The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-05-30
Itan d. ". ~ 1gm... Rpnallean.
The Republican Party and the South.


Sir Eaton, the newly elected Senator Of
Connecticut, recently delivered an address
to his feilow citizens, IN which be referred
in a general way 70 his political opinions.
Those opinions are already tolerbly well
known to everybody who has followed the
course of politics with any attention, and
il does not seem very probable that Mr..
Eaton win make any change in them. He
declared that be Is now, sand always has
been, and always would be, a State Rights
Democrat Of the old Jeaersonian school. Z
He said, also, sFirst, first, first the State
Of Connecticut, and then the Federal
Union, which, of course, is essentially the
position formerly taken by men like Gen.
Lee. II shall try, added Mr.. Eaton, ITO
take away the Federal bayonets from our
brothers in the South, so that every State
ia this land shall have the same right of
local government, and the same exercise
Of it, as our own State
The regulation way of answering all
this is to stick label on Mr.. Eaton's back
certifying that he is Bourbon and a
ropperhead, and to call attention to the
fact that he was by no means "sound" on
national issues during the war But even
after all this had been done, there would
still remain question in the background
which will have to be met fairly in the
face some day or other. The extreme
length to which State Rights theories were
pushed in 1860 and. 1861, brought about
. reaction, and that reaction has led many
people to think that State Rights belong
to the dead-and-gone class of questions,
aud that any man who talks about State
Rights is sufficiently answered when he is
called Bourbon" IL is unnecessary to
say to any intelligent reader that this view
is miserably shallow one, aud that in
reality the right Of States to govern them
selves is as dear to the people as ever it
was. Aud it ought to be dcar to them,
for when they abandon it they will have
utterly lorsaken the system of government
established under the Federal Constitu-
ton. They may set up something else in
its place, which may be called by any name
that may please the persons then living
but it will not be the government designed
by the founders of the Constitution. II
may be a civil polity based upon parlia-
mentary rule, or it may be a monarchy or
despotisln; but it will no longer be a
constitutional republic such as we have
seen here for nearly hundred years
We say, then, that when Mr.. Eaton talks
of the necessity Of maintaining State
Rights, and of giving the citizens Of South
Carolina the same freedom which the
citizens of Connecticut enjoy, it is not
enough to allege that he is "copperhead, -
and to fling at him the missiles which
darkened the air between 1861 and 1868.
If the citizens of the South are living in
state Of oppression, Mr.. Eaton is right in
calling attention to their situation ifthey
are suffering from injustice, the nation at
large will never tolerate its continuance,
and, therefore, the sooner the injustice is
redressed the better
All such questions as these should be
dealt with frankly 1t is very bad policy
on the part Of the Republican Party to try
to stuff them away in corners, and cover
them with the "battle-hag" or with any
other of the war paraphernalia. The
people will not consent to see either a
Poland or an ireland created on this soil.
1t is not impossible to redress mistakes
when they are discovered but to persist
in those mistakes after discovery, and to
pretend that religion and morality require
US to persist in them-this is a course
which We certainly shall not take the
responsibility of recommending to the
Republican or to any other party. The
Southern States are not living under a
fair or free governments Mr. Eaton
and many others allege. Well, is the
assertion true? Look at South Carolina.
The facts in reference to that State seem
to be about as well established as any
historical facts can be, and they amount to
this-the negroes, assisted by rascally
whites, have held sort of grand orgie in
the State for several years past, have
swallowed up among them pretty nearly
all the private property in the State, have
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