New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-28
S0TTHERN PlLITICS.


We have an earnest word for the Admins
tration with reference to the Military Com
manders and civil aspirants who are continually
boring the White House and the Departments
insisting that the President and his Cabinet
shall intermedde in Southern local contests In
favor of what are termed the regular Repub-
can tickets. We beg that what we say shall
at least be thoughtfully considered.
We have always understood but stand ready
to be corrected by the President if in error,
that good General keeps his eye on the key
of the position, determined to be successful
there, though at the cost of temporary reyerSes
at points of no strategic consequence. Such
seems to us the dictate, if not of Military rule
at all events of common sense.
Now the key of the position in Our present
struggle is the XVIII Amendment. If we carry
that, fixing forever in the Constitution the
principle that the rights Of all citizens, whether
Civil or Political, are equal in the eye of the
law, we shall have triumphcd, no matter who
may be temporarily Governor of Virginia or
of Texas. Let History record that, under Gen.
Grants Administration, the XVIII Amendment
was ratified and the National Debt, being in
process of rapid reduction, was funded i'll an
American COnsOl at a low rate Of interest and
that Administration cannot be written down a
failure On the contrary, its wisdom will be
indicated and its praises resound through
coming generations If, on the other hand, we
lose the XVIII Amendment we are thrown
back upon the old, senseless, bottles, Out-Of-
date struggle about White Mans Government
and all the antcdiluvian jargOn that should
have been husled with the hoarse believing Of
the last Rebel cannon. We shall initiate the
idolatrOus and stitf-neckcd ISraelites WHO, after
coming in plain sight of the Promised Land,
turned their backs on it, and wandered forty
years in the stony wilderness.
We think the Dutchman was substantially
right in regarding as fish all that came to his
net. If a Legislature of Texas composed en-
tirely of Rebels would ratify the XVIII Amend
ment, we should make haste to recognize it and
do whatever was necessary to secure that rat-
ficatiOn. Mr.. Sumner, we infer from his last
speech, would do nothing until they had sol
EMMY declared that they repented of taking
part in the Rebellion. This may be statesman
ship; it strikes us 'as the obstinate folly of
a martinez or child. Ratifying the XVIII
Amendment is the very evidence of loyalty
we require, worth any quantity of barren pro-
fcssiOns
The votes of several States are still needed
for the pending Amendment we have stood
by and seen that of Tennessee thrown away,
and will keep silence no longer. 1t was en-
.tiTely practicable to have saved that State,
even after the insane quarrel which rent the
Republican party; had the Administration
been allowed to exert its influence and power
to that end, it might have secured a pledge
from the Rebels enfranchised by Senter that
they would ratify the XVIII Amendment But
it was virtually constrained to favor Stokes
after he was deader than any door nail ever
can be; and the net result of that folly is the
loss of Tennessees vote on the Main Question.
| We insist that there be no more of this; for,
as the lean boarder told his landlady touching
her bedbugs, :" | really have MT the blood to
spare" We have nothing to say as to the
preference Of any Texas voter for Davis over
Hamilton that is his own affair altogether
If Davis shall be elected, very well but if
the Administration is made to remove and APP
point Federal officers in his behalf and thus
exasperate the Hamilton party so that good
part Of it shall be set against the XVIII
Amendment, and if that party shall triumph
maugre all the efforts made at Washington ia
defeat 1t (Which arc just rs likely 10 help as "a
! ASIWl a4d tle vote vi Texas iog the Amend