The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-08-26

. o,yAND TWENTY YEARS AGO.
People, Cast Down with Defeat,
.,.t Ties Sundered and in Pow
orty ofPurse Rise to the Pin
nacle of Greatness.

W. .nla possessed oHly tHe shy duoNe
ell and the earth beneath, says
ANn Ellington correspondent of the New
bus E',r Herald. Nearly all their sub
Il g, ~ ,rce had been degoured by the war.
siyeIt I~or currency became worthless; the
ieleI anew of the Union, itself the creature
geo 4Jhe war, had not penetrated their
lF W,rtory, and for which they had moth
oftb 81. !, 10 give in exchange. Destitute of
met ,S6lic revenues, an army of sick and
cad jrnpled soldiers became charge upon
ldreJ jSsSir private charity. Their com
IRE asbandry languid, and their
imail "ia system overthrown. They were
WIZ Nh down with defeat, and their souls
- - Nod with sad memories of their kin
TMEmd slain in battle, In the midst of
t ofrRbis discontinue and ruin they began
=, 7IS.rew society; and in twenty years of ar
RI imols and heroic efforts have converted
Poverty into abundance and established
Mo Iraterial prosperity throughout the Dor
lht 3ers. This people, valiant in the pres
-;sWaee Of disaster, are solidly opposed to
~ he party which has controlled the Fed
III 3rsl government during the period of
p1 Hieir rehabilitation. What has evoked
- In state of feeling? Where does the
m K lsrm of political soldity in the south
ligla lave its seat? Does it rest in disloyalty
med the Federal government or q dislike
.,f5a II the northern people, or is it rather be,
~ bitten of fidelity to the law? The south
:, " Inot smarting from political disappoint-
81, iet, for II has put forward no candi-
lev lac for controlling Federal position
20-iR llDce the war 1t does not dislike the
!, X 4 iROple of the North, for it has voted
rt With great heartineSs for candidates for
Aplie highest positions in the Govern
No. IL
SlIalitary and civil opposition to the
I'm South during the war. No man of ma
AN ans IiOnal fame coming from the North has
,crd Visited the South since peace was de-
ivliWtared who has not been received there
4 sHKith cordiality. The Southern people
cit Aannot, therefore, truthfully be charged
pejIFith contumacy. Their hostility to the
I'D IRepublican party rests upon other
20 grounds.
When the South returned to the Union
III took upon itself an obligation to obey
Ihc constitution of the United States,
OY1with the amendments thereto, and all
laws enacted in pursuance thereof
+ This obligation included the duty of
Irosisting enactments in violation of
,2"I he constitution. The duty of resisting
fo unconstitutional laws is as sacred
ycli as the obligation to obey the consttu-
wd iOnal ones. In our Jurisprudence the
lali Federal and State governments, operat-
nd ing within their respective spheres, com
~ pose but one Government. The func-
~ ions of one government are divided
M between them. They both make one
" system. Neither can be impaired with
y out constitutional injury to the other.
D Those provisions Of the constitution of
s. the union which forbid the Federal gov.
~ eminent from subverting the State are
!. as highly esteemed by the Federal con.
W stttutlon itself as Is any other provision
III thereof, so that he who resists an en-
Ia crOachment Of the Federal upon State
vel power does high service to the constitu-
y i ton and the union.
VI On the 3lst day o. May, 1870, Congress
" in the hands of tn Republican party
;G passed, and a Reput lean president APP.
Gf 4 proved, an enactment the third anC
L. fourth sections of which undertook t.
ire / seize and control the whole election ma
lie. Chinery of the Southern States, and t
lg subject officers of State election,
~ to Federal supervision. The efiec
n III this enactment, if sustained, woult
q AVE been to destroy the independence,
80 A. of those Sta.es in their domestic con
ry Germs. This enactment was resisted by
" the South, and after breeding politica
pestilcnce for four years was declared
Is void by the Supreme court Ofthe United
States. In 1871 Congress enacted wha
w was known in the Revised Statutes O
II
/ ] section was rroad enough in its terms +
extend Federal criminal jurisdiction L
w the trial and punishment of two or NOR
@ II persons who deprived either directly o
~ indirectly any person or class Of person
OF the equal protection OF the law or {
equal privileges or immunities un1e
the laws, thereby transferring to th
Federal Government all offices of whic
were filled by Republicans powe
over local police matters, by the const
tuition COnlided to the States. Under tn
pretended law indictments were foun,
IN Federal courts, and prosecutions cal
riCd forward until lSS2, when the ST
preme Court annulled it. On March
1873, the Civil Rights act, entitled "A
act to protect all citizens in their civ
and legal rights" was approved. Til
scope of this act is indicated by its It'll,
i 1t covered the remnant of State iuri'
III diCtion uninvadcd by former acts {
Congress. In 1883 this act shared tn
fate of its revolutionary predecessor
aud was east out of the family of law
/ by the supreme Court of the Unite
States. That court says of IL in declaI
ing il void: ain other words, it steI
into the domain of local jurisprudence
and lays down rules for the conduct
individuals in society toward eac
other, and imposes sanctions for the ei
furcement of these rules without refe
ring III any manner To any supposed n
ton of the state or its authorities"
That all these sO-callcd laws were nj
constitutional Is no longer questionable
The Supreme Court, composed of judge
all of whom were appointed by Republ
can Presidents, so hold. The destru
tive effect OF this legislation upon Il
Government is strikingly vivid. II su
taincd, it would have dismautlCd ii
States. Its revolutionary force was
potent that il Tiled the Southcrl mir
with alarn and provoked the solid o
position of Intelligent whites. II c,
IRON no standpoint be justified. 1t W
not TO the advantage of the colored ne
pie, Tor their good could in no way
promoted by violating the conStitutio
constitutional government in this cou
try is the only and highest hope of {
people re SuoNert that government
10 bury the liberty of the whites nj
blacks in one common grave.
The political effect OF tho legislati
i above alluded to was to inilamo the g,
i ored people of the south, in whose III
tended interest IL was enacted, again
II the whites. The colored men OF I
III south were melted by these laws to
Spect and distruSt the whites. TN
were led bv them to ahhOr the Sta
N governments under which they live
because Multiplication these onactmcr
II declared that state z verunents We
II inefficient to do thom Justice. The VIII
people on the other hand, behold /
colored man used as pretoXt by I
i Republican party to contralilo the q
Il ernment They all saw the constit
Y 7 tional traditions of the fathers bel
swept away. Suggestions that this p
W icy of the Republican party was destrC
n ing the constitution were received
the leaders and organs of that party
the north and south alike with cOntem
Nevertheless, the Intelligent whita @
mcnt of tho south, with q growing scr