The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-11-21
The HSolid SOuth.''
rom the Louisville Courier-J ournal.l

From the Louisville C0urler-J cufnail
There is a very prodigious bawl
along the Radical line about the "sol-
id South" There is a lifting of Radi-
cal hands in holy horror. There is
great hypocriiical bemoaning over the
"sectional animosity of the South"
In the same breath these tricky Sec
tionalists bubble over with delight
over "a solid North" They would be
satisfied really with nothing else buta
solid North, but they should certainly
not be astonished at a solid South, al
ter the infamous threats they. the or
gans and leaders of the Republican
party, have made against "the states
lately in rebellion"
A little reflection will show the
Northern Republicans that if they had
exhibited any decency, any mild de-
gree of patriotism, any tendency to
nationalism, which embOdies unity of
feeling, cooperation in building up the
| best interests of the country and the
destruction of sectional lines, the
South would have warmly responded,
and there would sooner or later
have been division of political sem
timent. When the people of the South
however, perceive that at every cleo,
ton the federal government, acting on
the assumption that every negro is 2
Republican, undertakes to slander and
intlmidate the whites and make ar
rests on false preteXts; antagonlze
the races and seek to bring about up
risings of the negroes, they very nat
urally vote against the party repre-
sented by the administration and its
organs, remembering the tyranny, the
robbery, the calumny, the untold suf-
fering that party wantonly perpetrat-
| ed in the South for eight or ten years
after the war, when 1t attempted to
reduce the Southern States to worse
condition than Poland under the Cars.
As long as theRepublican party threat
ems and ISLANDERS the South, just so
| long will each election evolve "sol-
id South" There can be no other re-
suits it would be unnatural it there
was any other result. The Republic
can leaders are certainly political idi-
OTIS if they ever really expected the
Southern States to return Republican
majorities. They can not force a creed
| on any people. Austria tried to do 1t
in Italy and Hungary. Russia has
tried to do it in Poland. Both have
failed. The fact that there is a DEM
ocratic majority on joint ballot of 142
in the South Carolina Legislature
simply shows the strength of the
Southern protest against fOrcible and
criminal Experimentation of a peo'
pie. 1t is q peaceful protest, and as
such is the more powerful. ;s-.-
There is another feature ef this sol
id South business. The REPUBLICANS
ARE PLEASED THAT THE SOUTH is SOL
I'D. They have done all they could to
force, by threats of a future tyranical
policy, the solidity of the Southern
vote. That is to them political CAPT
tai, for they have no cause, no respec.
table basis for campaign. The Re-
publican leaders, under the direction
of Conkling, will, until 1880, try to
make the people of the North believe
that the South proposes another re
bellion; that the negro is butchered
by way of amusement; that the peace
of the North is threatened. That il
the inevitable programme.
Nothing short of a general absorp
tion of the Southern people in the Re.
publican party. and their assent to its
infamous creed, will satisfy the Re
publican leaders, whose aim is to cen
tralize and destroy American individ
uality. They do not admit the righ
of existence to any other party. They
never had any really republican views
Their organization cannot exist under
constitutional republicanism. Henc,
the rapid tendency of the party to cen
tralizati0n. THERE looms up the true
menace to the republic. Give the Re
publicans power of 1880, and their ia
vorite process will be hurried to
conclusion,