The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-06-12

west VIII soon DE Setlieu clear out TO the
verge Of the great central plateau, which
from its elevation and lack of rain is not
fitted for cultivation. Thousands of
square miles will be filled up by the re.
markable emigration from Europe which
has begun this Spring. When there be
gins to be 4 scarcity of government land
for free homesteads beyond the Missis-
sippi, the migratory current will set to-
wards the South, where there is an inn
mensc quantity of worn out and aban-
doned lands that can be brought up by
skilliul treatment to a condition for pro-
iitable culture, and still larger quantity
of forest land. not good enough for
Southern methods of tillage, but capable
of supporting careful German and Eng
lish farmers. The Objectionable features
i'll the political and social condition of
the South are not serious enough OF
themselves to act as an absolute barrier
to immigration, when that section be-
comes the only portion of the country
where cheap land can be obtained.
The chief danger apprehended by
thoughtful men outside of the whirlpool
of politics from the present attitude OF
the South lies in a disputed result of the
approaching Presidential election. How
close the country was brought to the
abyss of civil war in the Winter of 1876
IL, few people who We're not i'll Washing
ton at the time fully realize. Then the
Southern delegation in Congress was not
nearly as strong in numbers or leader
ship as it is now: then it controlled but
one llouse,-now it has both. The al
most universal belief of the Southern
leaders is that Mr.. Tilden was elected in
1876, and was defrauded of his Just
rights; and they are strongly disposed to
apply the le,r talionis next Winter, and
count out the Republican candidate
They often say to Republicans, "You
cheated us out Of the Presidency before,
and We mean to get even with you this
eiihS' -hilSi "''itn VIC VIII Cls uultS. dIltt
agree to fair elections and fair count. -
But if the Republican nominee should
be elected and Congress should reject
the returns from one OF two Republican
States on some technicality or some
groundless charge of fraud. and attempt
to inaugurate his opponent, the peace of
the country would be placed in the
gravest peril. This danger once passed.
we may look to the influences of time.
softening the bitterness remaining from
the rebellion, the removal by death OF
most Of the prominent actors i'll that
struggle, the spread of Northern enter
prise and ideas, and the effects of immi-
grafton to bring about more healthful
condition of politics in the South.
If one regards the Southern situation
without the green glasses of partisanship
and sectional feeling, lie will see nothing
to occasion surprise, or to arouse ami
mostly. No people of intelligence and
spirit ever submitted to Il crushing de-
feat after Il long war without displaying
as much discomfort and bitterness as the
Southern people have displayed. No
people ever had such difficult people to
contend with. They came out of the
rebellion broken and impoverished, with
their labor system suddenly and arbi-
trarily changed, their slaves made their
equals before the law by decree of the
government against which they had vain
ly fought, and with the heavy load of the
barbarizing influences of slavery to carry
i'll their struggle for existence. An iy-
norant mass Of blacks, and an equally
ignorant and far more brutal mass OF
population in the Southern States. We
ought not to forget that the people who
compose the intelligent classes are of our
own blood and lineage, and that their
faults grow naturally out of the expert
ences. their inherited ideas, and the
many clogs the past has put upon them.
1t may take u long time for them to at
tain to that tolerance which is one Of the
finest fruits of a high civilization. Mean
while, we must have patience and lend
helpful hand. We are not called upon.
however, 10 matter how broad our char
ity and how deep our sympathy may be,
to shut our eyes and fold our hands
while our Southern brethren try to drag
the nation down from the heights of lib
erty and law it has climbed to during
the past twenty years, with So much
travail of thought and conscience, and
such an appalling expenditure of pre-
cious human blood.