Litchfield enquirer., 1877-02-08
WHOLE NO. 2645.

 flied into hatred for the republican party; but the party attachment of the whites for Northern democrats is too much like that of hard-pressed soldiers for mutineers in the enemy's camp, to be healthful sign of reconciliation. The lost cause, our trials during the war, our brilliant deeds m arms, our reverses, our grievances since peace, form the staple of freside and so- cial conversation in every Southern fam fly, and will do so Tor generations. Eve ry child at it's mothers knee is told of the brave old days; how it's father used to own troops of slaves and counties of land; how he or some other honored relative fell under the banner of Morgan. of Lee, of Stonewall Jackson, or of HAmpton;and | into it's mind is instilled hatred of their slayers and a resolution to avenge their death ''some of these days.''' Shafts to the honor of the Confederate dead arc ! thick in every graveyard and cemetery, covered with tear moving inscriptions; and once a year, on Memorial Day, tho l whole vwhits population turns out, t,--sus- pending all business, s,-amidst the tollIng | of bells, to decorate the graves of their fallen heroes, and listen to eulogies and poems on them and the cause they died | for. l do not repro6ate the custom; 1t is | only natural as it is undeniable. The Southern press teens with publica- | tions relating to the war-with the histo- ries of Pollard and of Alexander Fl. Ste- phens (which are found in every white school as text-books), the rabid memoirs of Admiral Semmes, and lives without number of Lee and Jackson. The histor- ical societies, since the great speech of General Hill, have been busily collecting statistics justifying the prison manage ment of the Confederate government, and proving that Confederate prisoners were worse used than Unionists.
 It IS true that democratic conventions and democratic leaders in the South have pledged themselves to abide by the issues of the war; But these utterances are worth no more than platforms aud diplo- | rnatic professions in general. Beyond all | things would Southerners rejoice to be | free, to achieve their independence of the nation which has conquered them,l of which they, nOLens Uotens, must form 0 part. But they have tested the strength of the North, and learned to dread it. | Nothing conld induce them Go engage the | North slngle-handed again; and the more so, that they now have possible lntes- tine foe, the negro, to deter them. But con- | tingencies may easily be imagined which would tempt them to rise; for instance, should they get the South solid, put the negro down at home. get him sufficiently intimidated or paclfied to use as Sepoy force, and a war should break out between the United States and some fotaRa pow CT with which the South could side. v There is another kind of contingency which seems likely to occur at no very distant period. The excitement in tho South over the presidential contest is lit- erallY frightful. Should itDs adverse to Mir. Tilden, the national House of Rep- resentatives and Mir. Tilden have it m l their power to cause m explosion in the South so terrific that the outbreak of | l86O- 61 will be almost forgotten. The | most dangerous hopes and emotions are agitating the bosom of every Southerner. At every street corner and freside, on the saying that the hour of the republicans is striking, they have got to submit, tho North is split, and "We'll try them this time with Tilden and New York to help us."
 Next to separation from the Union, the South would relish ruling the Union. Her representatives would be as intolerantas ot old. Once solid, she will always re- main solid. Mr. Nordhoff is in error with regard to the probability of a whig revival in the South. As he says. there were, un- doubtedly, thousands of men in the South before the war who were conserva- tive and opposed to secession; but they were dragooned into confo mity by the fire-eating element then, and can be dra- gooned again; and, besides, many of them have hecome alienated from the North in consequence of having partici. pated in Southern reverses, and they could hope to do nothing in the face-Of | kho hUvk h0 strife. The fre-eaters sWonld rule and
 keep the white vote consolidated. and thus hope to govern the Union through divisions in the Northern vote; for they are confident that the North cannot be kept as solid as the South. ..
 Three evils are to be chiefly dreaded under Southern ascendency at Washing ton. The first is a tremendous rnsli of office seekers and bonanza jobbers from the South. Thousands of Sontherners, not reared to exertion, have been compell- ed to struggle hard for living since the war, and would, ,oi course, naturally Gban- don uncongenial or ill paying avocations
 for the delights of office; and from the
 willingness to get all the spells possible
 there aUouLd be e great ctdDl0r att 0Ver the South .for internal Improvements.
 The second Is the much-talked-o of danger
 
 pensation for the slaves, assumption of
 the Confederate debt etc. The South. erners, I know, would undoubtedly be
 overioyed could these things be accom-.
 plished; but they fear that any attempt
 to accomplish them might rouse the
 North so powerfully that, they would be
 put down decisrvely and kept down. They consider the attempt unsafe; but here, again, the question IS one of expediency, not of principle. Attempts would proba-
 ply be made to carry the same points fn- directly. The third. and. in my opinion, the most formidable evil would be the
 danger of warlike foreign policy. The spirit of the South-a ana especially of the leading element, the aristocracy--is at present dangerously martial. The South. erners, naturally spirited, fond of hunting and the turf, and devotees of the code,
 took astonishingly we'll to war; reared as gentlemen, relieved from labor by their slaves, and utterly unaccustomed to stea- dy exertion, they have repined much against the hard fate which has forced them to work like other people for a liy- ing; and the vast majority of them, burst ing with impatience under restraint, would gladly hail the excitement and dan. gers of a campaign aS a refreshing in- termission, a picnic as ii were, in tho 2 dreary monotony of the remorseless strug- gle for existence. The Southern pape's were vehement for war with Spain about the Virginius matter. and have. been Dlt- ter against the president on account of hls non-aggressive policy towards Mexico. ''Tilden will stop these incursiOns on the border" has been frequent editorial re- mark. In social intercourse, l have heard dozens of influential Southern gentlemen Eexclaim, ''wouldn't 1t be glorious If we could have two new Southern States-an- other Texas from the Mexican terrilo- ry. and Cuba from Spain!" There is, furthermore, the hope that in event of
 war the South could secede if she chose, or confirm her sway over the Unlon by threatening to join the enemy. seasaaa
 The hostility with which the whites re- garded the enfranchisement of the negro | Eos m odo itsple fnit in the etprnaak uatra.