The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-10
THE LID OFF

THE LID OFF.
The election of Carlisle seems to have
lifted the lid off the solid South and the I'M
reconstructed are emboldened to speak
their sentiments in very outspoken man.
her, confident apparently that the Demo-
cratic party will carry the elections next
year. Immediately upon the election of
States rights man to the speakership, man
essentially Southern in all his inclinations
and sentiments, Major Edwards a leading
Missouri Democrat, in the exuberance of
his joy, telegraphed to the st. Joseph Ga
zette that ''the Southern Confederacy is
again in the saddle" In the same spirit,
and drawing inspiration from the same fact,
a certain Mr.. Herman, a prominent and in
fiuential Democratic politician of Mississip-
pi, is moved to declare himself quite unre-
servedly. In the course of letter to
the National Republican at Washington, he
says:
you will say that I admit that the bal
lot-boX is stuffed against him in this solid
South, and you will howl over and harp on
luS dQilllSSlOl Ill your dCCuSbOuleu way. NSlli
sir, howl and harp as loud and as long as
you see proper; but the one eternal, irrevo-
cable fact will still remain-that the suffrage
amendments unconstitutional. The federal
charter recognized the right of the States to
regulate suffrage The Republican party
usurped that right and gave it to the govern
ment at Washington-usurpe it by force
of arms, by fraud atrocious, and by felonies
as black as hell. Therefore, the negro is not
legal voter and the Southern people are
justified in multiplying his vote, peacefully if
possible, by powder and ball if benignant
means shall fail. The Democracy will capture
the Capitol before many days, and they will
do as they tried to do in 1879. They will
draw the fangs of the suffrage amendment,
and the darby will no longer figure as a
factor of the American ballot-box."
1t is a marvel OF stupidity that these fell
lows can keep still until they have GER
tainty; but they are so full of it, and they
are SO firmly pc daded that at last they are
to come into possession, that they no longer
realize the wisdom of discretion. In the minds
eye Of these doughty fellows the Southern
Confederacy is again about to ride to field
and to conquest. Then will all the wrongs
inflicted upon white men be wiped out, and
the negro will be relegated to where he be-
longs. Popular" suffrage will be white
mans prerogative, and, as 'befo' the wah,"
this will of verify be white mans govern
ment. 1t is vain to deny that there is
strong sentiment hostile to universal suf-
frage. 1t was this sentiment that impelled
Democrats to murder defenseless negroes at
Ellenton; it was this that gave strength to
the arm and determination to the merci-
less hearts of the night-riding bull
dozers of Mississippi and Louisiana. 1t was
this that assassinated the Chisolms and MUIR
dered J. P Matthews because he dared be a
Republican in the State of Mississippi. 1t
was this that prompted the Danvile mas
sacre. Call this waving the bloody shirt"
or what you WILL but these are bloody facts,
that will not down before the sneers of the
men who did the murders and those who up
hold them in the crime. 1t is q fact not to
be truthfully denied that hundreds of
Southern Republicans, white and black,
have been murdered on account of their
politics, thousands have been beaten and
whipped, and tens of thousands terrorized
out OF attempting to vote their sentiments.
The Southern Confederacy is temporarily in
the saddle, but the people will fail OF their
plain duty if the arrogant rider is not I'M
horsed in November, 1884. The lesson of
loyalty is not yet learned, and until this car
dinal qualification is acquired the Southern
Confederacy cannot be trusted with its foot
in the stirrup and its hand on the rein.