The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-10-07
THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM.

and instigated by the Evil One.
THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM.
Sixteen years ago fanaticism eliminated
in resort to arms. The dread issue of
petuity of republican ideas madly referred
to the arbitration Of the sword. The march
of free institutions, the fabric of free gov
ernment was coolly imperiled by the lead
ers of party that sought to erect a sepa-
rate system which should have for its
corner stone the peculiar tenets of slave
holding domination The strangest ano-
maly was to be exhibited, and mankind
was to behold the most remarkable of para
doxes in free government on Il basis of
slavery. Argument proving of no avail,
war was precpitated. The power of pow
der should be the answer to the rule of
reason. Logic should find its synonym in
lawlessness, and rebellion be the outcome
of the revolution. The doctrine of seces-
sion, of State sovereignty should be estab-
lished by the right of might, and nullifica
ton be reaffirmed in the negation of union.
With these objects in view eleven States of
the Republic united, and presented a solid
front to those remaining. The gauntlet
thus unwisely thrown down was Of neces-
sity, taken up. Four years of carnage and
of woe followed, with the result that might
readily have been foreseen. The solid front
was broken, and the South emerging, with
shattered fortunes and ruined industries,
from the unequal contest had learned in
adversely the lesson which in prosperity
she had refused to read. There was com
pensation, however, to be found in the re-
Election that under the new polty, with
other and more generous principles, and
actuated by a hearty concurrence in the
settled questions of the war, the future fer
her was the same as for the North. Will
ing as she then was to abandon the ante
bellum heresies and to close with the offers
of her conquerors, the lapse of a few years
would have brought reunion of hearts as
we'll as of hands, and the glorious fruition
of that hour would have attested the solu-
ton of the long unsolved problem. Not
difficult of comprehension were the signs of
those times. There was no need Of pro-
phetc mind to forecast the future of such a
course. The prospect was highly favorable.
The great body of Southern citizens, upright
and intelligent, had become convinced by
the stern logic of events, and rejecting the
incendiary appeals of Toombs, and Semmes,
and Hill, and Davis, were about to settle
down under the new order of things. The
plans of Republican statesmen were to meet
with no appreciate opposition. But the
South in avoiding Charybdis ran upon
Scylla. Closing its ears to the infamma-
tory harangues of its own leaders it allowed
itself to be alured by the siren song of
recalcitrant. And Andrew Johnson, bear
ing on his back "another Anchises Of State
sovereignty in the shape of the Demo-
cratic party of the North, reused in its
breast new and peculiar hope. By the
ballot could be secured the results which
by the bullet had not been achieved. Peace
should bring the triumphs which war had
terribly refused. Then began "the mar
shalling of hate.'
The new hope kindled enthusiasm, and
like an epidemic spread from hamlet to
hamlet, until, overlapping all natural
bounds, it defeated, for time, the purposes
Of its instigators by the horrible excuses
nf fha E,G1 hot
was suppressed, or at least more of secrecy
was imposed upon it, and the existence of
the new inspiration was, for season, ap-
parent only by the ftful flashes of quiet
determination. Shrewdly the chosen ones
planned and the masses followed where the
leaders led, but the desperation of desire
outran the caution of cunning, and the vo-
lence of White Leagues again made mani
fest their Interior aims. Soon realizing,
however, that the blood of freedmen was
not the salye with which to heal the wounds
of war, they ostensibly abdicated the scep-
ire Of force and readopted the policy of
peace. Never losing sight of the great
object to be attained they were enabled,
finally, to wrest State after State from Re-
publican control by the less lawless means
of "the Mississippi plan and South Caro-
lima "ritle clubs" until to-day they behold
in those means the perfection of their ideas
So that now, with the cry in one section of
ga solid South" and in another of Gre
FORM" there floats before their eager gaze
the vision of regained power. That is the
secret of "the marshaling of hate" these
are they by whom it has been marshaled.
The marshalling" began with the mar
shalling of the Elk Confederates. What
ever of hate has been engendered is only
the logical conclusion of their past and
present actions, and those actions find their
epitome ina solid South What the
result will be remains to be seen. The
problem is big with the veal or the woe of
the Republic, and it rests with the great
South aided by sympathizing Tildens and
Hendricks shall henceforth shape the policy
and control the destines of a government
they sought so persstently to destroy. But
whatever may be the result of the pending
contest, however November may decide,
there will ever remain to the Republican
party the consciousness of fidelity to the
great ideas which gave it BIRTH And when
impartial history shall come to cast up its
account, and to place its estimate upon the
men and the measures of this generation
we have no fear for the position which the
Republican party and Republicansm will
occupy. In the great light of its inexor-