Year: 1875

THE REAL SOUTHERN CRElIHALs-THE


BLOODY POLICY OF THE SOUTHERN DE-


MocRAcY.


In 1867, under the reconstruction acts
passed by Republican Congress, the col
ored citizens of Mississippi exercised the


right of suffrage for the first time. They
\ naturally voted the Republican ticket, be-


cause it was symbolical to them of the
power which had, with lavish use of blood


and treasure, accomplished their emancipa-
ton. At the same instant an exclusively
white combination of ex-Confederate SOL
diers was made for the purpose of securing
Office to certain leaders calling themselves
Democrats, and having natural affiliation


with the Democratic party of the North.
This affiliation proceeded from a common


dislike of Republican rule but showed it.


self most plainly in Mississippi in the way
of hostility to equal suffrage as the result of
that Republican rule. In 1868 this combi-
nation, calling itself the Democratic party
of the State, met in convention and crystal
lized its belief that the blacks were incapa-
BILE of exercising thel.rights of citizenship
intelligentlY, by the adoption of the follow
ing plank in their platform of principles


"Resolred, That by the constitution and laws
of Mississippi, irlite males of the age of twenty
one and upward, and citizens of the United
States, are alone qualified electors, and that
no Others hare a right TO Vote within the limits
Of said State, or to hold Office therein"


This was the political creed Of the Mis-
sissippi Democrats then; and it is the same
now. They soon found themselves in a
minority, however, and, yearning for the


iesh-pots of official position, they did not
hesitate to resort to any method Of extrasr-
dinsry crime or common deception to &C
complish the success Of their cherished OBJ
jects. Among other expedients, they re-
sorted, in one instance, in Lowndes county,
to the adoption of a resolution to the follow
ing effect:


'We stand ready to offer shelter and securi-
ty to every true citizen, be he white or black,
who will come to and stand 1cith the Democratic
and Conservative party"


This resolution never would have been
adopted if the Democrats of that county
had not been impressed with the belief that
the General Government was not only
powerful but inclined to prevent them
from making aggressive movements against
the rights of the blacks. 1t is the most
the rights of the blacks. They still recog-
niLe that it is powerful, but have construed
the concessions of the Northern Gushers to
mean that its inclination to project the
blacks no longer exists. The failure to pass
the so-cslled Force bill by Congress at its
last session gave color to this assumption,
as it apparently deprived the Administra-
ton of power it once had to secure the
punishment of Ku-Klux criminals in the
courts of the General Govern
ment. But the resolution is the most
generous offer of Cancellation ever made by
them, and reveals in unmistakable light their
design to control the political course of their
black fellow citizens at all hazards. The
two resolves taken together, however, ex-
pose the policy which they have pursued
persistently since the close of the war. It
may be briefly put in this way: First the
blacks Lave no right to vote; second, If
they do vote, they must be compelled to
vote the Democratic ticket; and (in view
Of the long list of murders which cul-
minated in the Clinton riot last Saturday,
third, when they do not vote the Demo-
cratic ticket they must be intimidsted by
assassination and riot not to vote at all.


This we .emphatically declare to be the
policy of the Mississippi Democracy. Such
designing schemers as Lamar may deny it,
but their denials are in turn denied by the
acts of their followers, as well as by their
own words. At the North, and in every
way they possibly could, Southern leaders
Of the Lamar stripe have taken advantage
of the Gushing centennial concilistory sd-
vances of short-sighted Republicans to
spread the deceptive belief that another
condition of affairs exists in that State, as
well as throughout the entire South. A
close analysis of their statements, however,
will disclose the fact that the only protec-
ton offered to the blacks is of the kind ex-
tended in the Lowndes county resolution.
Lsmar's denuncistion of white Republican
leaders proves this to be a truthful deduc-
ton. His similar denunciation of colored
Republican leaders furnishes further con-
frmation of it. If he had ever announced
his confidence in the patriotism or the in
tegrity Of any of his political opponents he
would have presented himse in different
attitude, upon which it would have been
possible to hinge contrary deduction. But
mol Whenever he slludes to them it is in
terms Of unqualified disapproval and de-
nunciatioD, invariably concluding with the
declaration that they are engaged in con-
spring against the best interests Of the
white race. He does not concede that white
Republicans, native or ''non-natiye," are
entitled to any consideration, and embodies
in his meaning Of the words "white race"
only white Democrats He declares that
negro suffrage ''hangs like mistletoe upon
the body polite, " and that the right of
suffrage in the hands of the blacks els a
dangerous privilege" Together with his
fellow-stump speaker, Senator Gordon, of
Georgia, he appeals to the colored people
to join with the Democracy in driving non
native white Republicans out Of the South.
At no time has he ever referred to the Gen
eral Government except as an object Of
hatred and an agency Of oppression. He
has never boldly pointed out any loyal
and statesmanlike plan for the improve
ment of the condition Of things Of
which he complains, but has enlarged upon
those complaints, and presented them to
his followers in such colors as to arouse
the bitterest prejudIces. He never has
once said, let US try to bear these trials with
which we are burdened and to bear them
peacesbly and patiently, or let us make our
black fellowvoters capable of .intelligently
exercising the rights of citizenship. On
the contrary, with such comparisons as his
allusion to the mistletoe. he has taught his
hearers that the Southern States are draped
by the hand of implacable tyranny with |