The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-04-01
plain Hints to the South"

-
tive of honest, liberal sentiment in the
North, and a foe to bloody-shirts and
stalwart Rcpublicanism, is published
to give our readers a just conception
of how opinion is moulded at the
North. IL will be seen that the Times
deplorus the situation but deems it
necessary to state it in its true colors.
We do not subscribe TO tho article in
many points, but we give it
that our readers may judge tho temper
Of the bigotcd No, til when the liberal
North cntertains these views. And
as success in the North is absolutely
necessary for Democratic supremacy
here, it would be we'll to consider care
fully the warning. The Times says:
The Wilmington On. Co. Sun is
usually one Of the most judicious Of
the Southern journals, but it quite
misapprchcnds the current of public
opinion, especially in the North, when
it assumes that all Federal election
laws should be unconditionally re-
pealcd.' We do not pause to discuss
the constitutional question that seems
to be the f;rvoritc plea against all
measures which CRATE harshly upon
the old State Rights notions of the
South. The one answer to all such
arguments is, that there has been IL
great war; that States Rights, as
taught by the South, pcrishcd in the
conflict, and that from the arbitrancnt
Of the sword there is no appeal.
States Rig Its chose it's own arbiter, and
the Judgment is irreversiblc.
1t is clearly within the power Of the
nation to protect the purity of its
fountain OF authority. The facts that
power was grossly abused III the rcvo-
lutiouaEy times, and that fraud
chicvcd its greatest victories under
the prctcncc Of preventing fraud, do
not affect the issue. They teach how
errors are to be corrected and how
arbitrary powers are to be revoked;
but they do not teach that Presidential
and Congressional elections arc to be
given over to trained ballot-stuflcrs in
Philadelphia and New York, or TO
bull-dozcrs or adventurcrs in the
South.
One Presidential election has been
perverted by sYsmtcmat.c fraud, and
it is in the power Of Congress to pre-
vent Il repetition of 50 hcalcss Il wound
to free government. Marshals arc
not needed under any circumstances,
and if authorized to interfere with
voters, tho party that happens to be III
power will ever use them to hinder
the honest vote of the opposition; but
supervisors from both parties, ap-
pointed by the courts, with power to
check fraud by official scrutiny and
certain exposure, arc needed III half
of the Southern States and in all the
leading cities of the North. Their
duties can be so defined that inter-
ference with honest electors would be
impossible, and they should be in
such close accord with the judicial
power as to make fraud face the educ
process of law" whenever il attempted
the pollution Of the ballot.
A word Oh another point III answer
to our respected North Carolina con-
temporary. The demagogucs "whose
constant cant is the confederate
Brigadicr," have "thc ear of the CO.
pie" Of the North. They have it, not
because the Northern people are at
war with the Southern people, nor
because tho North does not desire to
deal out generous justice to the South,
but because few fools in the South
constantly supply the troops of
demagogucs in the North with
abundant material with which to assail
the whole Southern section Of the
Union. Hill's speech in reply to
Blaine in the House in 1876, and
Lamar's speech in reply to Blaine in
1879, did more to rrkindle national
hatred in the North and to give
Northern demagogues the ear Of the
Northern people, than all the prudent
and conservative men of the South can
counteract in half decade. The
people Of the North are not driven "to
the polls like sheep arc driven to the
shamblcs," but they do resolve all
doubts on sectional issues against the
South, when the South allows itself
to be goaded into follics by Northern
demagogucs. One fool in the South
is food enough for regiment Of
Northern placcmcn who rely solely
upon sectional prcjudiccs to keep
them in power, and the sooner the
South stops fooling, the sooner there
will be peace. If an average fool in
the North was of just equal power
with an average fool in the South, the
North could largely overlap the South
In damage to itself, bnt Northern
fools are inpotent to harm the North
in the South, while Southern fools are
tho whole stock in trade Of the rcvo-
lutionists who are ever ready to sacri-
flee the tranquility and prosperity of
the whole country for power. These
may not be grateful words to the Sun,
but they arc tho words Of truth and
sobcrncss.