Smyrna times., 1880-05-12
For the Smyrna Times.
The Negro and the Southern Idea.
BY REV. T. o. AYRES.

What ideaS are, and how and from whence
they come, are questions that are hard to
answer. They have history that may be
traced back along-the track of sacred and
prefane history, until the roads pierce the
darkness of doubt, and the traveller looses
his way in the wilderness of confusion.
If we say that ideas are the result of
education, then education must be their
origin which cannot be the fact, because
education is the result Of the teaching of
ideas. Ii we 20 step farther and say that
ideas come from God, then we shall lie at
some loss to account for the fact that there
is and always has heVn II war Of ideas. We
might follow the olf path and say that all
ideas are in pairs, and that half are GOOD
and came from God and that the other
half are evil and came from the Devil; but
on this line it is not possible to tell the
Divine origin and the Satanic origin.
Any way ideas are here and they came to
stay. They cannot he killed; they may
be pruned, cut down, grubed up, but in
some form or other, they will come again.
He who will follow this thought through
history will find that there is one set of
i1eas that have worn the national costumes
of all nations.
They fought with Moses and Joshua, with
| Cyrus, with the Greeks, with the Europeans
| and in America.
Ideas cannot be killed. The only way to
manage an idea is to keep it weak by
| keeping it in the minority. We can carry
blood taints with but little Inconvenience pro
vide we keep up our general health, but
when we become enfeabled then the innate
enemy rises up and Stays US. So ofideas, ifone
iskept strong and the other weak then there
| is but little trouble, but when they become
about equal in strength, then it is that pens
shed ink and swords shed blood
The southern idea is an old one From
whence it came, is a question we will not
discuss in this place and connection, be-
cause our objective point lies in ANOTHER
direction. We feel perfectly safe in saying
that it is coeval with man, and has shown
itself whenever and wherever man has
shown himself. The cardinal ideas in gov
ernmeAt are three, Democratic, Aristo
cratic and MOnarchical. The first is
government 'of the people, by the people
and for the people," The second is a gov
erning of the people, by a favored few
who, sure Of their great ability, perpetual,
their reign. The third is the governing o
the people by strength or one man power
These three we say are the cardinal point
in the governmental idea. Two of thes,
ideas, the Democratic and the Aristocratic
came into this country at an early date il
its modern history. The Democratic ide
settled in the North and found friends il
such men as Roger Williams. The Aristo
cratic idea settled in the South, and "cabin
in the woods were the castles of squire
and barons." The two ideas lived an,
worked until they became great powers
then it was that the shedding Of ink bega
and ended in the shedding of blood, and tn
defeat Of the Aristocratic idea, so that tn
| Democratic idea Is left in the majority fo
the present.
These two ideas like all others have the
good and bad tendency. The Aristocrati
idea tends to the oppression of the poo
and the enslaving OF the ignorant. Th
| Democratic idea tends to communism, th
destruction Of property, and the oppre
sion of rich. The ground of safety lies
pruning the three ideas and the retainin
Of the better parts and using them in a r
public, as such was the end sought by OIL
fathers.
There are three causes Of war: Person
abuse; business inference and sympatf
for the oppressed.
In our late trouble it was sympathy th
caused interference, interference cause
and the war freed the slaves, and mac
them citizens and gave them the ballC
The result of enfranchising the negro W
an effort to rule wisdom by ignorance ar
power by weakness. A thing that cann
be done long at time. The result of IL
trial at the South was just what itwould ha'
been at the North, if the trial had bee
made there. So long as the negro cont
= ues poor, and ignorant and holds the votii
majority Of the South, just so long he W
10 suffer there. The white men Of abili
hold the Aristocratic idea, and they W
work it to their own advancement and
the negroes defeat.
We are not ignorant of the fact tn
many of the finest minds in the nation a
at work on this great question. When '
read their productions we see how d
monds can and do cut diamonds. stro
man can make o case out Of anything.
our judgment, the negroes hope lies in o
Of two directions: education and proper
or emigration. If he stays in the Sou
psor and ignorant he is sure to suffi
Should they prove themselves able to c
tain high learning and acquire proper
then the political problem to be solved
one upon which the history of the pi
throws but little light.
a. The war took the negro from under
uw lash of the slave master, and put him und
40 the lash Of the political master, and he
10 10 about as helpless in the hands of the seco
az as he was in the hands of the first. T
No Sn blessed teaching of Christ would save I
icy negro, but the political bible contains
ON salvation for the black man. If the phi
he he anthropist would save the negro he b
yer better take him out of polatics. We
sst oa not mean that the negro should be
ad- franchsed, but that he should be distri
pri, ted until he is voting minority, and I'll
ress De he will hold, not The power, but The bGla
Fly of power, then his vote would bring
friends and protection. The step for
South to take is to get clear of the ne
az voting majority, and supply his pl
:. with Northern men who would take w
- them their demscratic idea, which in ii
- would modify the sFistocratic idea and {
on On to the South better politics.
ent. -----sss---------
sa6 sats The hardest working men and won
nish are these who do the working and pls
ads; ing; and they are few, FOR most pso
sx@ consider geosnd hand goods the cheap