Year: 1876

South into the Union with all her institu-
tions and Constitutional rights intact, not
withstanding her rebellion, and that the
abolition of slavery was unconstitutional.
He goes further and charges the South
with deserting the Northern Democrats
cat the crisis of our fate and left us in our
weakness at the mercy OF the most un-
"principled tyrants that ever betrayed
"public trust" 1--WE were deeply
wronged" by that desertion, and Joined
the loyal party to punish this outrageous
breach of faith and whip the South back to
where we could compel them to accept
their Constitutional rights, one of which
was to carry slavery into free territory,
and when there manage it to suit them
selves. But for this desertion, 1--WE might
have made successful defense and Sc
cured you all you claimed for the pecu-
" liar institution. Deserted in the hour OF
trial by you, deceived in the army by
&C the Abolitionists, we helped whip you
into the traces, and now want you to
help US again into power, that we may
give you all your Constitutional rights. "
The whole letter is a confession that the
Democratic party before the war was to
all intents and purposes pro-slayery; that
Constitutional liberty is the right to extend
slavery into new territory, and perpetuate
it there indefinitely. The logic of which
is that the restoration Of slavery alone can
repair the Constitution.


But for the almost total irrelevancy of
two thirds of the letter we would suggest
it to the Republican committee as CAM
paign document. 1t reveals the animus and
status of the Democracy more clearl y than
anything yet published. We are therefore
not surprised that Southern papers laud 1t
as the greatest production they have found.
We have not space to pursue this extraor-
binary production further. MIR. Black
wholly ignores the facts that slavery never
had any Constitutional rights outside the
original thirteen States that, thus limited,
it would have died natural death but for
the fostering care of Democracy that the
abolition of slavery was a war measure,
necessity, result, and not an election
that the Southern States declared them
serves OUT Ol lue y ulOu, duu luuS SAuSOiSN
all their Constitutional rights, which, &C
cording to the doctrines Of Dem ocracy,
they had a Constitutional right to do as
sovereignties that when whipped the con-
querors had the right to determine their
relations, which properly were that OF
provinces or territories that there they
should have been kept until they had fully
and completely accepted the terms offered
them and that they themselves could have
prevented all the carpet-bag and other evils
incident to compulsory processes had they
shown any disposition to take hold in good
faith and reconstruct their political system
so as to do justice to the freedmen. The
history of the world contains no parallel in
this treatment of conquered peoples. The
traitors who struck deadly blows at the life
of the nation are making its laws, paid out
of It's treasury, and now demand the purse
and the sword, when their last acts were
robberies of the Treasury and War De-
partmcnts to equip treason; that they may
reconstruct the Government on their inter-
probation of the compact, after sanctloning
as party the acts which caused and pre-
cipitated the war. We cease to be aston
ished.