The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1880-12-01
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ted by some Of those Republican
newspapers that breathlessly claim
the entire legality and honesty Of
the vote of New York, which appar-
emily has conferred the Presidency
upon Mr.. Garfield, that the South
seems kindly disposed to'accept Gar
fields election without dissent
While this may be in a measure,
true, the cause that impels this seem
ing unquestioning acceptance is
founded on a sentiment that the Re.
publicans Of the North fail to com
prehend,
The Southern people, weary with
a contest against dense ignorance Of
themselves and their country, against
organized and systematic malice and
hatred that survive the comings and
goings of generations, against spir-
it Of falsehood and detraction which
springing from the source, and in the
form, it does, is an insolent and Of,
fensive as anything well can be- are
in no mood either to argue the quest
ion or to dissent from the ostensible
verdict of the majority Of the North.
The Republican press and Repub-
lican speakers have not con.ented
themselves with a disdainful reject.
ion of the Southern plea of a patri-
otto interest in the country not less
immediate than that of the noisy
Republican party, but with intolera-
bic insolence they have filled the
Northern eur with slanderous assev-
erations of Interior purposes of the
South, which are as baseless as the
mirage of the desert. They have
pointedly proclaimed, moreover, that
the government belongs to the par
ty that saved it"-meaning, Of course
the Republican party-and that it
were not to be borne that it should
be allowed to pass into the hands Of
those who sought to destroy it,
meaning the South, Upon this plea
they fought the Presidential battle,
and it is we'll that the fact should be
understood. The little tariff lula.
bys, the sing-song appeals concern.
ing business interests, the idle chat
ter regarding Southern claims, might,
and indeed would, have fallen on the
Northern ear with only a passing
meaning and influence but for the
fact that behind these was arrayed
that solid phalanx of falsehoods and
calumnies that were intended to re-
kindle, and which did rekindle, in
the North the atrocious flames of
sectional hatred and distrust. 1t is
in this fact thatlie the true gravity
and the import Of the election, and
it is because The South comprehends
that she must find herself at every
recurring Presidential election oppo.
sed to u stolid, unreasonable and
unreasoning and distrustful MAORI,
ty in the North that she now purpo.
ses to accept the announced result of
that election with Jan equally stolid
indifference.
Whether it would be altogether
well for the'North that this spirit of
Indifference should continue is a
question for that section to decide for
itself, but that it will continue, and
strengthen with time, if the North
ern majority continue to base its
political solidity on distrust aud as.
PERSONS Of the South can not be
doubted.
Of what use, indeed, hereafter, in
tho South, The turmoil, the excite
ments and the anxieties of a Prcsi-
dental election, when it is known
in advance that the Northern MAORI
ty-a sort of s to 7 decision on vast
scale-is carefully prearranged to
overcome the Southern minority?
Why should the South participate
in contest in which the Northern
majority owes all its life and hopes
to tho fact that the South therein
presents herself as principal factor
and agent?
five understand the feeling of the
South in this matter, the aspect of
affairs four years hence will be mate.
rally changed. If Mr.. Garfield be
finally declared the duly elected Pres
idant, surrounded by the spoils and
emoluments Of Office which accompa-