Wood County Reporter

Washington Correspondence.

WASHINGTON, April 10, 1879.

MR. EDITOR:

That the loyal people of the North may know the feeling of the south regarding the Government, I quote several articles from Southern papers:

From the Okalona (Miss.) States:

The guilt breeding amendments must go.
The principle of secession must be vindicated.
The life must be strangled out of Lincolnism.
The Federal brigadiers, whom the Government educated in the doctrine of State Rights, must be denied a voice in the restoration of the Republic, for they sinned with their eyes wide open to the enormity of coercing sovereign Commonwealths, and knew that it was point-blank treason.
The doctrines of Jefferson, Calhoun and Jefferson Davis must triumph.
You may cry "Peace! peace!" but there will be no peace until these things have come to pass.

Our Yankee enemies are sharp-witted enough to see that the States speak what the Southern people feel and believe, and they are alarmed at the situation; but they may just as well reconcile themselves to the inevitable, for this Republic has passed into the possession of the old Democracy, who propose to hold the fort.

From the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion:

"If bygones are to be bygones, let them be so in fact as well as pretension, but the system of pensioning the soldier who fought on the winning side of the war, at the expense of the side that lost, (because of the overwhelming odds against them) is not only a disagreeable reminder of bygones, but a most unfair and iniquitous proceeding. While large numbers of the soldiers on the side of the North honestly believed they were fighting to save their Government, and were impelled by patriotic motives, others were mere soldiers of fortune from abroad, who enlisted for pay, regardless of the cause involved. (On the side of the South the struggle was for home, altar, and the right of self-government."

From the Okalona (Miss.) States:

"Thurman has never indorsed the amendments. This is the biggest and brightest jewel in his senatorial crown. Let the Federal brigadiers take back seats in the work of restoration. The Republic has no further use for the Lincoln hirelings. By the way, Yankees, don't it make you feel queer to think that we've defeated you fellows after all and have captured the Capitol?"

These utterances of the press correspond with the actions of the South as illustrated in repeated instances. Yesterday the Norfolk city guards arrived here on a visit and the attention of loyal men was attracted to the fact that the only flag carried, as they paraded our streets was inscribed "Sic Semper Tyrannis," which motto is very dear to the Southern people since Booth used it at the time he assassinated President Lincoln. It is customary for all military organizations visiting the Capital to carry the United States flag, and when parading to march directly in front of the White House and salute the President of the United States as Commander-in-chief of the military throughout the Union, but this Norfolk company, notwithstanding that they carried arms furnished by the United States, passed by the Presidential mansion on Pennsylvania avenue and refused to pay the President the customary salute. What are the reasons for these insults to the President and the flag? Can there be any other reason than the full assurance that they are meeting with the hearty approbation of their Southern brethren?

Mr. Blackburn of Kentucky says, upon the floor of the House of Representatives, "we do not intend to stop until we have stricken the last vestige of your war measures from the statute book." All in the same spirit, showing the war of the rebellion has learned the South nothing, and that it is as fully determined to again rule this country under the detestable doctrine of State Rights as previous to the confederates resorting to arms. The negroes are leaving the Southern States naked and penniless, seeking homes in free territory for fear, as they themselves say, that in case Gen. Grant is not elected President in 1880, they will be remanded into slavery again by the Southern people. Loyal people of the North think of this state of things and ask yourselves, what shall be done? These are not fictions but real live issues, which have got to be met and put down in the next Presidential election, or all the sacrifices of life and treasure in putting down the rebellion is thrown away. The South in 1861 said give us our own way or we will destroy the nation by secession; In 1879 they say, give us our own way or we will destroy the Government by withholding the means for carrying it on.

The military appropriation bill with its disloyal riders has passed the House of Representatives and goes to the Senate where, it is to be hoped there is loyalty enough left among the Northern Democrats to deprive the riders of their worst disloyal features, so that in case the South continues to murder the negroes on election day, that some one may have authority to call upon the army to protect them.
Hon. Chas. G. Williams, of Williams, of Wisconsin, in his eloquent speech last week, expresses this so forcibly that I cannot better please Wisconsin people than by giving an extract from his speech.

"It seems to me, Mr. Chairman, that this whole matter resolves itself into a question, first of jurisdiction, second, of power and that under whatever jurisdiction elections be held, whether State or National, two things are absolute and indispensable, purity at the ballot-box, peace at the polls. It is idle to talk about an election anywhere unless these two things can be secured, and whatever power may be necessary to secure them should be executed or representative government is a failure. If all the power of the Government is required to secure them, then all the power of the government should be put forth, whether exerted through the State or National administration. However the power be applied the order and climax of its application is the same. If it be under the jurisdiction of the State, then, in the first instance there stands the courts, back of the courts the sheriff, back of the sheriff the posse comitatus, and back of all the militia. If it be exerted through Federal jurisdiction, then in the same order there first stands the courts, back of the courts the marshal, back of the marshal the posse, and beyond all, as a final and last resort, the Federal troops. Wherever the power be lodged, the essence and common sense of the thing is the same. Physical force in some form is necessary to overcome resistance to civil law and the physical enforcement of civil law ends first at the policeman's club, and last at the bayonet.

There has been a good deal of talk even on the part of Republicans about "bayonet rule" in this country which, if I may be allowed the expression, I think borders on the nonsensical, if not the absurd. Sir, I know, and have read of no government in history, or that exists to-day which does not rely ultimately for its preservation and authority on coercive force as a last resort, and whoever talks about a government without this, in my judgment talks of Utopia. The one government on earth which has come nearer to it than all others is this self-same government of ours, the government of the United States. I know of no bayonet rule here except first to win independence and maintain God-given rights, and second to put down one of the most cruel and causeless rebellions that ever cursed the earth, and lastly to prevent our Southern friends from indulging in the delectable pastime of shooting negroes on sight. When in all history was such leniency shown a fallen foe before? and when was proffered mercy treated with loftier contempt? Gentlemen may say that the enforcement of the law rest upon the consent of the governed. Ah, Sir, the consent of the governed is that consent, where under a free constitution and fair election, not only the consent but the will of the people becomes formulated and crystallized into public law: Where not only the power to make laws is exerted, but the duty to enforce them is enjoined, and thus it is that obedience to law, absolute and unquestioned where it is the law becomes the foundation stone of free government."
Every loyal citizen should read and circulate a copy of Mr. Williams admirable speech.

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