New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-09
The Southern Question.

The Southern Question.
The political condition OF affairs in mos1
of the Southern States at the present time
is of such a character as to excite the
gravest apprehensions for the future peace
and prosperity of that section. OF course
it is the fashion of the opposition press and
the Democracy to throw the whole blame
upon the Republican party OF the South.
Some decree of blame is justly due to the
Republican politicians; but that all the
responsibility of the ills and misfurtunes
which have come upon the South and which
now retard her industry and prosperity
rests upon their shoulders is simply absurd.
Had the South, the Southern statesmen as
they love to be called, when the war closed,
accepted the results of the war in good
faith and adapted themselves to the altered
condition of affairs, they would have
escaped nearly all the trouble which has
since overtaken them. When the work of
reconstruction began, for instance, they
declined to take any part in it. Standing
aloof in gloomy silence. they bemoaned
their sad fate, and when they appeared
at all IN public affairs they appeared only
as the bitter, unrelenting opponents of the
party IN power. with which they would
have no compromise or alliance. From the
ments which the logic of events made inevi-
table; opposed the reconstruction laws
which the national government had no
option but to enforce. They would not ac-
cept amnesty; they scOrned reconciliation;
they would never bow their necks to the
Yankee tyrants who had robbed and de-
spoiled them. They had lost their country
and their citizenship. and the usurpers
could manage the government; they would
H. 70 do IT, h.
ballot to the negro was the greatest crime
of the age. His proper condition was slav-
cry, and to slavery they would send him
again when they had the chance by the re-
turn of their Northern allies to the control
of the federal government. OF course moth
ing could be more gratifying to the unscru-
pulous men who in many portions of the
South had espOused the cause of the colored
man as the stepping stone to political and
pecuniary advancement than this foolish
course upon the part of the Southern poll
ticians
No one who looks below the surface of
affairs will deny the truth Of these PROPOSE
tons: will deny that primarily the Southern
politicians are themselves to blame for the
condition of the South. The Southern
man who became Republican from the
purest and best of motives was denounced
as an enemy to his country and ostracised
by society. To limited extent this acri.
monious tone of public sentiment has under
gone a change; but as a general rule the
South is as bad, as blind, as prejudiced and
as stupid to day as it was when General
Lee surrendered to General Grant. The
division and dissensiOn which then existed
has been perpetuated, and as we write
finds expression and illustration in the
formation of white leagues in Louisiana
and in political war of races in Alabama
The Democracy Of the latter State have
just held their State convention, and, as
far as they could do it, have inflicted upon
the worst blow she has received
since the same party hurled her into the
rebellion. They have divided the State
into two hostile camps, into one of which
they have driven the white men and into
the other the blacks, raising the battle cry
Of death to the negro. The first resolution
in the declaration of prinsples set forth by
them DrOclaims "that the Radical and
dominant faction of the Republican party
in this State, persistently, by false and
representations, have infiamed
the passions and prejndices of the negroes,
as a race, against the White people, and |
Rave, therefore, made it necessary for the |
white people to unite and act together in
self defense and for the preservation of |
white civilization" Here we have the |
ace Issue distinctly raised and avOwed. The |
white Democrats of that State declare open |
war for the preservation of white civliza- |
ion In doing so they deliberately misrepre.
ent facts. This race issue was not, as they !
would have the country believe, forced
'pon them by the carpet-baggers. On the
contrary, it was proclaimed by their own |
eaders and conventions as far back as 1868. |
The leading Democratic paper in the State,
he Mobile Register, boasts that 1t has been
advocating the arraying of the whites
'gainst the blacks ever since 1868 In the |
anne year Democratic convention in the
ame State resolved that "the government
# the United States is white mans gov
and that white men onght to rule
america; that the negro is unfit for the
tfices Of government; that as the right of |
uffrage is the fountain from which flows all
olitical power in the government, he
hOuld not be invested with that privilege
md about the same time General John
Morgan. then, as now, q promi-
ent politician of the State. declared
nat the negro suffrage question ia
difficult problem. It must be prac,i.
ally dealt with. We must be firm and de-
berate. Only one possible line of policy
Duld be pursued which would result bene-
cially to both races. The black race should
@ absolutely divorced from all participa-
on in the government of the country. If
le negro had equal capacity with the white
ian for the exercise Of the ballot he should
OF be permitted. Let us not mince mat
RS, but declare that we do not believe the
egro should have any share in the admin
tration or councils of the government.
he Northern people understand this, and
re moving in hosts to rid the country of
lis evil" The Democratic platform just
lopted is only the epitOme of these teach
gs, dating back to nearly seven years
20.
1t is because of these feelings and senti-
ents that the Southern question has be-
'me so full of bitterness and disappoint-
ent. When the armies of the COntederacy
ere disbanded, it is not an exag geration to
y that they were turned against the I'M
people whom they looked upon
the cause of all the difficulty. They
'mpelled them to band together in self
,fense, and made them trust and follow
lplicitly men who, in many cases, used
EN- for their own selfish purposes. If
ey had pursued . different policy-a pol
? which suggests itself to the dullest COM
South would have differ
It story to tell today. But in every State
ID in every congressional district from
rginia to Louisiana the negroes were
sated as aliens and enemies; to be exter-
mated instead of protected and educated;
be kept in ignorance instead Of taught