The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-02-18

| De1one Iellow-cltlZenS and equal voters
The barbarism which it bad fostered ha,
terribly recoiled upon itself. This is no
an ancient history. 1t is the familia
tale of yesterday and the day before. =
The North and tile S )uth of the fer,
| quarrel, and of the war, are the living
acting North and South of to-day. Anc
the great question of the Centennia
year is whether that North or that Soutl
shall control the government. We yielC
to none in our sympathy with ever!
| sincere desire and effort to heal tn,
wounds of civil war. We hear will
pleasure the eloquent tribute of Mr.. La
mar, over the dead body of Charles Sum
ner. We hail the generous words spoken
at Bunker Hill, and the pretty chiyalry
of Southern soldiers in Boston. We can
understand the South Carolinian who
said to the Bostonian, ''If we had known
what you really were, we should not
have wished to fight you." Every such
friendly token of better understanding
every honorable man gladly receives and
reciprocates.
But the question remains. The South
is a unit for the Democratic party. The
North is virtually Republican. 1t is in
vain to deplore ''sectionalism." 1t is
often unfortunate, but the sectional
divisions of our politics are evident, and
they cannot be winked out ofsight The
Democratic party, whoever may be its
candidate, is the party of those whom
we have described as the South. Is it
problble that people bred under the
conditions that we have mentioned, then
beaten in war, and at its end encounter
ing the situation which we all know,
have all changed? Have We at the North
essentially changed? If We had been
beaten, and the South had decided to
maintain the Union upon its own condi-
tions, would it have been wise for it to
intrust the government to US. For a
generation the South had absolutely
controlled the government, in away and
with the results that are historical
What has occurred that they should be
recalled to power? Has it demonstrated
its truer patriotism, its deeper regard for
liberty and justice, its sounder views of
the Union and the Constitution, its larger
intelligence, than those of the North?
We shall be asked If we would forever
fight the same old battle-if we think
that politics in this country can ever be
safe if we insist that they shall be sec
tional. Certainly not. But is that a
reason, in the situation that we describe,
for recalling the South, or the Democatic
party, to power? We insist that the
truer patriotism, the higher intelligence,
the sounder constitutional doctrine,
shall govern the country. If these are
divided sectionally, it is not we who di-
vide them. And shall we, because they
are so divided, prefer the lesser patriot
ism, and the lower intelligence
We do not apprehend that the Demo
cratic party will attempt to restore
slavery, or to maintain the doctrine of
secession. "There are few statesmen"
says Burke, in treating of a similar sub
ject, $50 clumsy and awkward in their
business, as to fall into the identical
snare which has proven fatal to their
predecessors" That is not at all the
question. 1t is whether the principles
and traditions in which this generation
of the South has been trained, the tone
of its civilization, its intelligence, and the
events of the last fifteen years, make it
desirable to intrust the national govern
ment to a party which the South DOM
mates.
Mr.. Tilden is a Democrat highly IA
vored as a Presidential candidate by
many friends of Cancellation. Sup
pose him to be elected. There is no
reasonable doubt that in the event of
such Democratic success there would
be presentation of what are called
Southern claims. They would be of
many kinds, such as payment of war
losses, for confiscats d real estate, cotton
and other property, and very many
more. These are all claims for losses in
consequnce of the war. Mr. Tilden was
an active member of a society which
published pamphlets during the war de-
claring it to be wrong and unconstitu-
tional, and Mr.. Lincoln tyrant and a
usurper. Why should he object to pay
ing American citizens for property ille-
gally destroyed by predatory armies?
Even under the most ''conciliatory of
Democratic Presidents this would be
merely a question of expediency, to be
determined by political and party con-
siderations A party which, in defiance
of its declarations against arbitrary re-
movals of subordinate officers, seizes the
first moment of its obtaining a little
power to drive out every Union soldier
and fill his place with Confederate,
would not find il difficult to satisfy Con-
federate ''clains" OF another kind. This
might be Cancellation for the South, but
how would the North regard itl
We do not expect man who has been
beaten to say that he likes it. But if he
can be ''conciliated" only by having his
own way after all, conciliatiOn must evil
IDENTIFY be postponed. We would have
the North just, generous, forbearing.
We would not excuse the enormity in
South Carolina of the election TO the
bench of Moses and Whipper. nor in
Louisiana the proceedings of DurrelL
We do not expect the North always TO
to be wise or discreet; but we would, in
the highest interests OF the whole coun
try, have the North, or the principle and
purpose that prevailed in the war, still
control the Government. Those who so
zealously sneer at the bloody shirt are
very seriously mistaken if they suppose
that it has no significance to the people
who sustained the war. The ou;rages in
the Southern States are uudeniabIe. and
it is equally undeniable that they can
not be set off against the usual disorders
in this part of the country. The hu-
KIux and the White League: the terror
ism in remote quarters; the ''rnild in
timidation" in Mississippi; the single
voting precinct in Savannah, of which