THE GREAT REPUBLIC: ITS DOMESTIC SKELETONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 3960, 9 April 1883, Page 4

THE GREAT REPUBLIC: ITS DOMESTIC SKELETONS.

Mk Charles Bright, in the Gaiety Theatre, Sydney, delivered his lecture, "The Great Kej-üblic: Its Domestic Skeletons," There'was a fairly large at, tendance, and interest was frequently manifested in the lecturer's views and opinions of American politics and social life by the applause of his hearers, Mr Bright said that during his late sojourn in America, he naturally took every opportunity to make himself acquainted with those facts and phenomena of which he found himself most igno.ant. He fouud that he knew very little indeed regarding the nature of those politics which lay under the surface, concerning which Utile or no knowledge could be gleaned from the ordinary American press. The mere surface view was perpetually taken in American newspapers. When he went to America he was under the impression that the slavery question was one that bad been for ever settled by the civil war; that that gigantic struggle of four years had put an end to what was termed tho Southern difficulty, and there was no likelihood of any other differences arising between these two sections of that treat nation; that once for all the South ad been defeated, and that it accepted the dcicat; that the black brother was a freed man, and had all the rights of a free man. Hut be found that nothing could be further from the truth than that view. Slavery In the -Southern states was only nominally a thing of the past, for so' far as any equality between tbe black population and the while population in- these states was concerned lit was yet a dream of the fntuie. He gave a sketch of the position of the Northern and.Southern State 3as tbey politically stood to one another. The war after a biave struggle by the Southern States lett the Northern victorious, and in that position it had since been admitted by wise statesmen tlio one ihing tbe North should not have done it . did. lt withdrew altogether from the South, and declared there .was no disunion, but that the Southern States could pass such laws as the pleased for" their internal domestic management. But one condition waa imposed, and that was to put tbe black servants they had kept in ignorance, working them like beasts ot buiden, on an equality with themselves. They withdrew from the South, but before doicg so hit it such a blow as could have been given it no other way. They maddened it, and the natural consequence followed, lt would be hard for. us to understand the feeling of the South regarding slavery. It was an article bf faith with Southerners that the black should be subservient to the white, and it was held with all the bitterness of a religious dogma, Among other ways in which this It cling of rebellion was manifested against this decree, and of the adherence to the old firm-rooted belief, was the Kn Kluk Klan, a secret organisation which in Tennessee alone numbered 40.000 members, and which from at first, simple acts of terrorism, without active suppression or cruelty being used, in time took the form of a society at whose bidding tormenr and death waited. Dressed in grotesque garments at first, robes of white stuff, afterwards robes of blaoK material, they persecuted the unhappy negroes, and extended the same treatment to thote of tbe whites who dared to help and befriend the hapless freed slaves. So sure aa a negro got on in the world, purchased a little bit of! land, or owned a horse and cart, so surely wouldhereceive a mysterious visit fromsome members of the Klan, be taken to the woods, and there be whipped, with a severity surpassing that of the old slave days, or perhaps be hanged or burned. With a splondid system of organisation, with ramifications extending in all directions, and with adherents bound to each other in oaths of secresy and drawn from all grades ol society, the name of the Ku Kluk Klan grew to be a terror in tbe land. At last the North took action, and a law was passed making- such organisations illegal, but the States at the same time passed Acts, of indemnity, The main difference, now that the slave difficulty ia •ver between the North and South, is that between tbe Republicans and the Democrats. The former hold staunchly that the Union is over aU; the latter maintain that ■Mate'independence is of more .importance than the Union, and must not bo encroached upon, At the last election, owing mainly to the conuptiou of the Republicans, and the poor public spirit they manifested,there had been an immense declension in their voting power, and the Democrats once once more succeeded in gaining an ascendancy in the representative bodies. Corruption in the United States infested the Government and Civil Service, and had become almost a science. Concerning the Mormon question, he said- that the organisation of the Mormon Church wai as complete as that- of the- Church of Rome. Utah was in the nature of a colony which the General Government had not professed to give fu 1 liberty of government to. Its highest officials Wire appointed at Washington, and the right of veto on local government was held by the Central Government. In Salt Lake City one-third of the population belonged to the Gentile or non-believing community, and these Gentiles were for the most p&rt bitterly opposed to the Mormons, and expressed their feeling so, and constantly fornardtd petitions to the Ceuiral Government to come and hold their own in Utah. Among the Mormons themselves there were but about 10 per cent polygamists. Kven yet the work of the Dauites was done in ob. cure corners, and smouldering spurt into lull flame. Whilst there were constant cases of apostacy, yet on the other hand there weie every week trains of itnmigiants at present priocipally composed of Scandanaviana, pouring iato Utab, and spreading thence in branches through the land. deferring to the socialistic phenomena of the States, and tbe growing sense of oppreision and resistance among the poor, ne noticed the immense fortune B held by some of the great capitalists of the States ; for instance, Jay Gould, who possessed 40 millions or 50 millions of dollars. He referred to the propagation of tbe doctaines of anarchy, and said that whilst Ind because he believed in the higher order of scientific socialism advocated by such men as Mill and Berbert Spencer, he could not bnt condemn these doctrines of anarchism, which would overthrow all government, and which were now beginning to be felt in America. These

three matters upon which h_>>, ■• -~ which he termed "diSft^ he great Republic," would h* w°, etol« of • in the future a io«W&& ta&»W, be United Statei; but he ASft^ "