The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1879-10-15
Solid South.

lodged against the South as an ex-
cuse for usurpation, and the over
throw offree elections, not only there,
but everywhere. 1t is said she is
solid. We hear it clamored in our
ears from all quarters, that she votes
solidly against the Republican party.
Let US admit she does. New Eng
land votes about as solidly against
the Democratic party, and yet have
never heard that therefore we ought
to nullify the constitution and all
the rights Of the states in the matter
of elections to get rid Of that evil. 1t
is true that the policy of this coun-
try which has so bitterly cursed the
producer in respect to revenue, and
the finances generally has been the
work of New England greed, section
alism, and legalized robbery, but
nobody has, on that account, strong
as the provocation has been, demand
ed that her people should be depriy-
ed of afree ballot.
People have right to vote as they
please, as long as our form Of govern
ment remains, and whoever would
deprive them of that right is a
scoundrel who deserves death. But
are you astonished that the South is
solid politically against the Republi-
can party? Would it not be mar.
vel if she were otherwise2 Did you
ever hear of any branch of the An
glo-Saxon, Celtic, Teutonic or Scla-
vonic races, that fawned upon q mas
ter and whiningly licked the hand
that smote them in their helpless
ness. | have mingled extensively
with the representative men of the
South since the war. They bear no
resentments against those who con-
quered them in the war. If they
did they would be hoping for the de.
feat of Ewing, and the triumph of
Foster in this contest in Ohio. The
blows of battle, however, are only
remembered and recalled by soldiers,
as have often heard them in mutu.
al recognition of valor and constancy.
But do you ask the people of the
Southern States to fraternize, and
vote with a party which plundered
them of their remaining valuables
after they had fallen on the field o.
battle; a party which after the war
was over, unleashed the jackals who
Turk in the rear of armies, the hu.
man hyenas who prey upon the dead;
a party which turned loose and guild.
ed toward the desolated South all
those human vultures, kites, carrion
crows and scavenger birds, who in
the shape of Northern spectators and
adventures, have filed the world
with the disgrace of a reconstructed
South2 Do you ask the people of the
South to divide their votes, and give
part of them to such party as that?
If you do, you insult our common
nature.
No honorable man would make
such request, and every just man
would despise q people who would
grantit. Out of their broken estates,
theirruined plantations, their pow
erty and distress, hundreds of mil
lions of dollars were extorted by the
shameless, brazen emissaries Of the
Republican party, and carried away
to secure regions quiet enjoyment.
On this point history will make no
mistake, and record nouncertain yer.
dict. The blacklist pages in the his
tory of the human race contain no
account of such robberies under the
forms Of government. Warren Hast
ings, in his plumber of the East In
dies, becomes n moderate and respect
able character in comparison with
many of those rapacious wretches
who fastened their fangs upon the
property of the South after the war
was over. Seventy years before the
birth of Christ, Sicily was ravaged
and despoiled by consul Of Rome,-
Though more than nineteen centur-
les have come and gone since then,
vet the name Of Verres retains all its
freshness of immortal infamy. He
was prosecuted by Authority Of the
Roman Senate, and fled for an asylum
TO strange and foreign lands. He
died miserably in exile, and his dis
honored dust was not permitted to
mingle with the soil of the Roman
Republic. We find, however, in Mid
dleton's life of Cicero that all the
populations, extortions brides, and
larcenies charged upon Verres dur
ing his entire administration of the
affairs of Sicily didnot exceed 50, 000,-
900, equal to only one third the
amount for which Governor Scott
fraudulently issued the bonds of
South Carolina in single transact
ion.
And yet you are expected to be
shocked aud. Mortified because the
people of the South do not vote the
Republican ticket! Men go about in
your midst lamenting with pious hor-
ror solid South who have endorsed
every criminal transaction which has
made her solid. You hear the voices
of canting hypocrites on every hand
pretending to bewail a united South,
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