Year: 1867




The Mobile, riot is an Indication OF the
future. 1t points the way events are tend
| ing, Many such riots, many instances of
savage slaughter, in Southern cities must
be the consequence of the agitation made
l,by Radical orators-attemptst to cram hate
| political doctrine down the throats of the
Southern people; these attempts exciting
/ to violent acts, not the respectable people of
lithea Southern States but the secesh fire
brands, the penniless, reckless remnants of
the Southern armies, with nothing to lose,
and a natural taste to crafty in tUmult,


bloodshed and plunder. sst ssi-
,7sInsthe South the Republican party al


ready finds another Kansas. Kansas was
for several years the theatre on which the
lfaetious put their political gladiators4 to
| fight out the irreconcilable bitterness of
| party hate. The excitement of that scene
! Stimulated party life through the whole
country and kept up political fury that
drove us to the great extreme of the war.
| Now this agitation is to be transferred to the
Southern States. They are to become the
Theatre of the same sort of political drama


that must be more exciting as the scene is
larger, as the passions are more intense, as
the results expected must be greater, and
as there are more cities to, be burned and
throats to be cut, before those results can


become attainable to either party tt is


easy for the North. quietly looking on,
spectators of the terrible struggle, to see
! what must be the inevitable issue. We tie
q people down by military law-we tell


them that their States have no political ex-
istence just now, that they are only free to
| pursue the ordinary course of business and


social lite, and must leave the rest alone.
They acqufesce and 60 on as quietly as
heart could wish, eager only to be quiet
! grateful for rest from political turmoil and
for the chance to cultivate the fields. But,
v nrpGfnI n nf mi itor ilox1
is dry we let loose on them political mis-


sionaries, propagandists, agitators, to start
again that very political life that we have
said must for the present be extinct. We
| show them that they may 90 into politics
| as much as they like, if they will go in on
the right side, and we hint broadly that we


are ready to distribute Southern lands free


ly to the class that will biu highest for them
in Republican votes. 7,-,. f..---y -.r
! E1s 1t is useless to, cover our eyes-we NAV


shut out the view, but the game goes on.


What Wilson will do plausibly and bland
| ly the Hay ywoods and Hunnicuts will do ex-
traxagantly, savagely, and without de-


cent attempt to cover bad purpose. Even


Judge Kelley puts forth braggart invita-


tions for some one to tread on the tail of


his coat, and he twists the United States
army into a most convenient shillalah with


which to damage all heads that may come
in his way in this fine faction fight. No
one at the North is deceived by such fume
mo one here listens with respect to any


mans declaration that he will come with
the whole United States army behind
him, if he cannot otherwise pump. Repub-
lican doctrines into the open ears of the


whole South. But these things are heard
differently at the places where they are
spoken. People who live in the track of
Shernan's army know what such threat


means-though perhaps Judge Kelley does


not; and the threat that is mere rhetoric


to him is to them a remem brance of hor-
rible reality, and reawakes savage thoughts


already soothed into a half sleep by pro-
lgressiye reconstruction. Such phrases, al
so, are taken by the blacks for positive
promises, and through them irritate the


whites even more than when fresh from the


mouth of the orator. Thus they start bad
passions, irritate, annoy, excite even the


best disposed people; and the worst dis
posed need only such preteXts.


Our military commanders at the South


know how inflamable the bad elements are
l--how easily strife may be lighted up; and
| in the attempt to prevent, rather than have


to suppress revolt, they have sometimes
touched upon doubtful powers. Doubtless
1 they would have moral courage enough to
act in every case, and prevent utterance


where it would probably lead to disturb


ance. But in many cases the trouble does


not so palpably flow from given speeches


that they can venture upon interference.
Congress should come to the rescue on this


point. 1t should certainly assemble in
July and take measures to provide against


political campaigning in districts not po-
litically free, but subject to military law.
Ii, it does not we shall see undone all that


hitherto has been done toward a restoration