The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-11-04
The Solid South.

pen OF Charles A. Dana, of the New York
Sun. Mr.. Dana was Asst. Secretary of
War during Mr.. Lincoln's first term.
The last stalking horse bestrode by a
spectre to frighten those non-combatants
in war, who have become doughty warriors
in peace, is the Solid South. 1t has no
terrors for u.s. We hail with joy the in-
dications of a united front in the South.
1t is more than time the carnival of Re-
publican crime in the Southern States
should be brought to an end. Plunder
should have its appetite stinted. Mis-
government has long enough rud riot 1t
must be stopped.
There is and can be no new rebellion.
That peril is past forever. What is won
for human rights will bower again be the
trophy of the sword. The clarion blast
may be blown by the brass trumpets of
agitation, but the agitators are weak in
numbers, and wicked as they are in pur-
pose, they are powerless for evil.
When aggressive tyranny sought to en-
slave our continent, the colonies became
solid. With our strong blood, oppression
may always be sure Of resistance among
us, The solid array Of the South is not
of aggression. 1t asks simply for the boon
Of self.government under the Constitution
and the laws; and it has right to de-
mand this,
10 the emancipated negro the ballot
was given to hold those States to the Re-
publican party; and for time he was the
innocent agent Of men who had no ambi-
tion but that of unlimited power The
contiding black was to be the owner of
plantations in fee simple, with mules and
horses in unquestioned possession. His
credulity was fed with promise but no per-
formance. The Solid South means only,
then, that this phantasmagoria has van.
ished from the sight. The negro turns
from the adeventurer and cheat, and,
needing no intimidation, changes his vote.
The Solid South proclaims that the in
timidation of bayonets must cease, and the
sabre be returned to its scabbard How
long, we ask, is the ballot to be cast to the
tread of armed men and the roll of the
drum? We venture the prediction that
after we have finished celebrating the
glory of the century just ended, and sound
ing the march of that just begun, the pre-
senee of military uniforms will not be
suffered to profane the casting of our suf-
fragcs. Look at South Carolina, with the
tramp of the soldier over a soil black with
the cinders of war 1t is the Carnatic of
Hyder Ali as depicted in the superb rhet-
oric Of Burke. What open war spared,
the civil bandit has gathered in the sweep
of his despoiling.
Louisiana, too, has been overrun by the
besom of this destruction. The coast from
Baton Rouge to New Orleans, an Eden of
beauty and fertility, is utterly wasted.
The tenure Of property and the tenure Of
life are alike uncertain there, and the
State Government has put her devastated
acres in mortgage for debt which she
cannot pay. Mississippi, also, is the camp
ing ground of the Goth and the Hun.
The hot ploughshares of peace have cut
deeper furrows than those of war. Nor
is the list complete without Alabama,
Georgia, and Florida.
Georgia with Bullock, its venal Cover
nor, and its purchased Legislature and
Judiciary, was loaded with a debt whose
only payment was by reputation; and it
may be remembered, as exemplifying the
Divine justice, that the Northern agents
Of subsidy and bribes are each and all in
financial ruin. "Why," asks one of
Grants Senators, "does Georgia give
majority of $4,000 against us p Simply
because in the righteous law of the uri
verse, after the wrong comes the reaction,
and payment is exacted with interest.
Let us then have Solid South, and have
it now.
We hope, nay more, we expect, every
Southern electoral vote for Samuel j.
Tilden. Individuals, States, and nations,
in their deeps ofadversity, seek for change;
and the stricken people, now pursued by
the myrmidons of power with the click Of
the firelock, wait unresistingly for redemp-
tion by the silent power of the ballot.
Unless all auguries fail, the change is in-
evitable. The chain of Republican irwin
cibility was broken on the 10th of 0cto-
Der, and even now the educated eye can
see the Generalization and panic Of the
once naughty legions
Let the Solid South write, then, the
"Meae, Meme, TekeF' upon the panels .of
its abode, and let the courage and justice
Of the North look to the consummation
with no foreboding Of disaster The rebel
debt belongs to mythology; the Coufeder-
ate pension roll, the Confederate cotton
claims, and the claims for confscated pro-
perty, are but the phantasy of diseased
brain. Let us save the Republic by the
election Of Samuel j. Tilden