Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-03-26
w. III. HERMAN.
The Junior Editor of the
OkOIOna states.
To the Editor Of the LrpeER:


dred, ii not a thousand times, by the
press and politicians Of the south, that
the gentleman whose name is at the
head of this article is a hireling
of the republican party, sent among
us in the interest Of that party, to out
Herod Herod in bold and audicious
advocacy of states rights, in fiery
denunciations of northern tyranny for
the purpose Of still further hardening
the hearts of our oppressors against
us. This opinion seems to be wide
spread and universal in the south, and
so far as | know no southerner has
publicly ever denied it. | also was
under this impression until about
year ago, ! sent for the paper, to see
what it was that so stirred the rage of
our conquerors, and after reading it
every week for year am perfectly
convinced that the charge is
wholly, utterly and meanly false.
However, the timid among us may
object to the 0kolona States fearless
and fiery invectives against radical
presumption and radical tyranny
however the cautious may fancy it
safe and better mildly to bear radical
insolence and radical taunts, / am not
willing to believe any southern man or
woman would continue to make
false charge when convinced that it is
false. For this reason, that justice
may be done, | beg to reproduce from
an Ohio paper, which happened to fall
in my way, the following facts:
In the town Of De Graf, Logan
county, Ohio, in the year 1868, bril-
liant boy, fresh from school, not
twenty years old, but whose young
heart somehow had become thrilled
and filled with q grand and passionate
love of liberty, while addressing
small, out-of door meeting of demo-
Gratis, was assailed by amob of seventy
five black republican ruffians, whose
violence broke up the meeting and
forced the orator to close. The par
ticular portion of young Kernan's
speech which so rous ID the rage of the
mob on this occasion, was as follows
Gould the dead conservatives of
the triumphant armies of the north
arise from their shallow sepulchres
on the sunny hills, and in the shad-
owy valleys, and by the historic rivers
OF the south, aud see the union still
in twain; see the constitution torn in
tatters; see the states governed by
barbaric race, they would feel that
theirs too was a lost cause, that the
sacrifices of the victor and the van
quished had alike been in vain.
Shoulder to shoulder and shield to
shield for the integrity of the states,
and for nothing else, they bore the
eagles of the republic from victory to
victory. But congress has broken the
faith of the government with this ele-
ment of the army-ayel the faith of
the government which Ennius calls
the very oath of Jove.
Here the mob raised yells and howls
and made demonstrations of such vio-
lenoe, as to break up the meeting. |
know not how others may look on this
little extract from Kernan's speech,
but to me the sentiment seems as
noble and as pobly expressed as any
Paine ever wrote or Patrick Henry
spoke. As he was not easily qqelled,
he was frequently assailed for lis bold
denunciations of corrupt and op.
pressive party, A few years after the
DeGraff affair, Mr.. Herman came south
to pursue his chosen profession, jour
nalism. Here, If anywhere, he had
right to expect that he would find po-
litical sympathy; here in the very
home of the true and free democracy,
he had a right to expect, not only
courtesy and kindness, but warm
wslcQme. He had fought in our be-
half, had bsaVed the rage and hatred
Of the dominant psgtg in Ohio in the
cause of liberty and the south, he bad
a right TO expect the friendship Of our
peopie tDsi lead, how has it been ?
Instead Of welcome, abuse instead of
trust, suspicious insteaq Of respect,
slander. Press and politician, imbi b.
ing the animosity of the radical party,
vie with that party IN villiiying the
man who from boyhOod has Islt for
the south's woes and denounced heF
oppressors. Dir. Kernan's style in
prose is without rival for power OF
invective and keenness 0f saTcasm.
His shafts go straight home 10 che
center of the oppressOr's heart and
there rankle end burn. He is a poet
Of no common order bis ode to lib
erty," published in the New York
Day Book. is as keen, strong and soul
stirring as ByrOn's Irish AVIATOR.