_The Great Commercial Panic of 1873--Collapse of the Republican
Government of the South--The Rebel Shot-Gun--The Force Bill--Rebellion
at New Orleans--Dangerous State of the Whole Country--Election of
President Hayes--Presumption of the Late Secessionists--Speech of
Congressman Foster, in Ohio--The Solid North Against the Solid
South--The Election of James A. Garfield--For the Sake of Peace._
As I have indicated at the close of the last chapter, we all got home to
Buffalo in perfect safety, and settled down once more to the duties of
life. In the meantime we continued to watch the course of reconstruction
in the South, which was run by the Republicans with but very few
exceptions. We all seemed to think that things had settled down all
right in those States. White and colored Republicans were mixed up
pretty fairly in the Governments, and in all the different departments.
There were about a dozen colored Congressmen at Washington, and numbers
were also employed abroad in the consular and diplomatic service of the
United States. All things appeared to have settled down in quietness and
peace, but it was only to lull that which comes before the tempest, for
the elements in Secessia were only awaiting a favorable opportunity to
strike their favorable blow.
Up to the year 1872 (as I still remember well) this entire nation seemed
to be running a course of unprecedented and joyful prosperity. Everybody
was working, there seemed to be plenty of money in the country, and
glorious good times, and immediately prospective wealth were the order
of the day everywhere. Alas, alas! It was nothing but the inflation of a
big balloon. In 1873 came a universal crash, and the balloon collapsed
entirely! There was nothing but consternation over the whole nation, and
the Northern States ceased for a time to keep their watchful eyes upon
the reconstruction of the South, in order to attend to the dreadful
troubles at home, caused by the complete collapse in trade. This was the
opportunity for which the late open rebels had been waiting. They
determined at once to take advantage of the sudden panic. The
Ku-Klux-Klan now came to the front (of whom I have made mention before).
They seized the shot-gun, and wrote on their banners, "We must carry
these States peaceably if we can; forcibly, if we must." Their first
efforts were directed against the white Republican leaders, who melted
away like new fallen snow before a warm sun. Their next effort was
directed against the most intelligent and influential colored leaders,
to whom they denied employment in almost every possible case. In a short
time there were not many Republican leaders left, either white or
colored, and the rank and file of the party could not then do much.
Congress passed next an act empowering President Grant to use the army
to suppress their domestic violence, and prevent bloodshed; also to
protect colored voters in the constitutional exercise of the rights
conferred upon them by the Fifteenth Amendment. But the South were up on
their feet again, and offered the most determined opposition to the
right and proper use of the national army. Like a high-strung, violent
termagant, the lately-defeated rebels now clamored for the ruling of
their own States in their own way, to the complete exclusion of the
lawful rights of all others. In her anxiety and desperation to have her
own way, "Miss Dixie" appealed to the sympathies of the Northern people,
and, indeed, she was pretty successful in her unjust appeal, because she
was aided by the "Copperheads" (Democrats) of the North, by many of the
Northern papers, and even by the more luke-warm among the Republicans
themselves. The ex-rebels clamored for what they called "a white man's
government," though the Union was no more a white man's government than
a black man's. Indeed, if this country belongs to anybody, it belongs to
the Indians, from whom the wicked Spaniards and other European robbers
first stole the lands away, and murdered the people.
[Illustration: _JAMES A. GARFIELD._]
The bill that was introduced into Congress to enforce order in the South
was nick-named the "Force Bill," and it was not such a bad name, after
all, because nothing but force seemed of any service in making Southern
States do right. Things came to their worst in 1874, when the city of
New Orleans was in a state of siege, the streets blockaded with State
troops and White Line leagues, and an open battle was fought between the
two conflicting parties. The rebels overthrew the Republican State
government, and a new government was set up by physical force in its
stead. But President Grant sent troops to New Orleans, and the lawful
government was restored. State elections followed in the North in the
States of Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and
Massachusetts, which resulted in the defeat of the Republican ticket and
the triumph of the Democrats. In their short-sighted way, the Bourbon
Democrats of the South gave way to great exultation and joy, and behaved
in the most cruel and shameful way to the white and colored Republicans
in Secessia.
