Year: 1879

When the Rebel Congress adjourned
last Juhe, after fruitless effort to


"wipe out the legislation caused by the
war" and force the President 10 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 virtue of necessity and boast
ingly said they would swallow for a
time their demands and menaces and
appeal to the people of the United
States for their vindlcatiUh. 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 III Tetoing 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 a Solid South,


nor the shotgun policy by which 1t is
secured. They are opposed to the Ku-
Klux and Sons of 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 d
bloody war. They believe that patriots
and loyal men should rule, and not
rebels and traitors; that certain princi-
pies were settled by the war, and that
all attempts on the part of those for
merly in rebellion to secure in peace
what they failed to gain by force of
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
it is buried out of sight the better for
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 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 a mere
machine to register the wishes and am
billions 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
oCSlOOl dDOhb oil bAlOll OuolnCoos nOoG
who refused to submit, and claimed the
freedom guaranteed by the laws, were
handled without mercy and brought to
reason 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
unarmed and unprotected Republicans
quietly gave up the contest and sub
mitted to a 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 bluster, 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
repealed, and with braggart threats in
sisted if the President did not yield to
their clamor they would starve the
Government into submission or permit
il 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 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 few brief
hours upon the stage, but they are
comparatively harmless, and the peo-
pie will see that the Government they