The Red Cloud chief., 1884-01-18
The South Sectional.

loyal men of the North and y p3trlOt.c
sOidiery. Not one distinctly Democrat
ic measur helped in the work OF pre-
serving the integrity of the Union AMI
the supremacy of the Government. If
there be any credit in having an undi-
vided country it is due wholly to the
heroic efforts of the Republican party.
Although, of course, there were many
earnestly loyal Democrats, but they
were compelled to go outside of their
party organization to give their patriot
ism effective force. 1t was but natural
when the war was done that the bitter
ness of the struggle should still rankle
in the breasts of the men and women
who paid such a fearful price for uni
versal liberty and an undivided country.
There were many who cried for ven-
geance; many who wanted the leaders
of the rebellion hanged and their es-
tates sequestrated. The Republican
party had it in its power to do these
thing s. and Jefferson Davis, tine Presi-
dent of the COntederacy, in anticipation
that something of the kind would be
done, made a desperate attempt to es-
cape, while other officials fled to vari-
Gus foreign countries, all evidently inn
PEELED by the idea that somebody would
have to pay for the crime of rebellion
and civil war. Men like George w.
Julian and others, then prominent in
the Republican party, were loud and
persistent in their demands that hang
ING and c%onfiscation should begin at
once. and be continued until something
like adequate retributiOn be visited up
on those active in rushing the country
into civil war.
The Republican party, then rs now
anxious TO bury all the animOsities of
conflict in the interest of peace and Sc
cure a united people. turned q deaf a
to all these vindictive e~ntreatieS, and
not one man was hanged for treason.
nor was there any c~OnfiscatiOn Of es-
tates on account of overt acts of
d~islovalty. The only men that went
into Punishment went voluntarily, be-
cause they feared the consequences of
their treason or were unwilling to live
in a country made free despite their eff
forts to divide it in the interest of hu-
man slavery. With a magnanimity I'M
paralleled in such cases. the Govern
ment rehabilitated the States lately in
rebellion, and three wears after the
close of the war every State in the
Union participated in the Federal cleo
ton. As rapidly as was consistent with
the safety of the Government the dis
qualification of voters on account of
treason was removed. and to-day there
is but one man in all the land who can
not vote because of his part in the re-
bellion, and his disability should be re-
moved, as it is a distinction above his
fellows in crime that he does not merit.
The South is solidly Democratic to
day because the Republican party saw
fit to restore to the people of the South
all of their political rights, and for the
further reason that it has charitably
forebOrne to interfere in cases when
fraud and violence were boldly prac-
ticed by men shameless enOughrtO boast
of their part in the infamous proceed
ings. The soldiers of the rebellion are
in the halls of National legislation
through the liberality Of the Republican
party. Nine-tenths of the Democratic
representatives from the South have to
take the modified OATH" that is, they
confess that ut one time at least they
were the avowed and voluntary enc
mics of the Republic. If these things
are not evidences of the Republican
party's desire to bury sectional animos-
tiles. they signify nothing. 1t is the
Democratic party alone that will not
let sectional issues die. 1t is the Demo-
cratic party that is unwilling that the
majority should rule in the South. 1t
is the Democratic party that, by murder
and fraud, has sOlidified the South so as
to make it possible for a desperate mi
nority to capture Federal control. 1t is
the Democratic party that denounces all
Southern Republicans rs ''knaves," and
that regards them as the lawful prey of
the fellows who carry the elections by
aid of lash and shot gun. 1t is the Dem
ocralic party of this country that dares
not pronounce against the assassination
of reputable Republicans, murdered be-
cause they dared to vote in open cleo
ton. 1t is the Democratic party that
nominated Tilden and Hendricks. Han
cock and English. that has no word of
condemnation for the infamous Demo-
cratic mass-meeting at HazlehurSt,
Miss, which passed resolutions warn
ing the sons and brothers of a Repub-
lican, assassinated by a Democrat, that
they could participate in politics only
on peril of their lives. 1t is the Demo-
cratic party that has deliberately
aligned one section of the Union against
the other and that will not consent to
fair elections in any Southern State.
Each of these charges is a fact that
a not be t%ruthfully denied, yet even
to mention them is to invite the cry.
''bloody shirt The Democratic party
is determined that these issues shall not
die. Only 4 fortnight ago one of the
Southern members, a boy of ten years
at the close of the war, took the ''modi-
fed OATH when he entered upon his
duties as Congressman. When asked
why ne did so he replied: ''Our people
are better pleased if their representa-
tives refuse to take the 'irOn-clad
OATH" In face of all these things it is
folly to expect that sectional issues will
disappear. The South is not willing
that they should be lost sight of. and
the Democratic party of the North dare
not condemn the numberless mOnstrous
iniquities perpetrated by their fellow
partisans in the South. The people of
the South are not willing that their rep
resentatives in Congress should swear
| that they never bore arms against the
Union. The ''bloody shirt is Haunted
on every opportunity, and repeatedly
o.,-d:c ~ fooo of MON xvho xvoro