The Portland daily press., 1880-08-19
Cincinnati Commercially
Shall We Surrender to the Solid
South?


Tho Solid South is the reorganized Southern
Confederacy. Slavery has disappeared. In
its place are claims for damages done during
the war, and demand for the expt tnditure of
the money of the nation in local jobs. We
have the same old pretentions on the part of
the Southern politicians, that they are by
divine right the rulers of this country.
They do not seem to understand that they
got the worst of the war. If they had been
conquerors they could not have assumed more
duties in connection with the general govern
ment than they charge themselves withai. If
thousands had been hanged, and tens of thous-
ands had their estates confscated, the bitter
ness of resentment could hardly have been
creator than it is. The magnanimity with
which they have been treated, and which all
the rest of the world recognizes as remarkable.
they do not appreciate.
They have the same old craze to boss the
whole country that they had when Bill Eng
lish gave his name to scheme to swindle and
bribe the people of Kansas to consent to the
adoption of fraudulent constitution making
slave State-the meanest attempt ever made to
extend slavery. Having subiugated the ma
iority Of the constitutional voters in Missis-
sippi and other Southern States, and thus Sc
cured a solid basis of operations, they demand
in the name of the pacifcation of the country
the submission Of the North, and act upon the
presumption that their sectionalism alone is
true nationality.
Having before the war, with the aid of Bill
English, attempted the naturalization of sla-
very, they now seek in his name and that Of
the first of the Union generals to yield the
legitimate results of the war, to convert the
States that sustained the Union into the politi-
cal provinces of the solid South. In this they
have the aid of the Democratic party. With
the solid South wherein the Republican party
is terrorized out of existence, and the Pocket
| of Indiana where imported voters are well
| coined and made current, and the European
city of New York with its surroundings, there
| is a party snatching for power, irrespective Of
public policy or opinion, defying all enlighten-
| ment, representing the resentments of the
South and the greed of the outs in the North.
This is, we confess, combination that does
| not command our confidence.
The latest news from Alabama shows how
| complete the Southern arrangements are to
make good the pledge of Wade Hampton that
the South should give 1873 electoral votes fol
| Hancock and English in vindication of the
| Robert f. Lee fought.
| The desperate attempt to overcome the Re-
publican majority in Maine, by forgery and
every form Of fraud, displays the style in which
Presidency The ding dong about fraud in
| 1876, with pomp OF assertion that such a
| thing must not occur again, signifies that it is
the purpose of the Democratic party to reap
the reward Of such elections as that in Ala
| bama and swindles like that in Maine, at all
hazards. They will have no more Electoral
| Commissions or any form Of arbitration. They
| propose to judge and decide for themselves.
This is a proclamation that they intend to take
possession of the government after going
through the forms of an election, taking theil
own word for it that they have won it, There
| couldn't be q palmer menace than this. I,
amounts to threat Of civil war, and has the
same place in the controversies Of the day thai
the threat of disunion had before the war.
Having both houses of Congress, certainly
they cannot be cheated. They have beer
much troubled about Returning Boards. They
have the Great Returning Board. Therefore
their threatening is not only insolent, it is gra
tuitous, displaying an irresistible mischief-mak
ing tendency, and portentous development
of evil propensity.
Some good people seem to be of opinion thai
because the leaders of the maiorities in Con
gress have not been as hagrant as they wert
assurances of future good behavior. In truth
however, the evident effort at restraint, anG
partial success display only the discipline o
the party and the strength of the deep pur
poses it has been necessary to disguise, ani
which were once we'll stated by Mr.. Blackburn
of Kentucky, when he said the programme
was to wipe the last vestige of war Legislation
from the statute books. That is to say, tn,
war should go for nothing in the laws Of thu
land, and the inalienable rights of the beatel
to be the bosses should be established.
We have had confidence in the superior
growth of the States Of the North and North
west overcoming the feverish exertions of thu
South to resume mastery, but we are con
fronted by the fact that in several of the South
ern States the census returns have been elabo
rately padded for the purpose of holding thei
proportion Of power in the Electoral College
/ and the houses of Congress, unwisely aug
mented in the process of reconstruction.
Under all these circumstances it seems to u
of infinite consequence that the Republican
should make their victories in the free State
the phrase is as good and true as it ever wa
overwhelming from ocean to ocean. The
can do this, and it is demanded by the highes
considerations for the safety OF the country.