Nor did the mischief end there, for in their mistaken sympathy, many of
the Northern legislatures passed resolutions condemning President Grant
for sending troops into the South, although he only did so in the
discharge of his most legitimate duty, and in accordance with the law.
These movements caused the next Congress, which was the Forty-fourth, to
be organized by the Democrats, when the very cabinet ministers
themselves were divided upon the policy to be pursued towards the South,
one half pulling one way, and the other half pulling the other way. To
help on the bad cause still further, although a majority of colored
people exists in Mississippi, and that State ought to have gone
Republican, still the shot-gun policy of the rebels carried that State
before them, and the Republican Government ceased to exist.
[Illustration: _RUTHERFORD B. HAYES._]
The country was truly in a dangerous condition; a portion of the
Northern population were in favor of General Grant and his policy, and
the rest were in favor of a change in the South. A house divided against
itself will not stand: at least, it will not stand long. Men even
deserted the grand Republican party, not for any ill it had done, but
simply because others deserted it. It was even charged against the Grant
administration that it was responsible for the ruin of the Republican
government in the Southern States, and even for the great business
disasters that had overtaken the whole country, North and South. It is
easy to find a stick to beat a dog. Such puerile charges remind me
rather of the tricks of children than actions of men. All those charges
were entirely false, and the Democrats, both North and South, must have
known it themselves. We still remember well the mischief that President
Andrew Johnson did in his great sympathy for the rebels after they had
laid down their arms, and how the Southern States had been ruled by
hands far too weak for the task; that is, by colored men, formerly
unaccustomed to politics, by scalawags and carpet-baggers. The cleverest
of the rebels refused to lend a hand in the work of Reconstruction, and
sat sullenly at home nursing their wrath to keep it warm. They never
moved a hand in the work of building up their own country, till they
moved as the Ku-Klux-Klan, reached for the shot-gun, and murdered those
who ruled the Southern States. The rebel legislatures were now made up
of those very men whom the North had put down in the war. They thronged
the State halls and corridors, dressed in the very same robes that they
had worn on the battle-field when we were fighting for the Union and
freedom: and they were as rebellious in heart as before!
There was one great man in the Republican party who might have done a
great deal for the colored people of the South, if he had tried, but he
did not try; nay, he himself wanted to be President, and did not wish to
hurt himself when his own selfish interests were at stake. This man was
the Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine. He opposed the Force Bill, and lost
no opportunity of opposing President Grant's administration whenever the
latter wished to do anything against the late rebels, and in favor of
the people. But Mr. Blaine never became President, and it served him
right, for he might have proved a bad one, as Andrew Johnson did.
General Rutherford B. Hayes was Governor of Ohio, and in 1876 the
Republican party gave him the nomination for the Presidency. The
convention met at Cincinnati. The Democrats ran Samuel Jones Tilden as
their candidate. By the aid of the shot-gun the South had suppressed the
Republican legislatures of the States lately in rebellion, and having
gained an inch they went boldly on with the intention of taking a yard.
They certainly did expect to carry things their own way, especially if
Mr. Tilden could be elected, which appeared very likely at the time.
Though really done by means of the shot-gun in several Southern States,
it was still pretended that those States had been carried for Tilden and
the Democrats, which was a most unblushing falsehood on the very face of
it, for although returning officers came up as bold as rats from those
very States that had gone Democratic by the aid of the shot-gun, and put
in their claims, every child in the land, both North and South, knew
where the truth lay. A long wrangle followed over the counting of the
electoral votes, and as several Southern States had been carried
unlawfully, they were flung out, and General Rutherford B. Hayes was
declared duly elected President of the United States, and took his seat
on the Fourth of March, 1877. Now arose a wild cry about injustice from
all the Democrats of the land that what they called "a great steal" had
been done. The rebel South (that cared for no rights but the right of
their murderous shot-guns) was exasperated to the last degree. In fact
they were ready to fight for what they considered their rights, that is
the right to do as they pleased. They had hoped that with the
restoration of the Democratic government at that time they would be able
to collect their rebel war claims of the National Treasury at
Washington, and even get the price of their lost slaves from the same
source. They considered that they had a perfect right to all such
claims, and that the very rebel soldiers wounded in the war ought to
receive pensions the same as those who fought against them for the Union
and for freedom. When colored girls called upon those old rebel ladies
of Secessia at this time, asking for employment, those female rebels
replied, "Oh, we will hire you from your masters or mistresses," thus
clearly indicating that they fully expected the restoration of slavery
itself!
