The object of the a.s.sociation shall be to encourage the freedmen of the Southern States to emigrate to the Northern and Western States and Territories, and settle upon government lands, where they can be protected, and live under laws in harmony with the Const.i.tution of the United States; or form townships of their own on the New England plan, with churches, schools, &c., according to their own predilections.
ARTICLE IV.
Every individual owning a farm not less than a quarter section, or forty acres, shall be ent.i.tled to membership in this a.s.sociation, by the payment of five dollars towards the general expenses. Any surplus remaining over and above the expenses will be invested in farms for poor families, who have always been loyal to the United States government.
ARTICLE V.
Every freedman who purchases a farm and settles upon the same, shall be an honorary member of this a.s.sociation, until he shall have paid for the same and obtained his deed, when he shall be admitted to full membership.
ARTICLE VI.
The officers of the Principia Club shall act as officers of this a.s.sociation, until an act of incorporation shall be obtained, or until other officers shall be elected.
APPENDIX.
If any proof were needed of the truth of our positions in the editorial, the preamble, the resolutions, or the necessity of the transfer of the freedmen from Southern rule and the barbarism of slavery, to the more civilized portions of the land, it may be found in the Appendix. The testimony of the Southern press is absolutely overwhelming. We might print a large volume of the same kind, but we content ourself with only specimens enough to answer our purpose, from both the Northern and Southern press, leaving the ma.s.s of testimony still in our drawer.
We begin this catalogue of witnesses with an article from the Boston "Traveller," which quotes and comments upon Southern testimony with so much truthfulness, that we give the article entire.
NEGROES AND THEIR RIGHTS.
The recent Democratic Convention of Edgefield County, South Carolina,--the home of "Hamburg" Butler,--adopted the following resolution:--
"We regard the issues between the white and the colored people of this State, and of the entire South, as an antagonism of race, not a difference of political parties. This State and the United States were settled by the white race; the lands now belong to the white race; the white race are responsible for its government and civilization, and white supremacy is essential to our continued existence as a people. We are willing to accord to the colored race equal and exact justice, and we recognize all of their rights and privileges under the laws of this land."
Rightly interpreted this means--"We will give the n.i.g.g.e.rs all their rights, but really they have no rights." That is the old doctrine of the Democratic party, which changes its principles only when the leopard changes its spots, and a more truthful declaration of its principles than is often presented. Some of the Southern Democrats, who just now are endeavoring to secure negro votes for their party, deprecate these declarations, and the resolution has given rise to some discussion in the South Carolina press.
The Spartansburg "Spartan" says:--
"Unfortunately there are too many who, thinking they can manipulate the negro vote, wish to bring it into the Democratic party. If this is done it will not only destroy the controlling influences of the white man and endanger his inst.i.tutions and civilization, but will put the up country of South Carolina under the control of the low country, where the great negro vote lies."
The Charleston "News," taking a different view of the case, says:--
"If colored people are willing to become Democrats in good faith, it will require grave deliberation to determine whether it is not wiser to let them in, and give them a voice in the party, than to leave them outside as a bait for Independent Democrats. The Independent, not the colored Democrat, is the rock ahead in South Carolina politics."
The "News" is willing to allow negroes to act in the Democratic party, it seems, solely because the colored vote may thereby be controlled. It does not concede their right to vote, and to vote as they may choose, but it realizes that some of them will vote, notwithstanding the opposition of the Spartan school of Democracy, and seeking to have that vote controlled in the interests of the party, it is willing to have it understood by the negroes that they will find no obstacles in the way of their voting, if they unite with the Democratic party. The same end is sought by the "Spartan" and by the "News." The first-named wishes to secure the supremacy of a race by preventing the negroes from voting, while the "News" thinks it a better policy to adopt measures for the control of their votes. The "News" is no more friendly to the colored men than its contemporary, and the policy it proposes is as dangerous to their rights, as that of those who, in an outspoken manner, tell the negroes they are ent.i.tled to no political privileges.
PLAIN TALK.--The Providence "Journal" says: "The stipulations to which the Southern States solemnly pledged themselves, as the conditions of restoration to their forfeited rights in the Union, and to their readmission to a share in the government which they had attempted to overthrow, have been shamelessly violated. The negro is not permitted to vote unless he is frightened into voting the Democratic ticket. He has practically "no rights which a white man is bound to respect." In some of these States a sort of peonage has been established, which differs from slavery mainly in the exemption of the master from the care of the slave in sickness and old age, and in all of them disqualifying laws, and still more disqualifying practices under the laws, prevail. History presents no parallel to the forbearance shown by the conquering party in the rebellion, and none to the perfidy of the party that was overcome."
