The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-31
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JoUBNAns
L. UPON CURRENT ToPIos-ooNPILED EVERY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
JEFF. DAVIS AND THE LOST CAUSE. i"


son Davis But the fact is that Mr.. Davis is
too much for them. He represents, as Louis
Napoleon used to say of himself, ''cause
and defeat" and the Southern people like
him on that account, and prefer to hear him
croak about their ''cause" rather than listen
to the unpalatable advice of Mr.. John
Quincy Adams It is only another illustra-
tion of the insuperable difficulty which
the Democrats have Ito face-the difficulty
that is, of framing policy which would
be at once acceptable to the North and popu-
lar in the South. Mr.. John Quincy Adams
understands the temper of the North, and
Jefferson Davis understands equally well
the temper of the South. If only Hcom-
promise" could be devised which would find
favor in both sections of the country But
there is the rub. If the Democrats please the
South, they offend the North, and any move
ment they make renders their prospects rather
worse than they were before. Hence, as we
have pointed out, they tryto fill up the time
by abusing General Grant, the man who chose
to be faithful to his country, and who does
not 60 about the country dropping hints about
the probable revival of the 'Lost Cause"
The President, whom Jefferson Davis does
not love, is not popular with any portion of
the Democratic party. We sincerely hope
that he never will be.
In the meanwhile, the people have no ex-
cuse for misunderstanding the sentiments of
the Southern wing of the Democratic party.
The other day at Augusta, Ca, ''Hon. w.
Hilliard" read an address to Mr.. Davis, in the
course of which he said:-'I do not now pro-
pose to review the dread drama that closed in
the overthrow of the Southern cause That is
not lost cause. 1t is the cause of constitu-
tional liberty, and will yet triumph" In reply,
MIR. Davis pointed out the necessity for being
very cautious in the expression of their
opinions, but he went quite far enough. He
talked about ''upholding the right of State
to withdraw from voluntary compact" The
Lost Cause" was ''dear to hm-more pre-
cious even than life;" and, he added, 81 glory
understood. The correspondent of contem-
porary, who saw MIR. Davis received" at Co.
lumbia, S. c., recently, says that the 'sBon-
ME Blue Flag" was played when he appeared,
and he adds:-
GAIL through the South the women cherish love
OF the lost cause with pertinac1ty that seems like
species Of insanity, and the earliest instruction
they give their children is to reverence the dead
Yankees and the Very name Of the United States
Even now, when six years have elapsed since the
END OF the war, these fanatics will not allow their
children to play with the children Of Northern peo-
Pile, and Southern woman who ventures to asso-
ciate with the hated Yankees is denounced ana
ostracized by her friends as a renegade"
Now here are facts which cannot be twisted
one way or the other by "radical" newspa-
pers They speak for themselves They
show what thousands of Democrats mean
when they speak of restoring constitutional
liberty" After all, the radical newspapers
are not doing SO much to expose the Demo
cratic tactics as Mr.. Jefferson Davis. Thanks
to him. the people will know what they are
about if they vote for Democratic President
at the next election. They will be voting for
another war, and had better make up their
minds at the same time to pay the price of it.
AS for Jefferson Davis, in any other coun-
try but this, he would have been hanged long
ago, and if traitors and rebels ever deserve to
be hanged, Davis would not have suffered
unjustly. No great revolution was ever seen
before in which the leaders were allowed to
escape, and permitted to go about the coun-
try afterwards mouthing sedition. There is
such thing as being too magnanimous-but
supposing that it was all right to let Davis
go, surely the country has some claim upon
him in return for its generosity. General
Lee set him good example. From the sur
render at Appomattox to the day of his death,
General Lee was never known to utter word
calculated to revive the wild delusion which
brought such unparalleled disasters upon
the South, or to injure the Government
which had extended to him it's forgiveness
But Davis is not a man capable of appreciat-
ing such an example as this. He must still
go about, not satisfied with the awful mis-
chief he has already wrought, scattering
firebrands and arrows of death in his path.
He has the insolence to complain of the
wrongs" he has endured from the Govern
ment. Has he ever asked himself what other
Government but this would have spared his
miserable life? And when all is said and
done, what thanks do the Southern people
owe to this man? Their affection for Jack
son and Lee is at least comprehensive. But
Davis never did them anything but harm.
In the last days of the war, it was his fault
that stores never reached Lees army
From first to last he was an obdurate, self
conceited, incompetent leader. And now,
forsooth, he is to be set up on a pedestal
and crowned with flowers, and worshipped as
. hero.
Why? Merely because he represents the
reasonable plans of 1861. Intelligent men
in the South know that he is a blockhead
But they still believe in the principle of
which Davis is sort of embodiment They
like to hear him humble promises of a re-
vival of secession. The Southern Democrats
would be only too charmed to have him as
thesr candidate for the Presidency next year.
And, In truth If the people mean to elect
Democrat at all, they may as we'll take JEFF
ferson Davis while they are about it
after getting him freed from political
disabilities, in accordance with the advice
given by several Republican journals. 1t is
not enough that a man who is responsible
for the sacrifice of tens of thousands of lives
should still be free to spit out venom at the
Government-he must be immediately rem
dered eligible to a seat in the Senate. After
that, let us go step further and put him in
General Grants place. If we are determined
to have another rebellion on our hands. we
may as well 60 the shortest way to work about
it. That, at least, seems TO be the opinion of
some Republicans as we'll as Democrats