Year: 1879

A newspaper published somewhere In


Mississippi is almost frantic with delight


because a Washington journal remarks
J that "the Confederacy has at last captur-


ed the Capitol" Yes, thank God T. ex,


claims the pious fire eater, I'VE have cap
| tured the Capitol, and in 1880 our man


will walk up the White House steps and
| take his seat in the Presidential chair


Then will our glorious triumph be COM
plete Then will we proceed to tear
| your amendments from the Constitution
and trample them in the mire. Then


will we break the shackles you have forg-
ed for the free, sovereign and lndepend


ent commonwealtbs of the Union. Then


will we recognize the right of secession


a right that is not dead. but sleeping.


Then will we decorate the Capitol with
pictures of Davis, and Lee, and Stuart


and all the glorious leaders of cause


that is not lost, but living still. Yes,


thank God, we have captured the Capitol,


and from that coigne Of vantage we pro-


pose to rule the Republic in way that


will make your Radical laws and your


Radical leaders forever odious in Ameri-


Ca" This sounds rather wild; and the


gentleman who is screaming is probably
a person of no individual consequence, as


his paper is certainly not an organ of
commanding Importance. Yet the most
extravagant outcries of the Southern


press are not without their significance.


The literary swasbbuckler who fills him
self with gunpowder and new whisky,
and lays a raw hide on the table before


him when he begins to demolish the
Radical party and defend the sacred
rights of the South, is not an awe-inspir-
ing figure; but he does very often ex-
press the sentiments of his neigh borhood,
and forecast the policy OF his party.


There is not much doubt at any rate
that the ruling passion of the South at
present is to trample the Constitutional
Amendments in the mire-which, indeed,
has already been done in most of the re-
constructed States-and to sweep away
all the Radical laws" by which the Re
publican party attempted to secure the
results of the war when the rebel
States were allowed to return to their
old places in the Union. Equal rights,
free suffrage, a fair vote, an honest count,
protection for the weak and ignorant,
were the only demands which we made
of the defeated party at the end of the
contest, and it was to guarantee these
things that the Amendments and the
Radical laws" were enacted. While the
Republican party held an unpsputed
majority in the country, we were assured



good faith. The Lost Cause was lost for
ever. The doctrine of equality was no
more to be denied either in practice or in
theory The Amendments were recog-
nized without demur. The laws passed |
in accordance with them were not to be |
disturbed Nothing could have been |
more satisfactory than the behavior of
the Confederates SO long as they were
out of power, with no immediate pros
pect of getting in. They were so profuse
in promises and protestations that they
almost seemed to be more deeply attach
ed to the Union than the soldiers who
fought for it.,


With the first sign of a possible return
of the Democratic party to power all these
pleasant pretences are suddenly aband-
oned The spirit of secession, nullifica-
ton and rebellion flames up as hot as it
cause to be fought for. The Northern
Radical is an enemy to be cursed with
great sounding oaths. The Southern
W hite Radical is an "incendiary' to be
driven out of the country. The niger is
TO be taught his place. And Radical laws
and Radical amendments to the Consti-
tuition, with all other devices of ''oppres
'ion," are to be promptly trodden in the
nire. There is nothing like sudden
to test mans character. A
yleam of good fortune works an instan-
.aneous change in our reconciled brother.
Last year he was the most cordial and
yenteel of human beings; to-day he is as
,ruculent as if be still owned niggers.


But this is not the first time that the
have boasted of the con
quest of the Capitol before taking it
they may remember previous occasions
IN which they crossed the Potomac; we
nave no doubt that they also remember
;he circumstances under which they went
pack again. Before their glorious tTi-
lmph is complete" they will have to
'eckon with the same party which met
hem at Antietam and Gettysburg.