Year: 1879

last June, after a fruitless effort to


"wipe out the legislation caused by the
| war" and force the President to sign


bills which he believed repugnant to
the best interests of the Nation-under


threats of destroying the Government


if he refused, those disappointed and
| humiliated Confederate Brigadiers


made q virtue of necessity and boast
ingly said they would swallow for q


time their demands and menaces and
appeal to the people of the United


States for their vindication. The ap-


peal has been made, and the answer


given. Never since the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise have the loyal


people of the North so quickly shown


their disapproval and disgust at the ac-


ton of Congress as in the present in


stance. Maine, California, Colorado,
Ohio, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York,


New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois. Wis


consin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and


Michigan have spoken, and spoken so
loudly and clearly that nobody can mis-


take their meaning. The people of the


North have voted to sustain the Presi-


dent in the brave and patriotic course


he assumed in his dealings with Con-


gress. They have said he was right,


and that all his acts in vetoing vi


cious and partisan legislation meet


their cordial and hearty approval.


These great States have declared


in favor of Republican rule, and


against Democratic supremacy. They


do not approve of q Solid South,


nor the shotgun policy by which it is
secured. They are opposed to the Ku


Klux and Sonsof Liberty organizations
They are opposed to destroying the
freedom of elections and the rights of
the citizens. They approve the whole
some laws for the appointment of Su-
pervisors and the maintenance of peace
at the polls by the whole military force
of the Government. They believe that
the Constitution and the laws passed in
pursuance thereof should be the SUI
preme authority in the land. They be-
lieve that the United States compose
one great and powerful Nation. and
that the doctrine of State Sovereignty
was settled finally at the cost of a
bloody war. They believe that patriots
and loyal men should rule, and not
rebels and traitors; that certain princi-
Piles were settled by the war. and that
all attempts on the part of those for
merly in rebellion to secure in peace


w Wudb tuOf 1dliCu W Solh Wy AOhSC Va
arms are not to be tolerated or counte-
nanced. And in the plainest language
they say that the Democratic party is
the foe of the country, ought not to be
trusted with its control, and the sooner
the advancement of every moral, busi-
ness, and loyal interest in the land.


The rebel Congress came into exist
ence flushed with victory and intoxi-
Gated with power. The attempt to si-
lence the entire Republican vote of the
South had proved a success. Liberty
of action, freedom at the polls, the
plainest right of an American citizen
had all been trampled under foot. The
ballot-box sacred in the eyes of every
lover of his country, was made mere |
machine to register the wishes and am |
bitions of men lately in open rebellion. |
Opposition to the dictates of the mi |
nority was met with violence, cruelty, |
tortures, and murder. There was no
secrecy about all their business. Those |
who refused to submit, and claimed the |
guaranteed by the laws, were |
handled without mercy and brought to |
by the shotgun and the lash. A |
few examples like those of Judge CHS |
holm and his defenseless family, Dixon, |
and others were all-sufficient, and the |
and unprotected Republicans |
quietly gave up the contest and SUBJ
mitted to power that knew neither
decency nor humanity. Once in
power in Congress the rebels openly |
declared their intentions, and boldly |
and defiantly attempted to force their
will upon the Nation. They began
to buster, and with brazen audacity
and arrogant shamelessness insist that
all the wholesome laws passed during
the war for the protection of liberty
and the rights of the people should be
and with braggart threats in
sisted if the President did not yield to
their clamor they would starve the
into submission or permit
it to die for want of the means upon
which only it could exist. Such was
the programme openly carried out by
the traitors and rebels who by fraud
and wickedness had raised themselves
to power.


But their triumph has been a brief
one, and their future has in it neither
hope ner consolation. For little time
they may continue to haunt the halls
Of the Capitol, and play a few brief
hours upon the stage, but they are
harmless, and the peo-
pie will see that the Government they