"Swingin round the cirkle" : $b His ideas of men, politics, and things, as set forth in his letters to the public press, during the year 1866.
John Locke · en
damin the Goverment for imposin a income tax. We hev the patriotic
citizins whose noses blossom like the lobster, and who live in mortal
fear uv nigger ekality; and we hev John Morrissey's constitooents.
These classes argyment won't move, and reasonin won't faze. They like to
abooze the Goverment for levyin taxes, hopin to deseeve somebody into
the idea that they pay taxes, and that it bears hard onto em; and they
oppose nigger ekality becoz it soothes em, like laudnum, to think that
there is somebody in the country lower down than themselves. The
Dimocrisy alluz hed these, and alluz will.
Ez I remarked, the Ablishnists, when releeved uv the pressure now bearin
onto em, will grow fractious, and split, and these classes will hev no
trouble to git into a majority, and then our time comes.
The discouraged Dimokrat may say that preechers, and noosepapers, and
Sundy skools, and sich, are underminin their party. In time they will,
but not yet. There is still whisky in the land, and the nigger is not
yet extinct. Uv wat danger is preechers to these men, when yoo coodent
git one uv em within gun-shot uv one? and wat harm is noosepapers to em,
when they can't read? Besides, we are not at the end uv our resources
yet. When the wust comes to the wust, there is the nigger left us. When
he is no longer uv use to us ez he is now,--when the prejoodis is so far
removed ez to invest him with the suffrage,--then WE'LL give him the
ballot,--WE'LL lead him up out uv Egypt, and we'll make him vote with
us. The Dimocrisy never yet failed to control all uv the lower orders uv
sosiety. They hev the lowest grade uv the furriners; they hev Delaware
and Maryland; they hev Noo York city and Suthern Illinoy; and ef the
nigger gets the ballot afore he does the spellin-book, he's ourn beyond
peradvencher.
Again: Ef our politikel stumiks isn't yet toned up to swallerin the
nigger, we kin compermise on the Mexican. That country Johnson hez his
eagle eye on now, and ef we demand it, he'll take it. Wat a glorious
prospeck opens to us! Mexico wood cut up into at least twenty States,
wich, added to the ten we hev, wood make a clean majority wich we cood
hold for years. Massachoosets cood do nuthin in Mexico. The Greasers
ain't adapted to Massachoosets. Ef they sent their long-haired teachers
there with their spellin books, they'd end their labors by lettin a
knife into their intestines for the clothes they wore, wich wood put a
check on the mishnary biznis. They are, it is troo, several degrees
lower in the skale uv humanity than the niggers, but then they ain't
niggers, and we cood marry em without feelin that we'd degraded
ourselves. Ther is undoubtedly cusses on em, but the only cuss we hev
Constooshnel objections to is the cuss uv Ham, and that they ain't
labrin under. Mexico affords us room for hope; we never shel run out uv
material for Dimocratic votes until she is convertid, and but few
mishnaries wood hev the nerve to tackle her.