New-York tribune., 1877-07-07
rur poJrt,y OF TjyE SOTTH

sectional division upon political questions. lhis
/ had been the hope of all good citizens, ana
| the confident prediction Of many pubhc men,
| who believed they could, in some degree, fore
east the future Obviously enough this end
| has not yet been attained...The experiment-iflt
| NAV not vet be set down a. failure-cannot
/ he called a Success "The Solid South" was
! the great fact brought ont in the last PTesl-
Dental election 1t is still the leading feature
| IN the political situation, the most important
factor in present politics. If the Solid South
is not confronted now by Solid North as III
! 1860. il is not because Southern Leaders ana
the Southern white voters have not invited
such an antagonism, and done everything III
their power to provoke it. Senator Blaine
very evidently contemplates not the mere
nosSibility. but the strongest kind of prob
ability, of continuance OF sectional
questions and the inevitable mrayng OF
the South against the North Ill a long ana
bitter struggle for the control OF the UoV-
ernInent and the direction OF It's policy. Ana
while there are many thousand Republicans
who hope for better things from the healing
influences of time and the absence OF every
genuine cause for sectional disputes, 1t cannot
be denied that there are other thousands VINO
believe with him that the settlement OF the
Slavery question has not gwen quetuS to
Sectionalism, but that the South Will still act
together s0lidly, as against the influence ana
control of the North in the conduct OF the
Government We cannot shut our eyes to the
fact that without any reference to the Slavery
Question or Negro Suffrage, or any Ijsue grow
ING out of the War; there Is among a certain
class. and a very large class, ut the South,
very unfriendly feeling toward the North, and
Il strong desire to oust it from the seat OF
power.
This appears to be the view of Senator
Blaine and those who sympatnze with HIM
in his opposition to the Presidents policy.
In anticipating what does not now seem prob
able, but is certainly among the possibilities
of the future-the attempt on the part
Of the South to extend its borders by
the annexation of a part of Mexico-Senator
Blaine doubtless reasoned from what had
already taken place when, in furtherance OF
the same policy, the Mexican War was In
augurated by a Democratic Administration.
1t may seem wild fancy to suppose that the
present Administration has any designs upon
Mexico such as Senator Blaine seems to IN
innate but with his distrust of the
South and his dissent from the pol
lev of Cancellation, it is not strange
that he should look beyond the immediate re-
suits of this strengthening and building up
of the South as a political power to the prob
abilities that lie beyond. Mr.. Blaine is not
without practical sagacity; he has often shown
great wisdom in forecasting political events,
and he may be wiser than his opponents think
in sounding out his warning, and preparing
the public mind to resist the beginnings 0f
policy of territorial extension South. What
ever may be the real purposes OF the
Southern leaders, no one Will deny that
they have given good cause for the suspicion
that they mean to keep up the sectional
division in politics and to make the South
sooner or later the dominant section. The
"Sod South" has no other reason for being.
1t aims at power and the control of the Gov
crnment, and its unbrOkcn front has no other
meaning 1t sought the same ends thirty
years ago, ostensbly for the preservation of
its peculiar institution to-day it seeks power
for its own sakc-for local advantage and per-
sona gain. 1t is not 50 wild stretch of
fancy, then, that when it has the strength and
the opportunity. it will repeat the history of
Pok's Administration, and reach out for neigh
DDIllS ltIIltbl.s
If the leaders of public sentiment at the
South feel themselves and their section wrOnged
by such suspicious, they have only themselves
to thank for it, The logic of all their p0itl-
cal action certainly points in that direction.
For ourselves we are not apprehenslve OF any
serious danger from this source. The cOnsOh-
datIon of the South in another Presidential
campaign, as it was i'll the last, would have the
inevitable effect to unite the North in oppO-
siton, and the Democracy of the North would
he as powerless to aid their Southern allies as
they were in 1860. For such contest there
could be but one result, and that would
he no more beneficial to the South
than were the results of the last enter
prise undertaken with similar design.
1t rests entirely with the South either
to justify Mr.. Blaine's speech. or free itself
from the serious suspicion of its ulterior pur
poses, now entertained by so large Il number
of public men. The course of events III the
next two or three years will throw all the
necessary light upon the real spirit of the
South and the motives of its political action.
Thinking men in the South do not need to be
told that neither Senator Blaine nor any
other man or set of men at the North can Gre
ate a sectional issue III politics, or keep the
old ones alive, except as the Southern people
themselves furnish the occasion and illustrate
the necessity for drawing the lines. They have
the whole matter in their own hands.