Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1880-08-25
THE SOUTH.
No Free Speech There---Some Facts to b Con-
sidored.

The SOUTH.
No Free Speech 7h::s:,:sG"e s::S Facts to b. Con-
This is gala day in our city. The
Burns annual picnic and an excursion
from Aurora, and parks swarm
ing. The excursion train was O rare and
comical sight, 81 cars, and in such varie-
ty,-passengers, baggage, smoking, box,
etc. all packed with eager pleasure
seekers, and none more bu6yant than
scores of accomplished ladies and gentle
men peering through the rude bars of
the cattle cars. At late hour, these
people resolved to join the crowd and
were not to be disappointed because
they could not have fashionable accom-
modations. People can readily conform
to circumstances if SO disposed. But
when we have excursions between this
Forest City and the City Of the Lakes,
let us have passenger cars.
Now to the subject of this letter.
All true philosopbizing is based on
facts. Any Judgment founded in direct
opposition to facts can be of little value
We are told that the election of Gen.
Hancock would restore peace, confidence
and harmony to our whole country. But
was he not nominated by those openly
denouncing the union and claiming the
right ofsecession Acknowledging them
selves overpowered but not conquered?
Hoping the lost cause might even yet
revive and triumph? ? The doctrine of
state supremacy is openly vindicated in
the south, and opposing utternces
sharply rebuked. A gentleman from
Mississippi, captain in the rebel army,
said to me few days since: 'sIn our
state we would like to see people from
the north, only they must not talk about
the issues of the war" ''But would you
not allow candid discussion on national
questions?' "Not if Republicans; we
are all Democrats and want no Repub-
lican talk in Mississippi. It would only
stir up the niggers-we have them now
under control, understand them per-
fectly, and if they make any
disturbance we know just how
to take care of them. They are only
good to work; if any of them vote they
will vote with their old masters"
"Would you be satisfied with the elec-
tion of Gen. Hancock eyes, he once
came to our relief; we like his style, and
are not afraid to trust him. A young
clergyman of the north recently said to
me: 1 have been laboring as mission
ary in Kentucky, but did not like to re-
main there. The people are very sus-
picious Of northerners, and they resent
reproof. I did not know what day I
might drop" Another gentleman told
me he had been south to visit a brother.
While there his brother said to him,
Remember you are in Texas, and be
careful what you say" "How does
your brother live there?" "Oh, he is
Democrat the whole figure: he
could not do otherwise" "But was he
always Democrat?" "By no means;
in the north he was a starnch Republic
an" In recent letter, an educated col
ored man in North Carolina says: eyes,
every colored man may vote, but if Re-
publican, his vote will not be counted"
These facts show the state of society in
the south. Facitus tells us the old Romans
made a solitude and called it Peace. It
was the peace Of the graveyard, the peace
Of death. The peace of the South is the
practical re-establishment Of slavery.
The old masters still hold to the institu-
tion. Fifty years ago, Prince Metternich,
standing upon the balcony of his palace,
and looking upon the men and women
working in his vineyard on the banks of
the Rhine, said to a party Of princely
guests, "Behold the true philosophy of
society, ,-gentlemen in the palace, la
borers in the field, with an impassablc
gulf between" This is the doctrine for
which Robert D. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson fought and died. It is the doc
trine endorsed by Wade Hampton, and
which, with impassioned eloquence, he
adiures Virginia and South Carolina to
vindicate at the ballot box. This is the
doctrine of my Mississippi friend, and
still cherished by the planters. They
believe in an aristocratic class,-privi-
legged, living upon the unrequited toll of
others, white or black, doomed to per-
petual dependence and poverty.
They talk eloquently of free
speech, q free press, free soil, free
men, but they mean only among the
White Leaguers, the Ku Klux; the III
visible empire. Gen. Hancock is the
candidate Of this class, and his fair elec-
tion to the presidency would be virtual
acknowledgment that in our civil war the
north were wrong and the south right.
But, thank God, the sovereign people of
the United States have not lost their
senses. The ides of November will
demonstrate to anxious nations that the
victories of the American Union were not
q farce; that the declaration Of indepen-
dence, " that immortal emblem of hr-
manity y" the chart of American liberty,
is in full force. The intensely sectional
and partisan appeals of the south
almost frenzied-m arouse every true
patriot. MEAD HOLMES.