The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-12-11
THE SOUTH.
MEMBERS CUNvu0rvauez
TEE DEHOCKATHC GAUggsEs.
Summers PrOpheUy-The south stFsnesrp
and More Powerful Than In the Most
Prosperous Ante~1DelIun Days.

tbpecial CoTresnondence on the DenogratsI
| WAsHrreToN Deember o. 1871.
| THE REGULAR SESSION
opens languidly. There is nothing STARTLING ~
the message. and the turmoil OF orQsaizatioss
usually incident to the beginning of the Iyusf
session has been anticipated SO that The Hrets
week OF tlse regular session Of the Forty -ilftln
Congress turns out to be the quistest Of ALL
But this Is
| DELssIvH CABIN.
| The political sky is FULL Of mutterinv thuudsrr
and the lightning OF conflicts 10 CONS flashes
distantly all round the horizons This will be- Il
winter OF uncommon activity In Washington.
For four years all the energies of Congress haysss
been expended In investigation. One afssr Ntt--
other the plague.spots Of Radcalism have bset,a
| knitted to deues the country wish ifBtiator-
| rents OF exposed venality Jobbery and crtnaaa
The Capitol building has been o. vast coutf+-
house in which dozen graad iuries. yelert hx
courtesy Investigating committees, have boem
In perpetual session. The history oftnsse foy,r-
| years lies piled ceiling hign In hundreds ana
thousands Of thick volumes oftestimofsy. which.
Tor o mercy. nobody ever rsads, and which -
/ would be for the cleanliness OF our national
| name to burn up.
Imagine ii you can library OF over eight a
thousand volumes, big and small. bound ii
sombre black cloth az II in mourning FOR tha
infamy OF which they are the doleful snnals
orammed with worn recitals OF every ooncsiva-
bic abuse OF power. misuse OF trust and viola-
ton OF official duty that the ingenuity Of thieves
could invent or the delirious brains Of adventu-
rers drunk with irresponsible power could COM
jure np. and you may form some faint IDEA Of
what has consi ituted
THE CHIEF OCCUPATION OF CONGRESS- yoR roum
HEARS.
This disnaF business is now about ended.
The Augean stable Is nosindsed cleansed for
that cannot be done till the last Radical is dis
placed and his surtive iugglery OF book k-keepine
overhaaled by clean Democratic hands and the
dark places searched by sharp Democratic eyes
But some Of the offal OF Grantism has been re-
moved. and whore cleansing has failed deedor-
ization has been applied. so that Washington
begins to be once more politically hatitabie and
Congress finds breathing spell In which to att
tend to the political and material needs OF tba
country.
1t seems to me that we are lapsiDa into state
OF perpetual presidential election. No sooner
Is q President elected or counted in than the
struggle for the succession begins. Four years
ago this struggle began with the dreadful sys-
tenn Of tearing the past to pieces. which have
referred to above. This time 1t begins In clean~r
kind and under loss miserable auspices. hut
with no less Of activity or of elan. Four years
ago the DAHE6 D6gaM the shape OF
FIERCE 1NTERNEasE ROW AMONG THE RADICALS
themselves, with a slender and powerless MI
nority Of Democrats in both branches Of Con-
gress, lying low and Watching their chances.
ment of Democrats with full power in or.s
branch and trucgulent, bare hairs breadth Of 4
majority In the other, upon the wea akened lines
whose tenure Of the White House itself i Is Il.
sufferance rsther than by right much less br
The fitness for treason and strataoem whfah
nss seesd e M she nosa sT lat sprdpG u The neer
In The Democratic mind ts the presages m s VI wrsth
that m altered all through the Radical bosom "
the North, and the breathlessness Of expectancy
In which the eInancipated South waited 10 seg
what would turn up; ali these elements hsvs
aa,is vanished from the situation, and s6e Demo
signs are i,nmistakable in every utterapee and
| 1n every movement that proceeds from our sidg
eran er me and they will soon take con
For the first time in seventeen years
THE VOICE OF THE SOUTH
is heard rising above tho clamor Of faction and
over the gangle OF individual sef-seeking to
ests due to people who bear large share OF tho
burdens, but have hitherto been denied any
first came to Washington FIVE years ago could
count from my seat in the press gallery of the
baggers, niggers and scalawags, and from tha
Senate gallery seventeen OF the same kidnav
msrepresgsn1ipg ssa y, eleven States piaped 70 such
/
Now can see left In the House but five super
fnous- tagging mementoess, Of that eome.ly Of
number hang trembling In a delicateIy adiusted
balance between statesmanshiD end Sta.e's
prison, With 2 gratifying tendency OF the scales
am fond Of meditating upon such shiftines
2f the historical whirligig Of time. and nothing
revenges. We have from time to time. built
hopes upon the crest Of faneied tidal waves
which were 10 ride us to the submits of power
as In the tW1nKIlng OF bUt rsrQ y1<H
Of tidal waves. That sort Of thing. with ssrth-
auakes. and tornadoes. belongs to tropical
climes, whore the blood is not Anglo-Baxon.
and where l. 10 bad year for revolutions that
dynasty. We move slowly In this ternperats
zone. peoged as i is with the ploddlng descend
we move with irresistible momentum. Indeed
The strong instinct of conservatism which grows
with the bulk Of, our national body seems often
For example, we have seen a President who
was wa not not elected counted In, and "srnator."
valid pretense OF O constituency seated and
these lac facts, viewed singly, might seem to milf
e fgsns Se he bs2Fa pi To-
we must take the sum of things at Its tout en-
Sc ss5 %oh when Ee do that there q Instant end
OF dest ny appears clearly.
The men who represent the South have been
late. and they viii present good front in This
session upon those questions which may affect
thelr, G. constituents One Of the greatest Of Re-
publican 81 siafesmen. who Is now gone from our
midst, once said TO me that
THE NEW 5oUTH
which he foresaW to be on it5 rapid way to-
power again, would be infinitely more formida-
pie than the Old South ever WIS. The Old South
he said. with slavery to defend and cover from
assault, was like an army over weighted with
camp followers, and In greater peril from panic
in IFS rear than from attack upon It's front. But
the New South Woul1 be sree from such iuaDedj-
mentn. 1t would come bask here. he said. strong
Erna kf. urna adh afx1 rrFf0
tured with seepsres in their hands. wherein
that section always enjoyed advantage over the
North, which, for the most part picked up its
prize ring to the college eloister, and never had
learned the art of educating Its picked sons for
the forum. The sage who ssid these things was
Charles Sumner--who, whatever may have been
his idioyyneracies stood incom parably at the
head OF his generation in the accuracy OF flia
fra