So the Democrats of the North, and the Bourbon Democrats of the South
settled down in a sullen mood to four years more of Republican rule. It
was nothing but right and proper that they should be disappointed of
their prey. Even St. Paul, in the New Testament, tells us that no man is
entitled to the prize unless he contends lawfully. Of course, the South
neither cared for the opinion of St. Paul, lawful contention, nor
anything else of the same kind. So long as they could carry the
elections by the shot-gun it was all right, and good enough for them.
The South was still discontented and sullen. They had, indeed, knocked
down the Republican governments of her several States, but though
allowed to govern was not allowed all war claims on the treasury at
Washington, and there was not one single ray of hope for the restoration
of slavery. None, none whatever! That was settled for all time. "Dixie"
sat down like a sulky, sullen woman by her own hearthstone, and refused
to be comforted. While she was in sorrow, others were in joy. Uncle Sam,
like a kind and tender husband, next tried the gentler arts of pacifying
and pleasing his termagant wife--the wife who in former days, yea, even
for fifty years, had always threatened to go out of the Union unless she
could have her own way! So an ex-Major-General of the late Confederate
army was called into the cabinet of President Hayes, and was given a
portfolio for the purpose of trying what he could do to better the
condition of the South. Then General Longstreet, also a leader in the
army of the rebellion, was made postmaster at Gainesville, in Georgia,
and was afterwards sent as minister to Turkey. Colonel Mosby, the famous
Confederate guerilla, was sent to China, and Colonel Fitzsimmons was
made marshal of Georgia. The South nevertheless did not show any signs
of real improvement. They stuck together, however, in a certain fashion,
like solid rocks of ice, all congealed and frozen tight and hard
together into one lump, and became known as the "Solid South." They
showed the greatest repugnance to the scalawags and carpet-baggers, and
all white Republicans generally, who were intimidated, persecuted and
driven out of all participation in the reconstruction of the States.
Black Republicans were allowed to vote, but the Democrats of Secessia
took the counting of the votes into their own hands, and secured the
offices, all the same! At this time President Hayes was under the
influence of Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, and Wade Hampton, of
South Carolina. President Hayes expected much, but received nothing in
return. The more kindness and consideration he showed them the more
arrogant and ungrateful they became. The Southern leaders in Congress
even tried to deprive the President of his Constitutional veto--tried to
starve the army, and even to protract the session of Congress. The North
was indeed holding out the olive branch of peace to the late rebel
States, and these States were trampling the kindness of the North
beneath their feet. Southern insolence went on, grew and increased.
There were loyal Republican men at Washington, who could have assisted
the President to steer the ship of state better than he did; but
President Hayes did not seem to care for their advice; he preferred to
shut himself up altogether in his own abilities, and left his real
well-wishers and friends on the outside. There was evidently no such
thing as satisfying the demands of the South. With unthankfulness she
took all that was given and demanded more, and never as much as said
"Thank you!" She considered that she had done right to secede, and was
only sorry that she had not succeeded with her rebellion. President
Hayes refused to surrender his veto power to those arrogant and
secessionist Congressmen at Washington. At last he saw clearly that the
South was not capable of appreciating his kindness as she ought, and
that all his good intentions had been flung away. He now decided to
change front, being worn out with so much arrogance and ingratitude.
Dealing out kindness to a gang of ex-rebel officers, who had once owned
and whipped their slaves, was found to be very irksome work. The entire
Republican party were now firmly and solidly united against the South.
The Cabinet, which was a splendid one, became more and more unanimous
than before; the administration was without fault, and other good things
that followed in their train did wonders for the Republican party all
over the land. Among these was the resumption of specie payment--a
source of delight to the nation. Thus, at last we see the Republican
ranks of the North were firmly united. They saw clearly that the
arrogance of the South was simply unlimited, and that nothing short of
the state of things before the war would satisfy her, unless, indeed, it
was the complete extension of her darling slavery from the Gulf of
Mexico to all the Northern States of the Union along the Canadian
border.
There was one man in this country at the time who clearly saw what the
country needed next to tide her over the present state of things. This
clear-sighted man was the Hon. Charles Foster, Congressman from Ohio.
Mr. Foster returned home to Ohio from Washington in the summer of 1878.
He had been watching with eagle eyes the follies of President Hayes in
the vain attempt he made to pacify the South by love and kindness. He
had watched the governments of the Northern States slipping away from
their allegiance to the Republican party one after another, and, indeed,
he took in the whole situation, and saw what was needed to steer the
ship of state through the right channel in safety. Mr. Foster saw that
the South had been thoroughly disloyal in every respect; they had acted
with treason to the Union; they had not shown the least desire to
protect the new citizens, the colored voters at the polls, but in fact
had purposely murdered them with the shot-gun; they had shown the whole
nation that they were bent on rebellion, and nothing else.
On the first of August, 1878, Mr. Foster made a great and famous speech
at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, when he raised a battle-cry that thrilled the
entire North, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, "A Solid North Against a
Solid South!" This speech was published in all the papers of the land,
and was kept up till it elected Garfield, in 1880. On account of its
immense influence during these two years, I will here reproduce it. Such
a battle-cry as this should be committed to memory.
Mr. Foster proceeded to say:
"I happened to be one who thought and believed that the President's
southern policy, as far as it related to the use of the troops for the
support of State Governments, was right. I sustained it upon the ground
of high principle,--nevertheless it could have been sustained on the
ground of necessity. The President has extended to the people of the
south the hand of conciliation and friendship. He has shown a desire,
probably contrary to the wishes of the great mass of his party, to bring
about by the means of conciliation, better relations between the north
and the south. In doing this he has alienated from him the great mass of
the leading and influential republicans of the country. He has lost
their sympathy, and to a great degree their support. What has he
received in return for the measure of conciliation and kindness? How
have these measures been received by the south? What advance can we
discover in them of the recognition of the guarantees of the rights of
the colored men under the Constitutional Amendments? We see Jeff. Davis
making speeches as treasonable as those of 1861, and these speeches
endorsed and applauded by a great portion of their press and people! We
see also the declaration of Mr. Singleton, of Mississippi, in answer to
a question of mine on the floor of the house, declaring that this
paramount allegiance in peace and war was due to his State! No gentlemen
from the south, or even of the democratic party has taken issue with
him.
"We see also, all over the south, a disposition to resist the execution
of the United States laws, especially in the matter of collection of
internal revenue. To-day there are four United States officers under
arrest by the authorities of the State of South Carolina, in jail and
bail refused, for an alleged crime in their State, while in fact these
officers were discharging their duty in executing the laws of the United
States, in that State. Their State courts and their officers refused to
obey the writs of the United States courts in the surrender of these
United States authorities. No former act of this treasonable state shows
a more defiant attitude towards the United States Government, or a
greater disposition to trample on its authority. I trust the
administration will in this case, assert, in the most vigorous manner
possible, the authority of the United States Government for the rescue
and protection of these officers. I have no bloody shirt to wave. If
there is one man in this country more than another, who desires peace
and quiet between the sections, I believe I am that man. Gentlemen may
philosophize over this question until they are gray, but you cannot
escape the discussion of this question so long as the Solid South
menaces the peace of the country. A solid democratic south means the
control of the country by the spirit and the men who sought its
destruction.
"My own opinion is that there can be no peace. This question will not
down until the menace of the Solid South is withdrawn. I had hoped that
the policy of President Hayes would lead to the assertion, by a very
considerable portion of the South, of their antagonism to Bourbon
Democracy. I confess to a degree of disappointment in this, though I
think I see signs of a breaking up of the Solid South in the independent
movements that seem to be gaining a foothold in all sections of that
country. But the effective way to aid these independent movements; this
breaking up of all the Solid South, is for the North to present itself
united against the Solid South. A Solid South under the control of the
Democratic party means the control of the party by this element. It
means the repeal of the Constitutional Amendments, if not in form, in
spirit. It means the payment of hundreds of rebel claims. It means the
payment of pensions to rebel soldiers. It means the payment for slaves
lost in the rebellion. It means the abrogation of that provision of the
Constitution which declares that the citizens of one State shall have
all the rights, privileges and immunities of the citizens of other
States.
