We now hired a boat, and had a glorious sail up the Ohio, and showed Mr. Sutherland and the children all the old familiar places up the stream where we had formerly been. Then we went down the river, passed through the canal at Portland, below the city, and came out upon the Ohio once more. There were six of us in the boat besides the two rowers. We had taken the precaution to borrow a variety of loud-sounding musical instruments; we kept close to the Kentucky side of the Ohio, and when we drew near to the place of our birth, that is, Riverside Hall, we struck up "The Old Kentucky Shore," which we both played and sang with tremendous force, raising more excitement than the Salvation Army! This brought out Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and all the old retainers who chose to remain after the fall of slavery. There were new faces there, also. My father recognized us at once, and invited us in to receive the hospitalities of the house. Here we remained all day, saw everything once more, and returned to Louisville at set of sun. But we afterwards returned to Riverside, and spent another whole day in perfect love and harmony. It was a sweet time.
We were now all far, far more than satisfied. All things had gone well with us, and we returned home to Buffalo more thankful and gladsome than ever. Oh, what shall we render unto the Lord for all his goodness! Because His mercy endureth forever!
[CHAPTER XV.]
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.
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.