The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1871-08-31
The New Departure at the South

Whilst the newspaper press Of
our sister State of Georgia, are
indulgiug in Heated discussion
of the "New Departure" policy o1
the Democratic party, as announc'
ed in the Ohio resolutions, thepuo-
lie sentiment Of our own State
seems long since to have acqu1csced
in. and to have endorsed it, as the
true policy of the party and of the
country. 1t first found exprcssion
and, effective shape in the resolu-
tious of the Press conference, which
recognized the legal right of all
the. citizens of the State to vote or
TO hold Office, irrespective of color
or 'previous condition. It was
again declared in the resolutions OF
the State Convention which inau-
purated the Reform movement last
year, and which affirmed that the
Fifteenth Amendment sought to be
fairly admitted and faithfully obey
ed as the fundamental law. This
policy was again re-aflirmed and
sustained in the resolution of the
Taxpayers Convention of last
May, sThat we regard the Recon
strnction Acts as fnalities, and
recognize them as a portion of the
established laws of the land"
And again and again maintained
by the great majority of the pub
-lic journals of the State, this poll
cy may be regarded as fully, sus-
tained BY the public sentiment Of
the state-a policy which without
sustaining the means by which the
Amendments became parts of the
constitution, still recognizes their
binding obligation.
Such is the policy advocated by
a staunch Niississippian-Jacob
Thompson, Buchanan's Secretary Of
The Interior. Says he: "Thc lead
ing features of the new departure
have become settled facts, and it
is useless to hang on to the dead
issues on which we were defeated
last time. The Southern people
will and do now acquiesce in this
new departure; but they, will be
averse to taking any. prominent
part in either the formation OF a
platform or the nomination of a
candidate. They have learned BY
sad experience that they commit
ted a serious blunder ir the last
Presidential campaign by the ac-
tive part they took in it. This
tine they will not trammel their
. Northern friends, but will rather
fall exactly in the course laid down
by the Northern Democracy. |
even doubt the policy of sending
delegates from the South to attend
the National Democratic Conven-
tion, as their presence might in
come way embarrass the Northern
wing Of the party. But we are
resolved in all things to be guided
entirely by whateveris determined
on by the Northern Democracy,
keeping entirely aloof from the
management or direction of the
canvass, orthe construction Of the
platform, Denomination of the can
didate So far as the am :ndments
are concerned they were rut in
the Constitution by fraud and and
by force, but they are there, in form
and undeniable in fact. 1t would
b. foolish, injudicious and impolitic
to. stir up agitation over these
amendments; and we do not
choose to get rid of them by revo'
luton" AS long as they remain
parts of the Constitution, it is the
duty of every good citizen to obey
Such are the views of Thos. L
Olingman, the distinguished Nortl
Carolinian, as announced in a re
cent letter. He states that h
urged the acceptance of the Re
construction Acts" commends thf
address of the conservatives II
which they expressed sin einphat'
ic terms their determination to &C
cept and carry out in good faitl
tho Reconstruction Acts and *
protect in all their rights the col
4ored people," and approves of thu
course pursued at the last session
of the North Carolina Legislature
forbidding the Convention which
was expected to beconveued "fron
interference with any rights secur
cd by the twelfth, fourteenth ant
fifteenth Amendme
'It is folly, says the August
Chronicle and Sentinel for few pa