The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-29
A SOLID SOUTH.
THE EE0PE OF THE COUNTRY HN THE
PRESENT CAMPAIGN.

results oil the sporadic independent Demo-
cratic or National" movement Ii the South,
and particularly In Louisiana, that some OF
our Northern Democratic friends are begin
ming to ask with anxiety whether there may
not be little danger; whether there could be
10 much smoke without some fire. When this
inquiry is addressed TO me I answer it In the
negative; not SO much from absolute knowl-
edge Of the facts as from the common-sense
inference natural to the plain logic Of the stu
alton. The immediate proyocatlon Of this let
ter IL
THE SPEECH DELIVERED By BEN HILL
last week In his own State. / presume that
speech will have o wide circulation In the
South. At all events, Ii it does not obtain O
wide currency 1t will be through the culpable
neglect OF the campaign committees whose
duty 1t Ia to purvey sound Democratic read
ing matter for the edification and instruction
OF the voting masses.
presume but few of your readers have had
an opportunity to read the speech In question.
so I will briefly summarize It's points.
Mr.. Hill holds that right In this canvass, as
never before In their lives,
THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE HAVE AN OPPORTU-
NIFTY
Of turning to practical account the political
solidarity into which they have been fairly
crushed or pressed by the super-incumbent
weight Of reconstruction and It's enormities.
That for any man who has d permanent in
terest In the welfare Of the South, or in the
restoration Of honest government, to cast q
vote for the enemies of the Democratic party
aS either treason or suicide
That nothing stands between the Federal
government and u reign OF chaos, II not. OF
terror, but the impenetrable conservative
phaIanx OF the solid South.
That the solid South means, not menace
to the Union, as the Radicals have preached
80 long and 50 loudly, but the sole reliable
protection Of the form and substance Of the
government from an incursion of Commun-
ism, Socialism, and myriad OF financial va
garies
That therefore it is tho patriotic duty Of
every, Southern man, not merely to his Sec
ton but to the country ut large, to vote for
Democratic Congressman In order to assure
to the Democratic party
..5- CONTROL OF THE NEXT HOUSE,
and to save that body from the devilment and
distraction incident to q division Of its men,
bership into three irresponsible minorities
without head, tail, organization or possibility
do not pretend to give Mr.. Hills words
In fact doubt ii The above summary bears
any resemblance whatever to his vtrbiage,
cred career he has sal and done great many
things which did not seem to me wise, prli-
dent or even just. But in this instance he
fairly rises to the dignity of @ seer and o
freighted with ideas rs momentous
as any ever propaaated Ia this country. It is
useless to appeal to history for text or Illus
tration, for history gets lost In this country.
We have only 10 look at things In the light of
events and OF common sense. The tendencies
Of politics during the last six years have been
towards the disintegration Of parties as to
the North and towards qualification as to the
South. 1t has been In the one case the nat
ural quarrel over the spOls Of success and In
the other the natural union for self-defense
against brutal, exultant aggression. AS there
never was such
MISUSE OF THE FRUITS OF VICTORY
as that Of the ruling Radical party toward
oppressor such retribution OF decay and
collapse OF power as has visited the Radical
party. 1t Is less than ten years since, by the
force Of military traditions In the North and
by the oOmpul-Un Of bayOnets in the South
the Republican organization held the national
executive and judiciary, both houses Of Con-
gress by two-thirds mai'rities, and the abso-
Lutte control Of lwenty.nine outof thirtyseven
States 10 the Union. Now they hold the exc
cutiye by Slender and rotten shred of fraud
the judiciary by the supertuous tagging Of
solied and bedraggled erininps upon prOsti-
tuted Supreme bench, they have lost the Sem
ate beyond p"radventure, and are struggling
against fate and hoping against hope to re-
gain control Of the House as The last earthly
straw TO save them from immediate and ignC~
minious death. In the North, where they had
their cltadels and their stronghods, society
Is torn into dozen rude and Jagged frag-
ments by
REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS AND DELUsIoNs,
the very names Of which sound alien and
sinister In free country. They no longer
hope to carry the House of Representative
by party coup de main, but they are strain
ing every nerve and exhaustiDg every art to
produce q three-party chaos out Of which
they will take desperate chances of evolving
an organization which may answer their pur-
pose In short, their sole hope is to prevent,
even by O majority of one, the control OF the
House by the regular Democracy, believing
that II they can accomplish that much In the
election, they can do the rest by their usual
tactics of bribery, intrigue and fraud.
AT the North the Democratic party fights
necessarily against the odds. In this cam
paign
THE USUAL ODDS ARE DOUBLED,
because In respect to the practical features OF
politics, that Is to say, the control OF the dis
puted branch Of Congress, the Democratic
party is fighting both the Radicals and Ma
thing gained when the Greenbackers defeat |
regular Radicals, as they did the other day in |
maine. But after all, that Is only half gain.
circumstances yet to be developed must de-
eide whether it is actual or only apparent |
profit to the organization and ends of the
Democratic party.
Unless the Democratic caucus pure and
simple can control the organization and
may as we'll be called defeat and the con
duct Of the retreat will determine whether it |
shall be rout or not. Under these clrcum-
stances the Democratic party has not a man
to spare nor a seat to lose. There is q wide
margin Of possibilities in the North which, at
TINS writing, no man can gauge with even
approximate accuracy. At least sixty seats
are III dispute between three parties, Demo
craIlc, hadical and Greenback or National
ana the result may be an increase over the
democratic majority In the last House or q
decrease OF it to such an exceedingly fine
point that q loss of five or six districts in the
South would turn the scale.
You used to say in defense of yt,,,r nr;nc;nla
OF solidarity that 1t was
NECESSITY OF sEbF-DEFENsE,
NOW tell you the solid South. having
rescued herself has wider duty to perform
I'D feScuing the national Democracy from |
possibility of disaster An undou6ted and
nnsWervabie Democratic majority in She next |
house closes the national canvass Of 1880 in |
advance IN favor OF the Democratic nominee |
for the Presidency and p,1aranfaaa 70 con |