The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-14
A political humbug of large dimensions

| A political humbug of large dimensions
has suddenly mysteriously disappeared
! Until the disagreement between the presi
dent and Senator Conkling assumed def
mite shape, the solid South as "a NatiOna
| Peril was the favOrite tune of all reliable
| Republican organs. Its variations were
| innumerable and interminable, and 8
stranger from over the sea would have
supposed that a new rebellion had actually
broken out, and that Southern Democrats
Were preparing to butcher Southern Re
publicans and then march upon Washing
ton The administration was urged to take
Immediate steps to secure 1.-The results OF
the war" and the protection Of the blacks
and the punishment of their merciless
oppressors were represented as the first and
most pressing duty Of Mr.. Garfield and his
coadjntors. Whether anything would have
been done in the direction indicated is more
than doubtful, for the administration is not
nearly so stalwart as it might be; but what
ever its intentions the alleged provocation
did not continue long enough to test them.
From the day of Robertson's nomination
nothing has been heard of the National
Peril" 1t is as if it had never been. 1t
has died and left no sign. The attention
it attracted has been transferred to another
matter The interest which SO lately cen
tired in the South is now concentrated in
the North. Every Republican eye is turn
ed toward the federal capital, and every
Republican pen is engaged on one side or
the other of the family quarrel No Re
publican paper seems to know or care
what is going on in the Southern states,
but all Republican papers are well posted
in regard to Robertson's chances, and the
probable effect his confirmation viii have
upon New York politics. We do not be
lieve a first class Southern outrage, invOlv-
ing the murder of a dozen negroes, would
draw Republican thoughts away-except
for the moment-from the Garfield-Conk
ling row.
Now there is d lively moral in this. The
South to-day is precisely what it was six
weeks or six months ago. Southern Demo
Gratis are doing now precisely what they did
then. The relations between whites and
blacks now are precisely what they were
then. The Southern situation has not
changed III the smallest degree for better
or worse. Then why such Indifference on
the part of Republicans? Simply because
the National Peril was an impudent
humbug, trumped up for campaign pur
poses and continued after the election to
force the administration into stalwart &C
ton 1t was dropped just as soon as some
thing TRANSFERRED which threatens Republican
supremacy in an important Northern state.
The Solid South was fine string to harp
upon when harmony reigned in the Re
publican camp, but was quickly forgotten
when discord invaded that camp, giving
Democrats a prospect of victory in New
York next fall. The most powerful Demo
cratic arguments could not have exploded
this humbug as effectually as Republicans
have done it by their present treatment.
They have convinced everybody capable of
conviction that their denunciations of the
Southern Democracy had no foundation in
fact; that there is no National Peril in |
the South except such as is manufactured |
by Republican Imagination, and that the |
only real peril there is in the prejudice and |
passion which Republican slanderers are
liable to arouse. Yet the exploded humbug |
will be revived as soon as the president and |
senator have settled their trouble, or the
novelty Of it has worn off. The Solid South |
is a part of the Republican stock in trade,
and will never be abandoned as long as
there are persons foolish enough to swal
ow Republican lies. But the folly must,
indeed, be incurable that can survive such
/ lesson.-lSt. Louis Republican,.