Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-07-23
From the Albany Journal
The Purpose of the South.

of long experience in the South and thO-
roughly familiar with the Southern spirit,
writes us private letter from which we
take the liberty of making the following
extract:
| every man may to-day look to see the South
move steadily forward to the control of this gov
eminent with much certainty as he looks for
sunrise to morrow-unless all the logical and ac-
tusl results of Hayes conduct can be overcome
| or nullihed."
| We do not mulilate the sentence, but
print it all just as it stands, though we do
not deem the latter clause essential to the
statement The main proposition tersely
and wildly pictures the undoubted inSpir-
alton and purpose of the South, and may
well be written in living letters as an ever
present warning and guide to The North.
Looking to the ambition and impulse of
the South. we do not regard the Presidents
action as a vital and inseparable element
OF the case. PROFESSIONALLY it has had
its immo date influence one way or the
other. But in the long struggle this ac
ton of the hour is only the momentary
wave-a sudden, violent lurch. and then
the steady current. Whatever be thought
OF the course pursued by the President,
no republican and no rational patriot OF
any party can be blind to the issue of the
future. We may differ about the single
acts which are past. Some may condemn
the withdrawal of aid from Cows. Cham =
berlain and Packard as "A dereiction of
duty, and others may deplore it as a pain
full necessity. Some may censure the ter
abandonment of trust. and others may
recognize is as the inevitable logic of
events. But whether we accept these
past results rs a necessity or not, we are
none the less alive to the temper of the
South, and none the less awake TO the par
amount duty of the present and the future.
Though the proceedings in South Car
olna and Louisiana were but simple acts
the dictates of apparent necessity-the
President doubtless meant them for some
thing more. He meant them as the ex-
preston OF conciiatian and goodwill.
He rendered them in the hope of true and
lasting pacification. In the honest desire
for sueh result every right-minded re-
publican shares. Even those who dis
sent from the Presidents action would
hail the restoration OF iraternal feeling
and mutual confidence. Among them
| Of Ia hoo in, ha
whether agreeing with them or not, we
owe them this recognlion-and to sup
pose that they seek prolonged and ram
corous conflict between the sections is to
impeach their good faith and patriotism.
The great mass of the republican party
earnestly desire the final settlement of all
those vital questions which have divided
the North and the South. But our sincere
feeling cannot blind US to the actual facts.
We see the South-the old, unchanged
South--master State after State. We see il
steadily solidfying itself into tremendous
political force. We see it overthrow the
last bulwark of opposition on lis own soil
and become one consolidated power from
the Chesapeake to the Rio Glande. And
then we see it "move steadily and COM
! pactly forward to the control of this gov
eminent
| The fact is undeniable-the purpose can
not be mistaken. Isn't it solid South to-
dayp Isn't its purpose clearly the posses
sion of the government ? We desire
peace and fraternity--shall we secure them
by placing the South in command of the
ship of State? Can we afford to run any
such risk While Offering the olive.
branch, does it follow that we can safely
turn over the government to those who
sought to destroy it Even if the old
spirit had altogether changed, even if the
South had abjured all its old impulses, it
wonld be an amazing spectacle to see one
solid section advance to the mastery of
the nation only few years after fighting
to break it up. Nobody wants to exclude
any part of the country from all rghtful
share in It's government. But the ques-
that the one which attempted to destroy
the Union-shall, by solidifyng its dan.
gerous power through fraud and terror
ism, "move steadily and compacty for
ward to complete ascendency.
That is the way the issue of the future
is shaping. If we seek the end of sec
tional questions, the South makes itself {.
solid section. If we desire peace and
harmony, this is the answer. We may as
well face the unwelcome truth. 1t is
question between two civilizations. 1t is
a struggle between two antagonistic i'm
pulses. The next great contest is three
years hence, but every day serves to de-
fine it. We regard the acts in South Car
olina and Louisiana as past. We accept
the purpose of the South to "move stead
lily and compactly forward to the control
of the government" as the question of the
present and the future