The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-10-07

is to be found by reverting to the history
of parties in this country. In the con
vention which framed our present
Constitution the lines which still separate
the two great parties were sharply
drawn. On the one side were the adyo'
Yates of strong governmenEthe
rallyirg cry of the Republicans ofto.day
while OH the other were those who
urged the establishment of government
Of the people for the people and by the
people. Party names have changed
since those days, but the great antago:
nistic principles which struggled
for supremacy then still live in the
Republican and Democratic parties.
The former party still .gravitates-to
use phrase of its Presidential nominee
towards strong government-towards
csutralization, while the latter advocates
the ancient Democratic doctrine, a strict
construction of the Constitution, conced-
ing to the General Government all its
legitimate powers, while securing to the
several States all powers not delegated
by them to the general and common
Government. In the long contest
between these antagonistic and contend
ing principles the South las been
steadily and almost invariably found on
the side of the Democracy. Her vote in
Presidential contests has more than once
been cast against her own honored sons
because they were not Democrats, and
she has cordially supported Northern
men because they were. All the politi-
cal training of her people, all the tradi,
tions, all their instincts and all their
interests led them to be Democrats.
They were such by inheritance. In the
old division of parties into Whig and
Democrat minority of the Southern
people, strong by virtue of the intelli-
gence, their zeal and their patriotism,
was found in the ranks of the former.
But when the Whig party of the North
merged into the Free.soil party, when
sectionalism unhappily took the place of
politics, the Wings of the South were
forced by the instinct of self-preservation
to enroll themselves in the Democratic
party, or at least to act with that party.
The South was thus again made solid for
Democracy by that fell spirit of section
alism which has brought such unuttera.
bic sorrow upon ourcountry, and which,
if not efectually rebuked, will bring still
further misery and ruin. When the war
came all party lines were forgotten in
the South as in the North. Whig and
Democrat, Union man and Secessionist
were all alike drawn into the vast whirl.
pool and again was the South forced into
solidity for self.protection. I am simply
stating historical facts, not expressing
any opinion on them, but leaving their
discussion to the philosophic students of
history.
Following the order of events, what
was the condition of political opinion in
the South when the war ended? 1t is
;undeniable that there was then great
soreness felt by the Southern people to-
wards the Northern Democrats. We had
seen them fighting for the preservation
of the Union as earnestly and steadfastly
as the Republicans. We had seen them
offering their treasures and their lives as
freely as those who had been their most
bitter political enemies. and there was at
that time but little disposition among
the Southern people to renew old party
ties. tits avery significant fact confirm
atory of this view. that in nearly every
Southern State at the first election of
members of Congress held after the war,
pronounced Union men or old line Wings
were elected as representatives. My own
State furnishes. q striking illustration of
this fact, There the distinguished and
venerable B. F. Perry, who had opposed
secession to the last, and who had always
been recognized as Union man, was
elected to Congress, and James L. Orr,
another strong opponent of secession, was
chozen by the people Governor of the
State. This action on tho part of the
Southern people certainly did not mani
fest spirit Of stubborn or malignant op.
position to the inevitable consequences
of defeat. It rather showed disposition
on their part to accept in good faith all
those consequences, and an honest and
honorable effort to conciliate those who
had fought successfully to preserve the
Union. This effort, sincere and patrio .ic
as I firmly believe it to have been, was
destined to fail, and its failure was due
solely to the Republican party. This
party had absolute control of the govern
ment in all of its departments, and if it's
patriotism had been rs enlarged as its
power the country would have been
spared the shame Of the reconstruction
acts. shall not speak of these acts, for
st is not my desire to awaken the sad
and bitter memories connected with them.
They have passed into our history, filling
one of its darkest pages, and in the good
providence of God they have recoiled up.
on those who conceived them. The wea-
pons intended for our destruction have
been against those who forged them.
The action of the Republicans when the
Southern members Of Congress presented
themselves for admission is fresh in the
memory of all men. Our representatives,
we're ANONYMOUSLY thrust from the seats
10 which they had been invited and to
which they had been legally elected.
While war was fragrant, Congress with
singular unanimity and in the most SOL
emu manner declared that it was not
waged for the conquest or subjugation of
the South, but for the preservation of the
Union, with the rights, liberties and
equality of all the States unimpaired.
Time and again during the war had the
Southern people been assured in most
authoritative manner that their States
were still in the Union, and that no State
had the right or power to leave it. But
when the Confederate armies surrendered
we we're told contemtuously by the Re-
publicans that those great States, several
ofwhtch aided in no small degree to form
that Union, had been obliterated from
the map of the great Republic, and that
they we're but conquered provinces, to be
ruled by military satraps. Some philos-
opher, with equal wit and wisdom, has
declared that there is great deal of hu-
man nature in mankind, and recognizing
the truth of this maxim, YOU can scarcely