The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-01-15

to bind this American Samson.
What form the constitution would have
taken had the fathers known as much ol
natural law as is now known it Is I'M
possible to say, but it may we'll be be-
Ffieyed that it would never, even in the
eyes of the minority, hsye assumed the
aspect of "sacred instrument" or have
been regarded as the embodiment of hui
man wisdom. Certain it is that with the
lights before us no one will ever again
commit the folly of framing a structure
on the American plan, circumference
in which there are forty odd centres, 9
congeries of sovereignties all equal, and
each superior to the central authority, a
body polite with some dozens of nerve
centres, each claiming to be supreme.
No, that will not be tried second time.
Familiar with the lessons of ancient his
tory, reinforced by the teachings of sci
ence and freshened by the uni6cation in
our own day of Italy and the formation
under our very eyes of the German en-
pire, thinking men recognize centraliza'
ton in America not merely as inevitable
in the future, but to all intents q thing
accomplished and the question for the
South is, shall we accept Capitalization,
cooperate with it and accepts its benefits,
such as they are, or shall We be crushed
by it?
Sanguine men will still hope, idealists
and patriots will still preach the beauty
and the holiness of sacrifice; but those OF
a practical turn will contend that it is
high time some other section should
throw itself under the car of Juggernaut.
NAY, as q block inserted under screw
enables it to accomplish still further
pressure, the South, there is good reason
to believe, by It's continued opposition,
furnished precisely the block that is
needed to perfect the oppression of the
sections which have not yet felt the
pressure of the screw: And as tree Is
brokenb by the weight Of two much fruit,
the destruction of the Republican party
may be precipitated by the South's join.
ing it. en- ndsse. In no other way could
its destruction be go certain and com.
plete. But this is asking too much.
Large bodies move slowly, and to expect
the whole South to go boldly over to the
party which for so many years has been
to it the synonym. of hatred and oppres-
sion Is visionary in the extreme. Grant
it. This brings us to the third term.
If, as seems likely, Gen. Grant will
run as no-party candidate; il, as seems
certain, he will be opposed by the stall
warts of the Blaine school, one great OBJ.
stacle ITO the South's joining the Repub.
,licsn. party, ito the extent at least OF
voting for Grant will be removed
Elected by the whole people, he can but
be- the President of the whole people,
Just as when elected by the Republicans
Ee was necessarily a party President, tor
the bubble cannot lift itself from the
wave to which it owes its being and
which throws its aloft. On the other
hand, suppose the South, the white
South, holds aloof or squanders its vote
in romantic fashion, as it has too often
done, on some democrat who cannot be
elected, or if elected is too timid to hold
what has been thrust into his hand =
what then? 1t would be indeed sub
lime thing in General Grant to rise above
himself and his party and turn his face
with grand impartiality to all sections
but would he do it-could he2 Is it in
humaninature? Let the past answer.
Time was when I believed that the
election of. General Grant for third
term would be fatal to the peace of the
country that no American could cross
this Rubicon without intent to assume,
and quickly, too, the purple robe Of en-
pire j; a step that would, beyond all doubt,
bring war-not from the South, which
has had too much war, but from the Ger
mans and the Irish who fed hither not
to witness in silence any such nonsense,
any such dashing of their hopes as that.
And the third term may be fatal-it as
suredly will if the South and the West
rise up in revolt. In that event, the ap-
peal to the sword would insure the EN-.
pire. even to the extent of its forms and
titles; not, perhaps, of dukes and princes,
but titles less distasteful to American
ears, yet none the less imposing. But
with the standing menace of German and
Irish hostility to the trappings of en-
.pire. with q Democratic House and SEN
ate, a to say nothing of the opposition of
his own party leaders, the attitude of
General Grant would, of necessity, be
cautious and even friendly to all sec
tions. There would be no motive for
him to act otherwise. A native of the
West. nominated for a third term in
Chicago, sustained by the wealth and
intallipence of the East, endorsed by
both races at the South, especially By the
er- Confederate officers and soldiers, the
measure of his ambition full to overflow
ing, he would be a monster indeed were
he to attempt to oppress any portion OF
his people. And if he rule wisely and
Justly during his third term, sohy not a
fourth, and, if need be, .fifth3 No
longer the choice of party or a section,
he could not be what we of the South
suppose him to have been in the past
the slave of party and of section. This
would not and could not be true of
Blaine or Sherman, his only formidable
opponents, who live, move and have
their being by party and BY party alone.
IF this reasoning be correct, the third
term is shorn of its terrors. But need
there be such term2 Have things come
to such pass that the South, the whole
country in fact, is compelled once more
to trust man who but four years ago
left the Presidential chair distrusted by
the North, feared and hated by the
South? The question is answered by re-
cent events in Virginia. Previous to the
late election here there was, atleast there
seemed to be, a chance for the Demo-
cratic candidate in 1880. Now there is
absolutely none. The Conservative
party can never be united again. Vir-
giuia will go for Grant by much larger
majority than she gave in the Greeley
campaign. The negroes to man are for
Grant. So at heart are the Federal
oficeholders and the better class of Re-
publicans. The leader of the negroes in
the late State election cannot desert them
now; they will not allow him to play
fast and loose in that fashion. Malone
aud the whites who agree with him will
be compelled to support Grant under
nena1tv of losing the negro vote hereaf-