Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-10-17

an element Of immense value il
shaping the character of our public
men and political life. The existence
of many things is only realized by
their temporary absence For nearly
ten years the South, as a political
power, has been withdrawn from the
Union. 1t has been ruled, repressed
and stified in its old character and i'll
fiuence by the worst kind of carpet
baggiEg bOurgeoisic. During this de-
,noralizing regime, it has been shorn
Of all the locks of its power in the Ma
. tlonal Government aid over the public
men Of the country. 1t has not sent
to Washington single representative
of its old historical families, no Cal
houn, nor Clay, nor Benton, nor Ber-
riep. None Of it's old names have all
swered to the roll-call in either House
at the Capitol. None of its old chiv-
airy, it's high sense OF honor, has been
! represented by the newly imported
men who have pretended to answer for
/ the South. The spirit which she boast
! ed, and which We denounced, has
| of the nation Perhaps the whole
/ patton. We are now showing the world
/ and proving to ourselves, what We are
/ doing and can do without the influence
| of Southern aristccracv, as We called
| If.
! Yes; we have shown 10 the world
! aud to ourselves what we can do as a
nation without the old influence Of the
/ Southern mind: without the pretenti-
Gus "chivalry" and ''high sense Of
! honor" and contempt of small and
! crooked ways which the ''first families
OF N1rginia" and other Southern States
boosted Of. We have shown what the
trade-spirit. unchecked by the influ-
ence OF such clivalry, can do when 1t
peryades the entire nation, dominating
national and State legislation, and
touching with its golden wand the
highest court Of justice III the land.
We have seen how this great republic
| has been transmitted into Il ring-pub
lie, while the South has been reduced
to a politica nouentity what con-
centric series Of ring, what ''whecls
within Niieels, as III tic prophet s
vision. lave been produced from the
center t. the circumference OF the
Union.
Look al the succession of these rings;
first, the ''prill.afy meeting" ring, or
the viIsge c,.u,us of half dozen poll
ticians making up their ''slate'' around
a grocer's cask of onions or dried APP
pies. Follow the series of political
rings from that primary meeting Of
free and Independent citizens mp
through State conventions to the Con-
gressional caucus and lobby at Wash
ington. Then take the corporation
rings, aud follow them rom the center
to the circumference OF their power.
Do the same with land rings, gold
rings, wheat rings. traffic and trans
portatiou rings, and tariif rings. Look
at the great railway rings, that touch
with their perimeters either ocean, at
the Credits Mobilier they organize, the
legislation they control, and the legls-
lator5 they dem0raliZe and smirch with
the pitch Of dishonest transactions.
See what men III the highest places Of
ters the public Lad given them, hy
fastening to be rich by trcachery OF
fraud. Sec how the fine gold oI pc
litical and commercial probity has
been dimmcd by t ase transactions,
What the French mean by yIDluytOj3ic,
cur language has Il moro uniformly ac-
certed meaning than this OF recent
coinage, We all know what shoddy
means III textile fabrics. But never
did it FIJI such Il place or play snch "
part il Z soldiers coat as 1t does III
our paper money, i'll orr paper char
actors on change, aud Ill the paper
moralities which the last few years
have Witnessed
It may seem disloyal to our repubi-
can institutions to say it, but when II
is said, let the candid reader see # lie
can disproye it what this country
most needs at the present juncture is
the element that has been displaced
by the political ostracism of the
South. 1 DO not say that we need a
Southern ristOcracy, but we need one
which shall resemble and exercise
some of its best characteristics, such
we need imperatively, North and
South, East and West. We need a
class with as fine an esprit &c corps,
with as high sense OF honor and per
sonal and family dignitya England ever
produced or the South claimed to pos
sess. We want such men as the Jetfer-
sons, Madisons, Lowndes, Pincs1neys.
Calhouns, Clays and Bentons, and
other statesmen whom the South has
contributed to the structure and glory
of the nation. whether they come from
one side of Mason and Di1on's line OF
the other. We want men who shall
walk through the lobbies of Congress
and "wear the flower Of blameless
ife," and of a hlameless thought,
though each hall and every step were
beset with the gift-bearing Greeks Of
corrupting rings seeking to place their
gold where it shall do most good"
You may call such class an aristoc-
racy, or by any opprobrious name ;
but it is class we most need in every
section of the Union, to stand as a
bulwark against the overflow of shoc2Iy
which threatens to drown the political
probity and purity OF onr national life
and character.