doing States, q year and a half ago
are ~springing up and bearing fruit
That surrender has, in the brief peri.
cd of eighteen months, destroyed the
labor of years. The Republican
party broke the shackIes Of four mil
lions of slaves. Making them free
men, it also gave them political rights,
and incorporated in the supreme law
of the land the declaration that "tbt
right of citizens Of the United State;
to vote shall not DE denied or abridg.
ed on account Of race, color, or pre-.
vious condition of servitudc."
There was q struggle to enforce
that principle, for the cid barbaric
idea died hard, aud disturbances
were frequent. Ia many points o.
the South there were massacre Of
cOlored men, but, recognized and en-
couraged, and 50 far as possible, pro-
tected by the government, they
stood their ground, fought the fight
suffered the persecution, seeing and
knowing that gradually they were
growing in strength, and driving the
opposition to the wall.
With the advent Of the new gos
pei however, oil was changed. Like
loaded wagon, which, by dint o.
hard pulling, had almost reached the
top Of the hill, and which, abandon.
ed, has gone laundering to the bot
tom, it has tahen but eighteen month:
for the car Of justice, which it re
quired years of labor to move TO the
front, to grayitate back to the slough
of tyranny, oppression and Ignorance
at the rear. To-day the colored
men, and, indeed, the whites whC
are not in harmony with the bull
doxing element, are practically dis
franchised in every Gotten State
They can vote, if at all, only under
the supervision and domination o.
the ex-slave drivers.
Formerly the owner of slaves in
directly cast q fractional vote for
his chattels. To-day the ex-ownel
practically casts the whole vote il
many localities, and is likely to do Sc
soon in all parts of the South.
This is what we have reached by
Cancellation" and, as the Irier
Ocean has many times remarked, il
is o political precedent that viii ere
long return like a curse to humble
and afflict the land.
What kind of a Republic is thas
which permits thousands of its voters
to be driven to the polls, or away
from the polls, when their absence
or their presence may decide vital
questions of public policy, oil be dis
tasteful to the power which uses the
shotgun to carry its points?
How long can peace be maintain
ed in this land with such q state Of
affairs existing
How long will b~ulldezing be con
fined to colored mel and Southern
Republicans, when the right to bull
dozs is winked ct by the only plrty
that a prevent itf
How long will men serve q nation
that cannot serve them, and serve il
against q State which possesses the
power to humble or exalt, to punish
or reward them?
The President of the United States,
if the principle now recognized grows
lourishes a little longer, will be
President, not by constitutional
means, not by legal methods, but by
the ~suferance merely of State
poDtiffs.
The government IS rapidly degen-
Grating from the position Of the mas
ter to the place of the man, and is in
a fair way to become the sport and
of political prostitutes.
This state OF things is primarily
to the mistake of the admin
istration in treating aud bargaining
with mobs at the opening of its term.
1t is owing, in q secondary way, to
the cowardiee aud weakness Of the
Republican party leaders themselves.
There should have been a universal
protest against that surrender, and a
vigorous reiteration Of Republican
principles from the first. The people
were ready and ripe for it. But, in-
stead Of that, We had hating, hesita-
ting, and a semi Endorsement of the
surrender which discouraged and
the masses. Among all
the State conventions held there was
but n which came nj squarely in
opposition to the abandonment of
principle, and that was the conven-
ton OF the Iowa Republicans. Penn
.sylvania did something, Indiana q
little, Michigan a good deal, and the
Illinois convention hal the DISPOSE
if its committee had possessed
the sense, to have taken as open
ground as Iowa bat the latter State
has the only intelligent, positive, and
affirmation of old-time Re-
publican principles that has been pat
by 0 Northern State since the
Inauguration OF President Hayes.
The result of this half hearted
has been a half-hesrted party.
The ties that bind men to political
organizations are weakened when
hey find their principles disregarded
by those they have trusted. Thous-
ands stayed at home at the last eiee-i
ton in Ohio and other States, and
The enemies of civil liberty and q uni
ted government tool a long stride
forward.
The great task before the Republis
cans Of the country is to bring back
The thought and sentiment of the
to a realization of the dangers
hat thrcaten from Calhounism, and
rebel supremacy, and unite the Re-
publican masses once more ia de-
Iense of their time-bopored doctrines.
that union viii be ACCOM-
plished during toe pending canvass
uncertain, bat that ii viii take
place ere the opening Of the next
campaign is scarcely to
doubted. The constant, bold and
~nsoient Infringement of persons. lib