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Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher On Ku-klux

Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher On Ku-klux image
Parent Issue
Day
2
Month
June
Year
1871
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

■Ve have been "down Soutli," and, lile nll travelers, feel mclined to relate our expeliente, imd becanse it was new and int?resfcirg to us naturally think it must be equolly so to others. Wc nre not mrturally tiinid. "We seldom fear tiigMg or insulte l'rom gtr&ngers; believmg itf people mind thoir own business- uing their eyea, but nut their tonguea - trentiug all witli prop r ivs.mto, butkindly and politely, they muy travel anywlure ■without danger of annoyance. To be suiT, there have been periods of exeitement, when this assertion conld not have been so confidèntly made. It is but a few years sinco a Noriherner might not have aèemed it wise to linger long in or even tr ivcl througli the Southern j)Oition of our oountry ; but tlinso are happily by-gone days, and no greater complÍTiient can be pakl to our countrj-, and to the Soathern part of it partioularly, tban to be able to say, with all truthfulness, that from the time we left our home l-ill onr return, overywliero, and from all classes, we mot only with kindness and attention ; everything that true courtesy could do to makc our journeyings picasant and comfortable was done. Two women - and one an in valid - were regarded as havinpr especial claims npon people's care and politoness. Is it well to talk of the coniinuance of Southern bitterness, animosi ty, and secret emnity, when two unprotected Northern women can pass through the States just emerging from yEar8 of war, and through those places where the deadlj' strife was flercest, not only without molestation, but with sympdthy and assistance at every step ? We were greatly interested, when conversing with intelligent Southern gentlemen, in the ideas which they considered the true sentiments and earnest wishes of their people. They said to mo, " Your papers are filled with words which tend to stir up strife - not to cast oil on the troubled waters - they eeem to seek for cause of offence and ivproach." It is constantly ropeated, " The South is conquered, but not subdued. Do not trust her, she but bidés her time." Fearful stories are told, daily, of the KuKlux- of Southern violence and inhumánity. Should these sad oocuri'ences., oven whon the reports are not at all exnpKcrated, be taken as a fair hiterprotation of their real charaetor, nu y more than Mr. Putnam s murder, lor simply protecting a young girl from a ruffian's insults, should be regarded by them as a true type of Northern life ? What a fearful record of crime the morning and evening papers bring to us daily ! Sliall the whole North be judged by these shameful deeds of the vile and lawless portion of our population 'r " Yet," said a Southern gentleman, " is it not us Tinjust to collect the crimes and outrages which are, nnfortunately, of too frequent oofiurrence in our Southern towns and cities, and hold them before the people as the true index to our feelings and principies, as it would be to prepare a list of all the murders, all the drunken fights, all the audacious and startling robberies among vuur people, and cry, ' Look at the North ! Here you may see her in her true colore.' Take the whole South througli, will you fmd a larger proportion of bloodshed, violence, and high-handed dishofiesty, than is constantly recordcd in your two great Northern cities? Is murder any less a crimo at the North than at the South ? A man stcals your purso and watch, breaks open your house and jjlmiders or burns it over your head - such things, you know, are of daily occurrence - shall -n-e charge theso outrages ■upon the North as a whole, and demand that a military forcé be stationed over you to enforee the laws, and guard against treason? If unmolestcd by politicians and their ' red tape,' we assure you the South is really and earnestly willing to jnaintain more true and lastingly amicable relations with the North than ever before. If undisturbed by selfish officeseekers, we would rejoice to ' bury the hatchet,' root out all aniinosities, and clasp hands in true friendly endeavor to build up the waste places, and unitedly Beek to ' make tho wilderaess bud and lilossom as the rose.' " Another gentleman said : " Dunng the war I was an earnest secessionist and an officer in the rebel army. With all my heart I fought jour iorces until I was taken prisoner, and with the firm eonviction that I was doing right - tliat our eause was just. To give my hand to a Union officer I feit would be to dishonor mj'self and insult, my own frionds, and this was largely the feeling of us all. But aftw I was captured I was treated with such kindness and courtosy by my captors that I found the ice melting. I learned that, after all, there was goodness and nobleness even among Xorthorn men, and soon the conviction that we ought to live as brethren, peaceably, building