Year: 1877

and under instructions simply to keel


the peace. This they maintained with


out any exercise Of force, for thougl


nearly the whole white population wer,


armed with shot-guns and revolvers il


malignant array against all who wer,


truly loyal at heart, whether white o.


black, they were kept in check by thei


cowardice and wholesome fear of conse


quences, in case they again attempted tC


measure weapons with the irresistibl,


power of the Nation. OF course, the


rebel yell heard about "bayonet rule


and Grants "Coesarism," and this wal


vigorously responded to by the entire


Northern Democracy. IL came from th'


throats of those who at that very mo


ment were in armed league to put dowr


State Governments legally elected by {


decided majority, and to put in authority


the vilest of conspirators and the mos


desperate of usurpers They had no ob
lection to "bayonet rule, provided that


all the bayonets were in their hands. anC


their hated victims were rendered de


fenseless; that was and is the only rule


to their taste.


1t was a grave mistake on the part oi


President Grant, for even he showed in


the sequel, a weakening of the bac kbone


and an unwillingness to meet the emerg-


ency uncompromisingly in consequence


of the rebel outcries aforesaid, accom-
panied by a spreading intimidation in


the Republican ranks-it was a deplora
/ BILE avoidance of his constitutional duty
4 that he allowed the shot gun policy" to
succeed in Mississippi by falling to sup
/ port the lawful administration OF Cover
nor Ames and not less so in declining
| to decide whether Packard or Nichols
| in Louisiana, or Chamberlain or Wade
Hampton in South Carolina, were enti-
tied to fill the Gubernatorial Office. The
language of the United States Constitu-


tion is equally explicit and mandatory !:


"The United States shall guarantee to


every State in this Union a republican


form Of government, and on


application Of the Legislature or of the


Executive (when the Legislature can not


be convened). against domestic violence" OF


the rightiul claims of Packard and Cham


berlain he had no doubt, and, as it was in


consequence of their official appeal to


him Tor aid in suppressing a formidably


fsctious minority that he sent troops


down into those States, he should have


asserted the legitimacy Of their official
position. and signified his determination


to see it enforced until the return of an
other election, or the cessation of a state
of anarchy. To say that if he had taken


this course there would have been no


submission on the part of the malcon-


tents is, first, to beg the question, and.
second to say that lawlessness and
usurpation must in these cases, as a
stroke of "policy" and a method of con
ciliating our Southern brethren" be al
lowed to take the reins of Government
and trample law and order in the dust


What is the Union but a rope Of sand in
conclusion like this. To assert that
State Government is not to be "propped
up by bayonet rule on the part Of the
General Government, if necessary, is to
give unlimited scope to local rebellion,
and to nullify that section Of the Consti-
tuition which expressly provides for such
But let President Grant
have credit for going so far as he did,
though coming short Of his whole duty


President Hayes neither doubted nor
had any cause for doubling that Cham
berlain, and not Wade Hampton. was the
rightful Governor of South Carolina
that Packard, and not Nichols, was the
rightful Governor of Louisiana In with |
drawing the troops as he did, he knew
with absolute certainty that both Mich |
oils and Hampton would instantly, by
the assistance of a murderous minority /
armed to the teeth, leap into the high /
places of trust, and dominate the State. /
He knew, or was inexcusable for not |
knowing that his act would be followed 4
by frantic yells of rebel iubilation on the |
one hand, and on the other by groanings .
of the defenseless colored /
and white loyalists abandoned to their I
miserable fate He knew, or ought to /
have foreseen, that he was closing and .
boiling the door of admission to the I
troops thus withdrawn, in any emergen- /
cy, seeing that he had rendered il impos- /
sible for loyalty again to come to the .
front, whether in an executive or a legis- .
lative form Nevertheless, when soon .
after his Inauguration leading colored .
of South Carolina called 4
upon him to have a frank interchange of /
views, he assured them that he did not I
propose to abandon the Southern Repub /
licans for he recognized necessity of /
protection at present. until feeling Of /
respect for the rights of political oppo- /
nents should be entertained by Demo |
Gratis of the South" Suddenly he /
patent method to insure /
this protection. 1t was to withdraw I
from the loyal population all moral I
and physical support, and to give |
absolute supremacy to their implaca- /
BILE enemies, who, in view of such |
magnanimity, would GER
tainly behave themselves, be governed /
by the principles of justice and equity
toward those whom they had hitherto |
brutally prescribed, cease all intimidation
at the polls, and inaugurate a political



In this connection it il pertinent to re-
call the language of Mr.. Evarts (now Sec
retary of State) before the Electoral
Commission


Now, for these poor people Of Louis
lana, if the Federal power now under
takes to thwart, to uproot this scheme Of
law to preserve society from
destruction, and leaves these unbefriend-
ed, uneducated, simple black people to
the fate from which the State strove hard
to save them, ! say that you will have
made them 10y that action the victims of
your Constitution: for your Constitution
gave them the suffrage, and they are 10 b.
for haUiHg The gin found in their
hands, ] say that you made them the sac
rifices to the triumph Of the Government !
over the rebellion. | say that such self
abasement OF the powers of the Govern
mcnt is beyond a cure. 1t teaches the
sad lesson that the American people in
the attempt to make good the largeness
of its promise, and work out the glory Of
its proud manifesto of freedom and equal
ity before the law, finds itself thwarted
by the exhibition of violence in the tur-
bulent population. and forced with its
oYn hands to crush the methods of law
by which the State has sought, alas how
vainly, to curb and redress this menace
and this mischief to its honor and its
peace"


No statement of the case could be more
truthful or more impressive than this
Yet Mr. Evarts, as a member of the Cab