The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-06-02
THE WOMEN IN THE CASE.

The WOMEN IN HE CASE.
An observant journalist who has jus
finished a tour OF the South has added the
results of some acute observation to thu
copious store of facts already coming Il
light He has, in fact, found, or, if not
found stated for the first time, one of the
potencies that rule Southern life and poll
tics This Is the inordInate influence o.
woman, Any one who sets upon this tran
will be apt to recall much that significantly
corrobDrates the fact. When Southern ideas
dominated the government 1t will be re-
membered that they were for the most part
the crystallized piques, caprices and lntu-
Itions Of feminine coterle. This, however,
i a result that attends the close soldering
Of lotteries. Wherever one class Of men
hold power any length Of time the virlle
methods that first enabled them TO grasp it
are always strained and attenuated until
/ edeminacy rules.
What could more strikingly illustrate this
than the last four years of Grant, when the
wives Of the cabinet virtually made and IN
made Ministers, carried out or killed poll
! cies2 1t was Mrs. Grants consuming
| thirst for wealth and show, to put herself
upon a plane with the wives of the million
aires, that gave the Black Friday and San
! Domingo schemes their vitality. 1t is a
singular fact that the influence Of women
! ia affairs of State is never good or pure.
! What Byron said of the sex in love is at
| all events true III politics. Women have,
! in public affairs, no sense Of honor or moral
| responsibility. This may be considered to
! be proven by the study of womans part in
affairs from the Queen of Sheba down to
the Empress Eugene. No wonder, them
that the crude in methods and the doubtful
| in morals remain part of the SouthrOn's
| education. By this is meant the prevalence
| of the duello as the end of an argument
aud the paternaI idea in government as a
pahacea for all ordinary civic ills, for it Is
one OF the broad farces Of the conditions of
parties that the SouthrOn who believes him
self a Jetfersouiau Democrat makes no com
punctious scrupIe against making the gen
erai government paymaster for the local
needs OF the states, a principle as opposed
to real Democracy as nlhlllsm to trlnitar-
ianism.
The Southron is not only governed by his
female surroundings, he is instructed by
them and As the women of the South have
no large facilities for general education the
paucity of large intelligence and general
accomplishments in the men need not sur
prise the student. Women in the South
are gifted, however, very much in the
manner of their French sIsters-they trust
their institutions. They hold to the old
notions of chivalry. Every man is a knight,
consecrated To the devoir Of not one chosen
one, but the whole sex. To him the first
duty is the conquest of beauty; the crown
thus gained he is bound to defend wherever
challenged. Hence the prevalence of the
blood-thirsty code which the better equ-
poise of the North has long ago banished,
through a serious moral sentiment as well
As an inexpugnable ridicule. Women are
moved mostly and powerfully through their
prejudices; their husbands and brothers
Undue these prejudices, and since their
wives and sisters are the ruling voices III
the social system it is their caprice and
prejudice that crop outip the public as well
As the private conduct of the Southron.
Another condition enters for a good deal.
In the North, for example, young boys are
sent off to academies and colleges, where
the narrow spirit of locality and provin-
cialsm is worn ont by constant friction
with diverse elements. The Southron lad
has the benefit of no such wholesome attri-
ton. He goes into political or business life
with his mothers narrowness and prejudi
ces confirmed, iutolerant of an opposition
which seems to call in question the infalli-
bility Of the one being that he loves and
REFERENCES. 1t is this primitive training
which explains the helplessness of the
Southron in politics. Mark how quickly
the well-equipped Northern member COM
bats and pushes to the wall the SOuthron in
debate. Men of half their native force are
able to rout the Southerners on the floor,
simply through the habit they have gained
of looking at questions from many points of
view, while the SouthrOn never sees but
one. When the lads south of Mason and
Dixon 90 to college for education and take
events as the study of their mature years,
instead of home prejudice and maternal in
buttons, there will be less distinction Of
political or social methods in the two sec
tions.-PhiadeIph Times.
EDITORS CLARION: The above article
from the Philadelphia Times excites all the
more Indignation because published editOri-
ally in paper which has been commended
by Southern journals for its independence
and honesty. The article requires but one
perusal to discover its falsehood and incon-
sistency.
To Illustrate the ''inOrdnate influence
of Southern women "when Southern ideas
dominated the government" this truthful
and observant journalist cites the "last four
years of Grant, when the wives of the cabi-
net virtually made and unmade Ministers,
carried out and killed policies" 1t will
surprise the Southern people to know tina
Southern ideas dom inated the government
at any time during the administration Of
Grant as the only elements from the South
which had any influence with the govern
at that time, were unprincipled Northern
carpet-b aggers and ignorant negroes.
If there was any one time IN the history
of this government when the influence of
Southern women was felt at the White
Honse, it was during the administration of
Washington and if George Washington be
a fair sample then would that more men
could reach the Presidency with their
mothers narrowness and prejudices" con-
firmed The article is directed mainly
against women South of Mason and Dixon's
line, and to substantiate the charges therein
made, the conduct of Mrs Grant, and the
Empress Eugene, and the Queen of Sheba.
is cited.
1t is 10 stain upon Southern men aud
boys if they reverence their mothers and
show due courtesy to the fair sex. Defer
ence to women is regarded as mark of good
breeding and one of the best evidences
of a true gentleman, the world over. If
Southern men do regard their mothers
teachings perhaps that is why it is no South
ern mothers son stands upon the lee
ture platform 10 furnish "Some Reasons
Why" God should moi be adored nor relig.
| ion reverenced
Again, Southern women do not seek 10
| control Southern men in political life. 1t
is notable fact that Southern women do
not engage in politics, and that it is from
the North that sll the shreking and clamor
comes about Woman's Rights and Woman's
Suffrage.
| 1t Is With superlatve cheek that North
ern papers sPeas o. the doubtful in morals"
as being part of the Southronis education,
when Northern politicians stand charged be-
| fore the country with the greatest crime
ever perpetrated upon a freq people-the
theft of the Fery Presidency itself. The
| fact is, Southern men inherit from their
mothers, and fathers too for that matter q
Keen sense oil honor, and they are taught
| BY these mothers to regard that honor as
/ further are Southern women responsible for
| the rracfice of dnelling