Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1879 — Shall the Nation Surrender? [ARTICLE]

Shall the Nation Surrender?

It would seem that if the slumbering sense of National honor and justice was ever to be awakened in the people of this Nation it would have rcsponoedto the ghastly roster of political assassinations in the South long ago. It seemed as though the horrible Chisholm massacre would certainly bring forth good results in the direction of a remedy for this plague to our body politic. But another coid-blooded butchery from the same State again starts ’the National pulse to throbbing, and the strong feeding manifested, not only in the press but among the people, gives grounds for the hope that a vigorous discussion of this question will ensue and result in some relief. We believe that the Na 4 tional Government has the power under this Constitution to grapple this evil and choke it off'. It needs a Congress with a strong purpose to uphold the National laws and protect the lives of citizens. It needs an Executive with a dear and strong conviction of his duty and an unfaltering pur- . pose to do it at whatever cost. The time has long since come for a grave and earnest study of the utmost limits of National power and the determination to proceed as far as possible in this matter. It has been asserted,, and proven by history, b£ the Constitution, by the opinions of the men who made the Constitution, and even by the fathers of Democracy, that the United States is a Nation with supreme control over the rights, persons and property of its citizens. This fact alone implies the power to protect such citizens in the lawful exercise of such rights,-#Nay, more; Jt, carries with it the duty to guarantee such protection. This protection Is also guaranteed in Article 4, Section 4, of the Constitution, which says: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.” This promise it has not fulfilled to the people of at least six of the Southern States. The Governments,of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana are oligarchies of the most despotic and cruel types ever known. There is nothing but the hollow pretense of a republican government in those States. There has not been an honest expression of the public opinion in those States for years, and in those years the Government has been derelict in its duty in not trying more vigorously to fulfill its obligations to its citizens. The election of a State Legislature has a National significance and is in one sense a National election. When a State elects a State Legislature it elects a United States Senator. This was demonstrated in this State last year, when the canvass was largely made’ for Mr. Voorhees for the Senate. This being the case, the National Government is vitally injured by the frauds in the election of State Legislatures, aud has the right to take measures for its own protection. These powers are implied in the section of the Constitution quoted, and are necessary to the maintenance of a republican form of government. The time has come for the loyal people of this Nation to consider how far a State may go in violation of the natural rights of citizens without hindrance. If we, as a Nation, admit that a State Government may rob citizens of their rights, property," lives and liberties, in defiance of the National Constitution, this Government is a foul mockery and a curse. It is to be despised and contemned of men, and the sooner we throw off its control the better. Better a State Government which can protect the rights of citizens when it wants to, and can enforce its laws, than a puerile pretense at authority for which we pay taxes only to be told that it is powerless to protect us. v Such is the position in which the Government stands in relation to the Republican citizens of the Southern States, and it must either do something toward punishing their oppressors and establishing .a republican form of government once more in those States,in accordance with its Constitutional obligations, or be disgraced in the eyes of the world. The National Government cannot goon in this fashion much longer and retain the respect of its citizens. A .government which cannot protect its citizens in its own borders and enforce its own laws is simply an/

expensive nuisance, only to be tolerated when relief is impossible. The time has come for the National Government to assert itself or Better thirty-eight real governments than one sham government. Let us know what we are to expect, and let us be one thing or the other. Are we paying for something we cannot get? If so, it is time to stop it. We believe that Con gress can find the power under the Constitution-to make laws under which authorities can arrest and punish these assassins of the South, \ and compel order in Mississippi. 'ilt mighjt require a considerable stretch of National authority, but the time has come to stretch that power to its utmost limit. The case is now beyond the reach of all ordinary measures, and something extraordinary and vigorous must be done. Whatever Congress does in this direction will be hailed as an effort at protecting American citizenship, and we believe will be supported by as brave and determined a host as "assembled in 1861. Let this matter be forced to an issue, and set tied once and forever, that either the Southern States or the Nation rtiles supreme, and can protect citizens in their lives and .liberties. Of course, no justice can be expected of the present Democratic Congress, which is particeps crirqinis in these Southern murders and political assassinations. Therefore, the first thing for every loyal manto do is to put a ballot in the box in favor of a Congressman with intelligence, courage and loyalty, who will help to make the necessary laws to stop this butchery. Let the North unite to make a Congress with a National spirit. Then let that Congress take such action as will forever insure free and fair elections, free speech, liberty of opifojon, and safety of person and property in every school district in the country.— Indianapolis Journal. 7 ■ "! Some .men, never' see a joke. It caroms on their intellect.— N. Y. Mail,