Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-05-05
A TRAGIC CHAPTER.

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and accuses them of his own crime.
Hancock is beaten for the Presidency
by the people he saved from political
disruption, in the midst of their ad-
mission that he was deserving of un-
dying gratitude, by open bribery and
threats. His defeat, wrought by such
means, excited no exultation among
the victors, because they knew at
once its price and its penalty, and it
is remarkable fact that they did not
begin to celebrate it till they called
their armies of ofiicc.holders in revel-
ry to Washington, and even the glory
of Garfield was made by the presence
of Hancock in obedience to an invita-.
tion,--a military order he could not
safely decline 1t will be remembered,
after King Duncan was made the
guest of Macbeth, his assassination
was laid at the door of his entertainer,
and remorse for that crime made that
entertainer the mortal foe of all the
blood of Duncan in Scotland. This
memory of Duncan's murder, cherish.
ed by Duncan's followers, drove the
author of Duncan's death TO decree
the annihilation of all the kindred
and liegemen of the slaughtered king,
And so runs the tale. His favoriic,
General Banquo, and his wife and
children, and many more of the best
blood of Scotland, were removed by
hired rufiians, or burned in their cas-.
ties. Thus the original crime com.
pelled other crimes. Remorse was
changed into revenge, fear succeeded
hate, aud the martyred king, instead
Of becoming an object of reverence
and sympathy, was a deathless re-
mindcr of the deep damnation of his
taking Of 1t was necessary to hide
the traces of the tragedy by removing
all the supposed witnesses,-all who
believed that wrong had been done TO
the right. If ever any people de.
served kind treatment, it was the de-
feated South. If ever any public
man deserved honor, it was General
Hancock. The Democrats had sub.
mitted to the bought verdict of the
plutocracy. The government is in the
hands of Macbeth and his party but
the consciousness of great crime
bears heavily upon the gys u yictors,
and so they resolve, like ,tt;W4,torious
thane, that their power will be fruit
less if they do not follow it with new
outrage. There are too many living
witnesses of the cruelty and fraud Of
the men who have won n doubtful
control Of the government. There is
too much prosperity in the South, as n
result of honesty, economy, and thrift.
The South has become too solid, since
it has been cheated out of Hancock.
Its Duncans have not crawled at the
feet of its Macbeths. 1t has gone on
silently in its industry and its culture,
its development and its beneyolcnce.
It's ofIense is its obedience TO honor
and to self.respect As poor Banquo
said of Macbeth, after he had killed
his monarch, so Hancock may say to
the Republican chiefs
! "Thoa hast It now Rios, cs~dar GlaR,is al.
Asthe vriri wpHls1 rtorpi.csi. and. I f-ar
| Thod play'dst mast foully for it.
| Still they are not satisfied. They
have the President and the Offices,
but they have no confidence in them.
selves, and they fear the country.
The South is tranquil, subdued, and
again conquered. General Hancock
was defeated in the midst of profuso
promises Of kindness and condesccn.
sion. There was little protest agains,
the unexampled efforts to compass his
overthrow from the subugated South.
But this very fact, so far from arous.
ing consideration or sympathy on the
part Of these Republican leaders, or.
ganizes new spirit Of unaccouutable
hatred. Notwithstanding the tremen.
dous official power combined against
Hancock, the Congress Of the United
States il not safely secured TO the vic
tors. The Senate was lost. Half the
Senate was Democratic, and so to
make a majority for the extremists
they procured a vote by securing a
recreant. They took from proud Vir.
giuia Senator who had pledged him.
self to Hancock in the November
election, and they sought to make thi:
foul hostage a weapon of inexcusablC
vengeance upon a defeated people
These people resisted, and because
they did they are now to be newly
punished simply for not consenting &c
obey and ratify a wicked bargain
All the worst passions of the civil wal
are stimulated against them. Tn,
business of the entire country is par
alyzed in this new crusade upon the
South. ALL the pledges of copcilia
ton made by Garfield are broken
Long forgotten calumnies are revived
No words are spoken BY the Republi
can Senators except words of hatred
against the Southern people. TIL,