The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-06-12

ton, and who are SO very unSophisticatcd
in Southern election laws and methods
as to cherish hopes Of carrying Florida
and Louisiana; but they will be unde-
ceived long before November. When
the campaign is fairly under way, the
solidity of the South will be manifested.
The extraordinary fidelity of the white
element in the South to the Democratic
party and its intolerance of opposition
have secondary causes in the lingering
fear of a restoration of the negro and car
pet-bag rule, in the poverty of the South
its lack of educational facilities, and in
jealousy of the wealth and prosperity of
the Republican States of the North: but
its chief cause is undoubtedly feeling
that to vote any other than Democratic
ticket is in some sort to condemn the re-
bcllion. The Democratic party upheld
slavery, apologizcd for or openly ,iusti-
fled secession, opposed the coercion of
the rebelliouS States. resisted the cman-
cipation of the slaves and their elevation
to citizenship, and fought all the recon-
struction measures. TO act with that
party is therefore the most natural line
of conduct for all who believe secession
was UNSUITABLE, and hold that the dcstruc-
ton Of slavery and the suppression OF the
rebellion was a triumph of brute force,
and not of right. The political leaders
at the South sedulously stimulate this
feeling, and seek to prevent it from dy-
ing out as time advances. They have
definite purposes in view which can be
accomplished only by pcrpetuating it.
Those purposes We may reasonably sup
pose to be:
First. To obtain the vast power that
attaches to the control of both the legis-
lative and executive departments of the
government. This is not an unreason-
able ambition. and We cannot complain
of it per SC.
Second. To justify the rebellion on
the pages Of history. OF this we in the
North do complain, and against it we do
most earnestly protest. The men who
dragged the South into war cherish an
absorbing and passionate desire to have
their conduct indicated. This can be
done i'll one way only, and that is by the
people putting the government into their
hands. If they can obtain control of the
executive, as they now have of Congress,
by triumphing at Presidential election,
they think that history will be rewritten,
and that the whole world will say, The
Americans were wrong in fighting down
secession: the same generation which
taken a sober second thought, and sees
its error, and low it makes amends by
placing the Southern leaders in power
Third. To wipe ont in the public mind
every distinction between loyalty and
disloyalty so far as the terms refer to the
behavior of men during the war. and to
make it recognized as just rs great an
honor to have fought on one side as on
the other. This involves the pensioning
of rebel soldiers. their admission to the
national asylums. and the repeal of the
laws which keep them out of the regular
army. There is nothing inconsistent or
unreasonable in this purpose from Il
Southern point of view. If an eN-Con-
federate general can sit in Congress and
make laws. why should not his comrade
command regiment or draw a pension
for his wounds?
Fourth. To re-establisll the State SOW
ereignty theory as the orthodox constitu-
tional Interpretation. To accomplish this
object the Supreme Court must be recon-
structed by law retiring several of the
old judges, and charging the tribunal
through the appointment by 4 Demo-
cratic President of new Democratic judges
enough to make majority with the two
already on the bench This scheme will
be perfectly practicable if the Democrats
can hold Congress and secure the eXccu-
tive
Fifth. To repeal all laws authorizing
the government to supervise elections, in
order that the negro vote may be handled
by the whites of the South without i'll
reference. BY p"ll-taN qualifications and
ingenious restrictions of State law, this
vote will be practically wiped out, as far
as its power to carry elections is con-
cerncd.
Sixth. TO offset the growth Of the
Northwest by making three States Of
Texas and annexing Cuba and part Of
Mexico, SO rs to gain for the South a
reinforcement of political power.
1t may be said that these purposes arc
not avowed in the speeches of Southern
statesmen. or the editorials of Southern
newspapers, with the exception of few
frantic sheets of merely local Importance.
No one who has lived i'll the South, or
travelled much there, with advantages
for mingling in the social life of the peo-
pie, will, however. deny that they arc
very generally entertained; and if any
one who is wholly strange to that sec
ton will reflect for Il moment, he will
see that it is entirely natural that they
should be entertained. Is it an unreal
Sonable ambition-can we even call it an
unworthy ambition-in the men who
threw themselves with heart and hand
into the rebellion to desire to Justify Il
cause for which thousands of their brave
comrades lost their lives? Is it strange
that they should want history rewritten.
50 as to sanction their theories and wash
from their conduct the stain of treason ,
Is it to be wondered ut that they should
strive to remove from the national stat
ute books the distinctions made between
the men who fought for the South and
those who fought for the Uniono Ought
We to be surprised that. believing negro
suffrage TO be an evil, they should seek
to remove the protecting hand of the ma
ton. and place its control with them
selves in their own States? Can we as
much as say they arc visionary, and are
reaching ont after the impraetiaahle,
when we see how successful they have
been in soliilily ing their own section, and
realize that nothing is wanting to their
full triumph but a Democratic victory in
the States OF New York and Indiana mex t
falla
Apart from political ambition. the pas
sionate desire to Justify the rebellion, and