Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-09-26
THE CANVASS.
The SOuGh i'm the Camvass-A Rec
view of MIR. BaYard's Doc
From the Ne.g York Times, Sept. Is.

hEhM6hs
From the Neo York Times, Sept. 25.
The complaint of the South is that it has
been misrepresented. When story of
outrage comes, however we'll authenticated,
we are sure to be told by Southern newspa-
pers that it is exaggerated. When the sys-
tematc intimidation which is employed to
coerce colored voters into the support of
the Democratic candidates, or at any rate
to frighten them from the ranks of the Re-
publicans. is pointed out, the plea in de-
Tense always is that the accusing narrator
is preiudiced witness. and that what he
says must be received with many grains of
allowance. When some rampant rebel
mounts a Democratic platform and mena-
ces Republican leaders or heaps contumely
and abuse upon the Union and the men by
whom 1t was saved, the excuse is that the
indiscreet speaker is exceptional, and that
it is unfair to judge the Southern Demo-
Gratis by the utterances of Toombs. And
when quotations are made literally from pa
pers like the Petersburg Inder-Appedl,
breathing slaughter against white Republi-
cans who shall dare to address and organize
colored voters,we are told that the language
Of Southern editors is hyperbolical, and that
what to the Northern mind is susceptible
only Of murderous construction, is to the
hot blooded Southerner harmless figure
of speech. We can hardly call these at
tempts to escape damaging responsibility
dexterous. They are too transparently
false to deceive anybody whom nature
has endowed with common sense.
But it is said the South
by accepting reconstruction and its
results, gives the best possible pledge Of
its desire to live in peace and unity with
other parts of the Union; and even Ben. Hill
consents to play the hypocrite, and to apos-
trophize in set and stilted phrases the flag
he and his fellows have striven to diehonor
and destroy. Where, then, shall we look
for competent witness TO testify with re-
gard to the principles and purposes cher
ished by tie South under the new order of
things consequent upon the war If
Toombs OF Georgia; Wade Hampton, of
South Carolina; Vance, of North Carolina;
and Harris, of Tennessee, are confessedly
so impregnated with passion and prejudice
that even their asseverations of submission
must be taken at a discount, to whom may
we turn for an exposition of the New South
and the part it is prepared to play, should
the fates and the "Minute men" and the
successors of the Kuklux generally thrust
Mr.. Tilden into the Presidency?
Mr.. Bayard, of Delaware, has come north
ward to speak in behalf of his beloved
South Probably the South could send no
better man. He is one of the most digni-
| fed and consistent members of his party in
the Senate. He has character, and is too
evidently animated by conviction to be sus.
pected Of the arts which belong to the DEM
agogue. Just as Yancey was the fttest ex-
| positor of the secession movement on the
eve of the rebellion, so Blyard may be TAX
en- as the fairest exponent of the principles
which in the Southern mind have outlived
| the wreck of the rebellion and are the key
| to all that is left of Southern statesman
ship. In either case the credentials are
unassailable. No intelligent man at the
time disputed Mr.. Yancey's title as the
apostle OF disunion and slavery, and none
questions the authority Of Mr.. Bayard as
the apostle of the contemporary Southern
Democracy, to which Mr.. Tilden is indebted
| for his nomination, and without whose
united support he has not the remotest
chance of an election. Mr.. Bayard's visit
to this City, to Brooklyn, and to neighbor-
ing districts therefore partakes good deal
of the nature of mission. He has come
hither to correct isapprehensions and to
| preach the pure gospel OF Democracy as it
is taught and practiced in the Southern
States.
And what is Mr.. Bayard's doctrine? Is
it of a reassuring nature, judged by the
standard of the loyalty which saved the
Union and is still ready to defend it? Are
the ideas inculcated by the Senator from
Delaware calculated to allay the fears
which the course of events in the rice and
the Northern people? Do they furnish any
/ solid ground for nal -i-e Al,-. Slo ue7Fa
/ raugn1 py Jefferson and Madison, empha-
sized by Calhoun, and acted upon by JEFF.
| Davis and the leaders of the Contederacy,
have been repented of by the Democracy Of
to-day, and no longer control its policy ?
/ On the contrary, it is only necessary to
turn to Mr.. Bayard's speeches in Brooklyn
and this city, as reported by the World
| to discover that the resolutions of 1795-99
| are cherished as ardently as ever, and that
Calhoun did not more directly affirm the
| sovereignty of the State, as against the
| authority of the Union, than does the
present acknowledged representative OF the
Southern Democrats. The Brooklyn speech,
being that which is the more fully reported,
supplies all the evidence that can be need
ed upon this point. 1t leaves no room for
doubt as to Mr.. Bayard's position. Citizen
ship, as he defines it, has nothing whatever
to do with the Union; it pertains exclusive
ly to the State. A voter resident in New
York votes not as citizen of the United
States, but as a citizen Of New York. The
National Government has nothing to do
with him, and-according to Mr. Bayard-
l no Luubb uOb lOOh W IL lUI pilfll0Sob VI ptO-
lection. I" The soul of liberty in this coun-
try is, in Mr.. Bayards opinion, encased in
State laws, and any interference on the
part of the Federal power to protect the in
dlvldual voter from fraud or violence would
be " fatal to our form of government. Ac
cept this declaration of principle, and the
supporters of Wade Ham, ton in South Car
olina have only to ride about the State with
torch and pistol from now until the day of
election, TO break down the Republican
majority ard to give the Democratic
minority all the power they want.
On the same line of argument. Mr.. Tillen
and his Democratic friends, in this city,
might stuff, the ballot-boxes and count fraud
ulent votes with impunity, since no author
ity outside of the State can constitutionally
prevent the frauds or punish the perpetra-
tors In fact, if Mr. Bayard were to be be-
lieved, the Republic of to day is little more
than fiction. 1t is bundle of States,
| each of which la supreme in its own bound