The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-08-24
The South and her Paladins.

The South and her Paladins.
The men Of the South have ever chal-
lenged our admiration, whether in the
council chamber or on the tented field.
It may be that we have looked upon them
with too much partiality and formed alto
gether too high an estimate of them. A
closer and more accurate scrutiny might
reveal the fact that they are not demi-
gods, but men, mortal men, with all the
frailties and shortcomings Of ordinary
mortals about them, and subject to ike
passions with their fellows elsewhere.
The idea has somehow obtained that the
cultured Southron is the pink of chival-
~, the soul Of honor, the realization Of
the Hottest conceptions of human excel
lence, the ultima thule Of the capabilities
and the possibilities of human attainment
This idea has been rudely dashed to the
ground by the revelations concerning the
Presidency and the bargains and intrigues
which eliminated in foisting Hayes upon
the country as its President, instead Of
Tilden, the choice of the people. Not
withstanding the Democratic party was the
avowed and Incorporating enemy of
carpet bag government in the South; not
withstanding it was certain to break the
shackles imposed by Grant and the ear
pet-baggers upon the Southern States;
certain to withdraw the troops and bring
the government back to what it was and
what it should be under the constitution,
the men Of the South were found ready
and willing to compromise principle; to turn
their backs upon their friends and negoti-
ate with their foes; willing to sacrifice the
political interests of thiIty-fve States in
order that they might save those of the
remaining three; willing to sell out all the
Union beside, TO secure deliyerance from
military rule aud carpet-bag domination in
South Carolina; Louisiana and Florida, a
result which would have been attained
under Tilden, if they had but stood firm
and unyieldiug and maintained their politi-
cal integrity TO the last But this they
did not do. They who had suffered so long
and SO patiently gave way and turned for
suceour to their enemies, just as deliver
anee was at hand from their friends. 1t
was the supreme moment Of their trial.
just as theirheroic endurance was about
TO be crowned with success; just as the
hand of the Democratic party, so long
stretched cut to them, was about to lift
them up from their abject condition, they
gave way and turned their backs upon their
friends and suffered their enemies to tri-
umph. Roberts negotiated and bargained
with Hayes, Sherman aud Matthews, and
Gordon, Lamar, Hill, Stephens, Hampton
and Nichols, assented to the compact
Without that assent fraud could not have
been triumphant. as it ultimately was.
Had the South and her Paladins stood
firmly upon the constitution and the pre-
cedeuts, Hayes would never have been
indicted into the Presidency. But they
were men-mere men-and displayed not
that unialtering deYotion to principle,
which, had they held ont little longer
only little longer,-wonld have entitled
them to the highest need of praise and
the crown of success Hewitt may have
been faithless and trembling with fear lest
the country should be thrown into anarchy
and ''values unsettled" but he represented
Only himself Had the Wormley Hotel
agreement on the 18th of February be-
tween Southern Democrats and Hayes
Republicans never been entered into, the
House Of Representatives would have de-
clared Mr. Tilden President and he would
have been inaugurated without bloodshed
or anarchy. Hewitt's cowardiee inspired
the belief that all was lost, and the South
ern Democrats conceived the idea of saw
ing what they could from the wreck.
Here was their error, their ill-starred lapse
from principle, the decisive step which
settled the case.