up our country, not seeking to pull it down, began to get the mostery ovt;r the bitterness I had natuvall feit. It is not neoessary to raise'the question whether we ■were right or wrong. We were beaten ; that settled the matter, and should settle itforever, It is enough that wo accept the fact as incontrovertible, und ít those who trouble the waters for political purposes would let ns alone, all would be well. We want no military forcé down here ; we don't need it to keep us in order and in willing obedienco to the laws of our eommon country. This talk of Ku-Klux is all a blind for political manoeuvering. There is no auob thing here, any moro than yon have it in New York. That there are vile charncters, miserable desperadors, down here, no one denies. That there are quarrels, nghting, murders, and any amount oi' ovil among us is too true. But that there is more of it in the South than ihere is in your pfreat Northern cities, I do not believe. Have you read your New York papers of late 'í Can you find more hideous crimes here, in our Southern land, than are rucorded there ? All over our whole country di8honesty and crime abounds to i much greater extent than before the war ; but do you not know thnt after overy war, for a few years, it has nlways been 60? When the regulftr order of things has been disturbed by such commotion8 as war must bring it takes years for the country to settle into as quiet a condition as before. Our prandmothers could tell us liow it v:is after the oíd rebellion. We ehow this restless, lawless element no more than our Northern brethren. We want peacc and qr.iet even more than they can wieli it, for with u? it is an absolute necessity if we would ever be prosperous aprain. I declnre to you, before God, that if the ruling powen will keep ' carpet-baggers ' away ftom us, and refrain from sending politicians down bere, to rekindlc the fires of dissension for their own base ends, there will be no trouble with Ku-Klux, or Southern eumity and bitterness. These stories are falso - cruelly false. All thvousrh the South the largest and bettor portion of our people accept the defeat - are willinp; and Riad that slavery should beabolished and that the colored peoplo should secure to thcmselves homes and property just as fastas they cnn. Tbey were once our proporty - tho mesnis by whii'n we cultivated our soil ; and V;eing accustomed to Southern labor, botter ftble to enduro tho climate, tVioy are till tlio most imitable persons to eraploy for that work. AVe should be willing and glad to hirc them and help thetn ; bal we have no moncy. The war baa loft na poor - stripped and shorn of the wealth wliirli we would gladly see employed to l)uürl up our waste placo?. Instead ('f being bitter +o the North, we want real Nortliorn men horo. Wo need 1!k ir help - without it -wn oan ncvor n.pain flonriah r; of 61a. W Wftfit thf-m fo o here with thoir monoy. We want th.m to biy oui' lands, whioh we havo not tho mo.ans of cultivatinp. We want thcm to build up faetones and brinfi in machincry, by which the Tast capabilities of tho South oan bo brought into vigorous and fOOO&etfol action. Iet thn Xorth send us pood, carnst workers, patriotic men, not office-seekers - and thoy will find good i'rirnrls and rRceivo re:il oourteay and ! ■iüihif 'ss from the better class of our people, and find no noi'O misrule and vice ■ ; the worthless Üian thcy will sec I at the Nortli. I wish somo of your strong, earaeet, rood men would oome to us aow ; somo of those -who spoko tlio most vehcmentiy in (lio past against shvrory and were the most severo on out Southern ïastit utions, from sincero conviction of dnty, not to securo their own st-1 flsli enda. These are the right sort of men 1 underMand us now and represent us truly. ! .■ I them visit us uiid remaní long eaougjh al least tojudge fot thomaelves bo lionest ly we desire to work with good Ne men for tli building uj of our land - politically, morally, :'.'i'l oommercially. If somo suoh help is not granted or soms more truthful representations of our willLngness to oo-operate with all fcrue men in laboring to bring about kindlv üImtions betwoen tne Nortti nnd the Bouth, if those who have the power onnnot and will not rocögnize the faot th:it if only écht t lfish motives a botter, more brotherly foeling between us is most important, then it requires no propliel to forotel] the troulile and distress that jimst b-t';ill us." We have triedto give, as aearly as p - siblo, the gubstanoe of many similar convi'r-iitions, the chief sentiments of whioh we have of ten heard repeated by all classos wli'im we met in OUT short BOJOUrn at tho South. The earnestness witb whioh their ideas veere expressod, v rv :!y impressed us with the sineerity of those who utteied them. We place them in yonr hands, sincurcly lioping that some little good, nt least, may result from them ; beeeuse we are deeply grieved tlmt good will and brotherly love are not, as vet, the bonds that hold out country together.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus