The Portland daily press., 1877-11-21
The Southern Standpoint

The purpose Of the South, long secretly
cherished is now openly avowed. The less
discreet of its leaders do not hesitate to
declare that the South hereafter is to be
controlled by the white man despite consti.
tutional amendments or adverse popular
majorities. The numerical superiority
of the negroes in any state is to
avail them nothing. The apprehension
of Truthful James that the Cauca-
sian Is played out, is not shared by Southern
politicians. Their faith in the superior race
does not waYer, and the methods by which
the superiority is maintained, murder and
the like, are not permitted to suffer from dis
use. This policy which frank Southerners
unhesitatingly avow, the wiser leaders do not
think it now necessary to deny.
A remarkable exposition of the Southern
view of our politics appears in the North
american Reuieac in paper contributed by
Charles Gayarre of Louisiana. Mr.. Gay ARE
was selected by the Reuie,u to present the
Southern side of the question, because OF the
prominent position he now occupies and has
occupied in Southern politics and because of
his eminent scholarship. The article, which
is certainly not wanting in frankness, is to be
taken as authoritive statement of the feelings
and wishes Of the old ruling class of the
South.
To begin with Mr.. Gayarre asserts that the
South has natural claims to the government OF
the country because it possesses an "aristoc-
racy of genuine breed" Not only, he holds,
is the Caucasian race the ruling race of the
world, but that portion of it which possesses
the South should rule all other portions; for,
he says, Southern men are entitled to be the
masters of men; they have the instinct Of
command, the intellectual and physical Or
ganization, the knowledge of human nature,
the refinement of tastes, the self-possession
and self-confdence, which constitute
statesmen. In these qualities the North
and West are wanting. The feel
ing of their inferiority led the North and
West to attempt the overthrow of society in
the South with the hope that the leaders
would be buried under its ruins. Their great
material strength enabled them to accom-
plish this design. Such is the explanation oi
the civil war and the causes which led to it,
offered by prominent Southerner speaking
for his people. He does not mince words.
The article is in the arrogant old plantation
strain, and the belief of the South In its SUI
periority is clearly and unmistakably set
forth. Nor is the exuberant Southern rheto-
ric wanting. The result of the civil war, he
tells US, is this: "Ant@us has conquered
Hercules, instead of being smothered by him.
The Titans have pulled down the Gods from
high Olympus, and brought them down to
the level OF the sons of mother earth.". The
triumph Of the North is the triumph Of low
earth-born ones over the children of heaven,
victory of the spirit of darkness.
The same split of pride and bitterness
characterizes Mr.. Gayarre's view Of the fu-
ture. There is still, he holds, an irrepressible
conflict. "The love of power cannot be
shared" The white race must rule the
South. Black and white can never harmo.
nize. The race question is as strong as ever.
Either the Caucasian must triumph or there
must come the reign Of the Yahoos. One OF
the other must perish. 10 this conflict the
Northsmust not interfere. The South must
be left entirely to itself-in other aud familiar
words "be let alone" The old modest de-
mand of JEFF Davis is again preferred. These
are his views. The result he anticipates /:
the only result which can follow the course be
commends. The black man "will die out Ii
the end, of weak lungs and from the want oi
congenial air in the more elevated region tc
which he has been raised," says the Southern
writer in metaphorical phrase. The verdc
ofa aNorthern jury would be that death resulted
from lead-poisoning. While this process o
dying from lung disease is going on Mr.. Gay
ARE insists that the negro shall "trust hi
superior white friend with the management
of his political affairs" ''entrust him will
his money or consult him about the disposi
tion of it," "take him for his agent, his rep
resentative, his adviser, and his protecto
in all the transactions of life." Above all