nds of Southern oligarchs about its palpitating throat--a Republic,
not such as he expected, where all men are equal before the law, and
protected in their rights, but where the rights of a certain class are
persistently trampled under foot; that the people of the Northern,
Middle, and Western States, observing nothing beyond their own vicinage,
so to speak, and finding that each of their own States is still
Republican in its form of government, persistently, and perversely, shut
their eyes to the election terrorism practiced in the Solid South by,
which the 16 solid, Southern States were, and are, solidified by these
conspiring oligarchs into one compact, and powerful, political mass,
ever ready to be hurled, in and out of Congress, against the best
interests of the Nation--16 States, not all "Republican" in form, but
many of them Despotisms, in substance,--16 States, misnamed
"Democratic," many of them ruled not by a majority, but by an
Oligarch-ridden minority--16 States, leagued, banded, bound solidly
together, as one great controlling Oligarchy, to hold, in its merciless
and selfish hands, the balance of power within this Republican Union;
and that these confederated Southern States are now actually able to
dictate to all the other States of the Union, the particular man, or
men, to whose rule the Nation must submit, and the particular policy, or
policies, which the Nation must adopt and follow:

"What next?"--you ask--"What next?" Alas, it is not difficult to
predict! Power, lawlessly gained, is always mercilessly used. Power,
usurped, is never tamely surrendered. The old French proverb, that
"revolutions never go backward," is as true to-day, as when it was
written. Already we see the signs of great preparations throughout the
Solid South. Already we hear the shout of partisan hosts marshalled
behind the leaders of the disarmed Rebellion, in order that the same old
political organization which brought distress upon this Land shall again
control the Government. Already the spirit of the former aggressiveness
is defiantly bestirring itself. The old chieftains intend to take no
more chances. They feel that their Great Conspiracy is now assured of
success, inside the Union. They hesitate not to declare that the power
once held by them, and temporarily lost, is regained. Like the Old Man
of the Sea, they are now on top, and they:

MEAN TO KEEP THERE--IF THEY CAN.

BIOGRAPHICAL A