A leading paper in the State of Senator Gordon--the Columbus "Enquirer-Sun,"--thus favors the lynch law: "A good, able-bodied, healthy corpse, or even a slightly damaged one, dangling from the limb of a tree on a public highway, strikes more terror into the heart of a criminal, and creates more respect for the fiat of justice, than the inside of a thousand jails, or the presence of an army of judges and jurymen. There is an appalling grandeur, a horrifying sublimity in the spectacle of a ghastly, half-devoured human form suspended in mid-air, receiving alike unconsciously the refreshing drops of the nocturnal dew that gives life to the violets, or the glowing rays of the morning sun as it ascends the eastern horizon and beams smilingly down on a busy world."
Which is correct? Here is Representative Waddell of North Carolina, formerly a rebel general, telling an organization of Union veterans, that not one person in one hundred thousand in the South expects or desires compensation for property destroyed by the Union armies, and here is ex-editor Cheney of Lebanon, who has travelled through the South and sojourned in Florida, saying: "You meet with no man in the South who does not either earnestly a.s.sert the justice of these claims, or leave with you the impression that he hopes they will be paid, because such payment means more money and greater prosperity for the South. Even the negroes, when it comes to the test, will be found co-operating with their masters to secure compensation for their own freedom." We repeat our question, Which is correct?--_Concord Monitor_.
LOUISIANA.
Ex-Governor Pinchbeck had an interview with the President recently, in which he took occasion to express his views concerning the needs of Louisiana. He represents the interview to have been pleasant and satisfactory. Pinchbeck says the State has now the best governor of any other within his recollection; that the people were generally better satisfied than heretofore, with the condition of affairs, although the people there, as elsewhere, complain of hard times. The only thing of which Pinchbeck complains is that the few children, nearly white, in the public schools in New Orleans, have been required to leave them. They should, he said, have been permitted to remain until faded out by increase of years. His own children were included in the number removed by the school authorities.
THE SOUTHERN POLICY.
The Principia Club of Cambridgeport has just published a pamphlet of 160 pages with the above t.i.tle, containing a history of the President"s Southern policy, so far as developed, up to the close of the extra session of Congress. The facts and testimony were collated by its president, and const.i.tute a chain of evidence absolutely overwhelming to all but the conspirators, who are determined to ignore the facts and swear it through in the interest of the bull-dozed Democracy. That the said policy is a failure to promote Republicanism, can no longer be doubted. That it has put the government of the country into the power of the conspirators is abundantly proved by this pamphlet, which will be read with great interest.--_Traveller_.
The colored people of the South are physically and socially in a worse condition to-day than when held in the bonds of slavery, and as citizens their badge of citizenship is a mockery, and far more galling than the chains which bound them in involuntary servitude. The Const.i.tution promises them protection in equal rights before the law as citizens, but the protecting arm of the Federal power has been withdrawn, and the written law is not worth the parchment on which it is inscribed. The guarantees of the Const.i.tution are suspended. The rights of citizenship are a baseless dream. The heel of political oppression is planted upon their citizenship with a power as ruthless as that which restrained their physical freedom as men. The Const.i.tution and its guarantees have become a mere sham.--_Washington Republican_.
The grand jury of Pike County, Miss., reported that many persons summoned before them as witnesses failed to come, because of the fear of personal violence should they testify. "One witness," they say, "was a.s.sa.s.sinated while _en route_ to the seat of justice, and we have received such information as to lead us to believe that the lives of others would be in danger, if they came before the court to testify."
Mississippi gives a Democratic majority of fifty thousand.--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_.
But what right has the "Inter-Ocean" to complain? Hasn"t the policy given Mississippi peace? Haven"t the bull-dozers been informed that they will be conciliated, regardless of expense? And what is the importance of a murder or two, or the perversion of justice, or any other little violation of the Declaration of Independence and the Const.i.tution, compared with peace and reform? The "Inter-Ocean" is an implacable newspaper, and ought to be ashamed of itself for printing such b.l.o.o.d.y-shirt facts, and insinuating unkind things against the President and his Democratic policy!--_Traveller_.
Alluding to the suggestion of a Southern paper that Mr. Garrison should be hung, the Philadelphia "Bulletin" says: "It is difficult to say with certainty what may not happen in a country the government of which is now controlled by a political party which once strove to destroy it; but we have a very strong notion that when hanging for treason begins in this country Mr. Garrison will not be the first victim. If such a policy should be suddenly introduced, it would vacate about three-fourths of the Democratic seats in Congress and rob the Democratic party of its most popular leaders."
We know what we are talking about, and we say this is the plan which Western and Southern Democrats are now working up. Their first purpose is to capture the government, and their next will be the separation of the States. Mr. Voorhees"s statesmanship does not recognize any community of interest between the West and the East. He thinks "the great West" and "the sunny South" should join hands and let the Eastern States with their "capitalists" and "bondholders" and "Shylocks" go.
This is the new Democratic scheme, and it is one that honest men and patriots must fight from the start.--_Indianapolis Journal_.
The Atlanta "Const.i.tution" objects to the roasting of negroes alive in Alabama, especially those who have not been convicted of crime. Alluding to a recent affair in that State, it says: "No immigrant, looking for a new home, will for a moment think of settling in a State or section that permits mobs to supersede courts. The senseless burning of Owen Wright may cost the cotton State a million of dollars, coming as it did at a time when immigrants were looking this way from the Northern States."
The Meriden, Miss., "Mercury," supports the policy by declaring that "no man should be tolerated as an independent candidate for any cause and under any circ.u.mstances, who attempts to procure his election by solidly arraying the black voters in his favor," and the Okolona, Miss., "Southern States," supplements this with the following: "The real, simon-pure Democracy of Mississippi, have never made the negro any promises--none whatever. We have, therefore, no pledges to redeem.
Remember that. We will see that he is protected in his life, limb, and property as far as in us lies; but at the same time we will take precious pains to nip any of his political aspirations in the bud. "This is a white man"s government, made for white men and their posterity forever."" We congratulate the administration on the progress of the policy.
There are strong Republican districts in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Let Matthews, h.o.a.r, Foster, and the other distinguished gentlemen who championed "the policy" in the Senate and House, together with the editors who have been "writing it up," go down there and help the Republicans elect the right kind of men. There is no easier and better way to secure a Republican majority in the House.--_Inter-Ocean_.
At the Virginia election last week, the Republicans cast seven votes in Petersburg and three in Richmond. The "Washington Republican" says: "It is well known that the negro loves the franchise and is proud to exercise it. The only reason for his not having done so at the recent election was that he could not safely vote as he wished, and would not vote the other ticket."
Alluding to the Atlanta speech of President Hayes, William Lloyd Garrison says: "The mental obfuscation of the President is hard to parallel; but his moral standard in this instance, is as flexible as "a reed shaken by the wind." Such a confounding of loyalty and treason, right and wrong, liberty and slavery, and treating them all "with respect," and in the same complimentary manner, is enough "to stir a fever in the blood of age." Hail, Judas Iscariot! Hail, Benedict Arnold!
Your reproach shall now be taken away! You n.o.bly acted up to your "convictions," and are as much ent.i.tled to commendation as the apostle John or the patriot George Washington! We humbly beseech you to be "equally liberal and generous and just" to the apostle and patriot aforesaid, who were not less heroic and true to their convictions.
Neither party has anything to be ashamed of; but both glory in their achievements.".
The sum total of Democratic policy in the South is the condign punishment of venial crime committed by Republicans and negroes, and amnesty for all crimes committed by Democrats. The Democratic party has never been strong enough anywhere to declare its independence of the dangerous cla.s.ses.--_Philadelphia North American_.
The Atlanta "Independent," in discussing the question of who saved Georgia to the Democrats, does not give credit to Benjamin Hill, but to the shot-guns of the Ku-Klux.--_Cincinnati Gazette_.
GOING TO LEAVE "OLD MISSISSIPPI."
Senator Bruce, colored, of Mississippi, is preparing to shake the dust of that unfriendly stronghold of Democracy from his feet. He realizes that it is not the place where a black man can safely go to grow up with the country. His marriage to a Cleveland belle was only part of the programme he has mapped out for himself. He has bought considerable property in that vicinity, and when his senatorial term has expired he will go to his farms, and let others fight it out on the color line.
HAMPTON"S LEGION OF "CONCILIATORS."