Year: 1872




person attempting this indirect bribery has
subsequently in writing admitted that the
offer was made with the knowledge and con-
sent of President Grant. and. says Sena-
tor Schurz the proof shall be forth
coming if the President will officially
deny the truth of the statement The
importance placed upon this remarkable
accusation IL sAQYn from the fact that it has
been thought advisable to send out from WASH
ington sort of request for suspension Of
judgment until the President shall arrive at
the national capital from Long Branch and
have an opportunity of confirming the denial
of the story l.a-~~


Outside these mere personal attacks, which
Senator Schurz would have been wise to have
forborne, the speech makes forcible and tell
ing onslaught on the policy of the majority, or
administration party, in Congress towards the
Southern States The Senator says truly
that General Grant enjoyed splendid oppor-
tunities when he entered upon the duties
OF the Presidency to accomplish much good
towards the settlement of the ex-rebel section





in Congress took the work out of his hands
and followed the bent of their own minds.
The treatment of the South should
have been kind, conciliatory and gen.
erous, and the General who had carried the
Union arms to victory, who had granted such
honorable terms to the Confederate soldiers
and who had firmly opposed measures of re-
venge against the Southern leaders was in q
favorable position to win over the whole
warm-hearted people of the Southern States,
black and white, by the adoption of such a
policy. But instead in the effort to secure
the radical advisers of General Grant
commenced the work of reconstruction
by turning carpet-bag plunderers loose
upon tho South and by enforcing a
system of disabilities which almost
entirely excluded men of property and intelli-
gence from all share in the government, and
left the affairs of the several States
in the hands of irresponsible whites
and ignorant negroes The effect of
this policy was naturally destructive
Of law and order, and hot-headed,
mischievous men availed themselves of it to
commit desperate and lawless acts. The Ku
Klux, or bayonet law, as it is called, was
passed to put down these disturbances, and
was, according to Senator Schurz, good law
for that purpose; but it has been perverted
from its original use and has become piece
of political machinery to control the ballot
r.:
by Congress, but the South is helA under
a reign of terror to render the boon value
less. Five hundred indictments are suspended
over the heads of white voters in North Caro-
lima alone, to deter them from exercising the
privilege of the franchise thus nominally
conferred upon them. It is against such acts
as these that the people of the North rebel
and for which they will hold the republican
politicians accountable. Let President Grant
even now take firm stand against this
cruel injustice and oppression exercised
toward States that should be as
free as those of the North-against States
that stand with us under common con-
stitution, and the people will not care how
many relatives he may have supplied with
Office. The tyranny now practised over the
South may one day be attempted over the North.
There is danger in the precedent danger to the
constitution and to the liberties of the people.
The President has the power to restore the
habeas corpus, to withdraw the federal
troops, to take the iron heel of the
government from the neck of the
South. The people of the North ask
him, implore him to do this at once, and if he
complies with their wishes he will be able to
defy the assaults of his enemies. 1t is not safe
for him to deny the popular prayer.