The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-03-10
THE REASONABLE WAY OF PRO
CEEDING.

ut dHttItCNH 10 attempting 10
throw light on the Southern ques-
ton for its Northern Republican
leaders, by appealing to leading
Southern men to present through its
columns their political views. THIS
is a most commendable effort, and il
is hoped that others than exparte
statements, thus began in Republi-
can organ, viii be repeated and
given credit, and that the people OF
the North will, after awhile, learn
truth, and force their political lead
ers to stop this everlasting appeal to
sectional passion, and the keeping
alive of race prejudice. The 4meri-
can of February &c, contains long
letters from Senator Butler and
Congressman Richardson, Conner
and Mackey Republican contestant
of South Carolina. Senator Butler
says:
"Whatever there is OF that period
painful or disagreeable to think of,
the Southern people want to forget,
and turn their faces to the future
That future will be marvellously
bright one, ifthe people ofthe South
are true TO themselves, and L believe
they will be. The first thing they
want from the President elect is to
appoint reputable. honest, upright
men to the Federal Offices in the
South-men who are patriotic, who
love their whole country-men who
will not array the negro on solid
race lines against the whites i'll polit-
zeal canvass-men who will not APP
peal 10 the negrQ's passions, preju-
dices. fears, but to his reason, intel
ligence and manhood, and will not
advise him to vote for bad, dishon-
est, incompetent men to office, and
mislead and deceive him.
You ask me what the South ex-
poets from the Northern politicians,
the Republican party and the presi-
dent-elect!" She expects very little.
Her expectations are not very great.
She is just as able to take care of
herself as any other section of the
Union-quite as able and willing.
Her population is not homogeneous.
Her position has been and is difficult,
anomalous. abnormal. Four mil
lions of frcshly-emancipated, en-
franchised, citizeRized slaves were
poured out upon her suddenly,
whilst she was unprepared, exhaust
al .iCl ri,
came the carpet-bagger and camp
follower, to make confusion worse
COMPOUNDED, "-and right well did
they succeed. How could you eX-
pect the same degree of social order,
law, forbearance, to prevail in COM
munity like this, as in community
where the population was homOge-
neous--with no newly entranchised
slaves. no upheaval of social cOndi-
tions? 1t was folly TO have expect
ed it: and yet the Republican party
did expect il, and made L alters
worse by a faulty diagnosis of the
trouble and clumsy interference.
If The Southern people had been
left to themselves, they would have
brought order out of this chaos
much more promptly. Mistakes
would have been made. Mistakes
were made,-grievOus mistakes.
Nevertheless, those mistakes would
have been corrected-would have
corrected themselves. Wrongs
against the negro would have been
committed, wrongs were commit
ted,-but they. too, would have been
remedicd. and the Southern prob
lem much more satisfactorily
solved, if they had been let alone,
and the people of that section much
more etl'ectually brought into ready
adaptation 10 the new order Fittings.
But that was not done, and we must
now deal with the present and flu
ture. The errors of the past ought
to be put behind us and forgotten,
except so far as a recollection of
them may serve to guard us against
repeating tfTuIIr. ---
The white people of. the South are,
l believe, sincerely DESTROYS of car
rying out i'll letter and spirit the
fourteenth and fifteenth amend
ments of the Constitution, as they
are of every other provision of that
instrument. They are as much de-
voted to its principles as the people
of this country. but they cannot
subordinate their wives and chill
dren. and what little is left of their
property, to the domination of ig-
norance and vice. They cannot give
up the Caucasian civilization again
for that of the African, any more
than can the white people of the Pa
cific coast surrender the Caucasian
supremacy to the domination of the
Chinaman. 1t is unnatural to ex-
pect 1t, and the people of the North
ought not to expect ii.
The fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments can be enforced in the
South without q jar or cross, if the
Northern people will take a practi-
cal view of the Southern situation.
That they have never done. They
have dealt in abstraction and have
made the mistake of endeavOring to
apply literally and at once to heter-
ogeneous mass ofpopulation PROPOSE
tions ofgovernmcnt very practicable
to homogeneous people, but Who'll
ly unsuited to the suddenly manuf;lc-
tured m8ss of citizens. untutored ,un-
informed, uneducated and unaccus-
toned to our forms of government.
It would not work practically at the
North any more than at the South.
Time, patience, forbearance, justice,
firmness and education will bring all
things right, and, in the meantime,
social order will be presented, life
and property protected, and peace
prevail.