St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-09-04
On to Richmond :!
'.lf We Cannot Vote You Down. We
Shnll Have 10 shoot You Down."
The Key Note Of the Garfield Campaign.
Baton Rouge Capitolian.]

(Baton Rouge Capitolian.l
For the benefit of those of our people
who might be inclined to believe that
the election of Garfield is of little con-
sequence to the South, since her State
governments are under the control of
Democratic party, we reproduce a few
paragraphs which we culled from the
San Francisco City Argus, showing the
spirit that animates the Radical hosts
that are supporting Garfield and Ar
thur:
Now you have the frank avowal that
these men, tyrants in heart, blood, brain.
hereditary Shareholders, despisers of
all justice and equality, have set them
selves up to rule one half OF this free
country. They are going to roll it back
to the palmy days of "Home Rule"
State Rights, and bonds and stripes for
the colored citizen, and in the name of
the free North, of the Great Republic
of the emancipated and francllised slave,
and of every free American citizen, we
protest against it. We say it shall never
be. Come veal, come woe, come war
or peace, come what will, this infamous
scheme shall not succeed.
And it must come to that at last.
Either we must have freedom through
out the land, and for all the inhabitants
thereof, or these hereditary slave-driv-
ers must take the country. The South
must give up this chimera of maintaining
a kingdom of DahOmy in Dixie. 1t must
throw down the fence, admit the North
ern newspaper, stump-.speaker and lee
turer, accept the decisions Of an honest
ballot box and progress with the bal
ance of the nation. 1t it will not, the
bayOnet and the swamp-angels must
ont the last remnant of slavery, seces-
sion. bulldozing and kukluxism. There
il no room in the United States for any
but freemen, who accept the Constitu
ton of the whole country. with liberty
of speech and ballot for all.
This is the true issue Of this election.
Shall we have whole country, in which
the Constitution is respected and every
citizen free IN every part. or shall men
who were born and educated slave
masters dictatate in the fairest portion
of it, For our part, we have but one
answer for these insolent traitors. "1F
WE CANNOT VOTE YOU DOWN,
WE SHALL SHOOT YOU DOWN."
This country must be free.
Garfield, in his recent tour through
New Jersey. has sounded the key note
of the campaign, in exact accordance
with the sentiments expressed by the
Argus.
Southern men cannot, if they would
be true to those honorable instincts
which animated them on the battle
fields immortalized by their knightly
yalor accept the base insults Of the
eowardly Radical partizans whose
breasts are yet filled with hate towards
everything that is Southern.
The ruin inflicted upon the South
by the torch and the rifle and the whole
sale plumber to which the country was
subjected during the reign Of the vul-
lures who came among us under the
shadow of Sheridan's bayonets, have not
yet satiated the Garfields Of the North.
There can be no compromise with a
party whose policy is digrace to hu-
manity and civilization, and we feel
that the PATRIOTIC sons Of the South, by
their unanimous votes, will show GEN.
eral Hancock and the generous North
erners whose banners are entwined with
the olive branch of peace, that they are
ready to take them by the hand as
brethren and cooperate with them in
establishing Union of co-eaual States,
81 Z -
striving alike for its greatness and
common prosperity,