"If my Democratic friends who seem to be anxious to bring about peace
and quiet between the sections are sincere, and desire to make their
expressions effective, they should act with that party which presents a
solid front, a united North so long as we are menaced with the Solid
South.
"If it could be understood in the South that they are to be met with a
Solid North, I do not believe that the Solid South would exist in that
condition a single year. They retain this position because they believe
they can have the support of a fragment of the North; and thus with this
fragment rule and control the country. I would have no fear of the
control of the country by the Democratic party, if it were made up of
something like equal proportions from all sections of the country. I
discuss this question first, because I believe it is the most important
question at issue in the pending canvass. I repeat, that it is the
imperative duty of the North to meet the Solid South with a united
front!"
The above little speech thrilled the North, and put new life into the
Republican party. It was a regular battle-cry; it was passed along the
line from city to city, and from State to State. It gave Mr. Foster the
nomination for Governor of Ohio, and whereas the Democrats had
possession of the State by a majority of 23,000, he reversed the whole
question by a Republican majority of 17,000, and redeemed the State of
Ohio to the Republican party. The rising tide of enthusiasm swept the
whole country. That famous little speech was printed and set forth by
all the papers of the land. Editorials were written on the subject, and
orators all over the land took Mr. Foster's speech at Upper Sandusky as
a text from which to preach their sermons. The whole country was aroused
over the treasonable designs and aims of the South. Her intentions were
to come as near back to slavery as ever she could get, or rather as near
as ever she dared to come, once more. But now the North was on her
guard, and presented a solid Republican front against the Solid South,
and in the course of two years more returned James A. Garfield as
President of the United States.
You must have observed, my dear reader, in the last few pages, how the
former secessionists arose in the South, and tore down the negro, or
Republican, governments that ruled in the days of Reconstruction. You
have seen the arrogance and insolence of the rebel brigadier-generals
who vaulted into their places, and even came to Congress at Washington,
and attempted to tie the hands of President Hayes by depriving him of
the right to veto. You have seen how these self-same rebels next began
to talk about pensioning the very soldiers who broke up the Union for a
time, or at least prevented the free course of law in the Southern
States, and they next built their hopes on the payment of their own
war-claims and the price of their slaves out of the United States
Treasury at Washington. You have seen how all the above, and far more,
welded all the Northern States into what was termed "the Solid North,"
and rolled back the great Southern waves of presumption and insolence,
saying to the sea, "Thus far shalt thou come, and no further; and here
shall thy proud waves be stayed!" Having said and done so much, and
having awakened the Southern States to their proper senses, a person
would have thought that colored men would have been restored to the
government of these States, at least in cases where the colored men were
clever men, and therefore well qualified to rule. But the aforementioned
Negro, or Republican, governments of the late rebel States were not
restored, though we had established the "Solid North," and returned
James A. Garfield to the White House as the head of the great republic.
For the time being, therefore, and for the sake of peace, the North has
not yet seen fit to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment, so as to compel the
South to make room for the rightful share of colored men in the
governments of the South. If this were France or England, colored men
would to-day be sitting side by side with white men, and ruling the
country together. But the South was like a termagant, fighting wife, who
shook her fists in her husband's face, and exclaimed, "Look ye here Sam!
This is a white man's government and I will rule it myself, or not rule
at all; for these colored men shall not divide the power with me!" Then
Uncle Sam, poor fellow, gave way, for a time, for the sake of peace, and
ever since colored men in the South have kept away from this hateful
contention with the white man there. It may have been for the best for
the present, till we are more highly educated, and so more fitted and
qualified to rule. In the meantime we are gathering knowledge like sands
of the sea, and qualifying ourselves to hold any office on the face of
the earth. Those rebels are rapidly passing away who sold "their own
flesh and blood" on the auction blocks, and who fought for slavery on
many a well-contested field, and at last were subdued by physical force.
They are passing away, and more intelligent and enlightened children are
taking their places. And we are growing more and more intelligent every
day of the year, and the time must come, and come soon, when we will get
all the rights that belong to us, and one of this is the right for
colored men to rule the entire Union, North, East, South and West, along
with all other men. And, my dear reader, as sure as there is a God in
heaven, so sure is it that we shall yet get all that belongs to us, and
right and justice shall prevail and flourish from the Lakes to the Gulf!