Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-18
"Pbvs,cian. Heal Thvself >,


Certain Northern journals, chief
among which is the New York Times,
profess great anxiety for the growth of
liberalism" at the South, but confess
that the signs for such are not at all pro-
pitious. No doubt the journals afore-
said would like to see IRepublicanism-
for that is what they mean by liberal
ism"-on a better footing in this section,
but they labor under the delusion, or are
hypocritical enough to try and make it
appear, that the Southern section of the
grand old party" contains within itself
any elements of responsibility, as that
term is understood both at the North and
at the South. Were such the case, the
arguments of the Northern journals
would possess a weight. AS matters stand
here, however, their preaching is either
dTeary cant or willful misrepresentation.
The record of Radical supremacy in
the South is matter of history, and the
contrast that Democratic ascendancy al
fords is too striking to be. gainsaid by
all the cant and sophistry that the Radl-
cal press can employ. At the North
neighbors may differ, and differ honestly
in politics, but one is the equal of the
other, and both rate the unintelligent at
their true value. Yet it is a favorite
dictum of the Radical press that
the welfare of a community, not
to speak of that OF the
county at large, cannot be trusted to the
Democracy. If this is sound doctrine IN
the North, it certainly does not hold
good in the South, for the premises have
been established by experience, and the
conclusion is inevitable, that Republican
supremacy here is synonymous with an
archy and bankruptcy.
What would be the state of affairs here
if Radicalism should purify itself of its
sins, curtail its revolutionary zeal, and
thus secure the support of such men at
the South as are Democrats now not
perhaps from choice but necessity, is
matter of speculation It is possible
that Republicanism would then be-
come respectable even here, and
the negro vote would probably be
divided between the two parties much
more evenly than at present. But our
people have looked in vain for such a
new departure on the part of the Radical
managers. True, journals like the Times
war now and then on corrupt members
of their own party on account OF matters
mainly of local concern, but whether the
bosses are rebuked or not. the Radical
majority in Congress stands ever ready
to malign and ill-treat this section, and
the Radical press is a unit in firing its
zeal and applauding its works.
Political sentiment at the South can
only be changed by the publication of
Radicalism, or the substitution for it of a
political creed that is free from the dan
gerous tenets dear to every true Radical
heart The people of this section are too
sensible, and haye been tried too sorely,
to accord approval to political faith of
which Grantism, Capitalization, carpet
bagism and Mahoneism are the legitimate
outcome. They can only be converted
by appeals to reason, and there is nothing
rational in the Radical programme
sketched out for the South. The people
of the two sections may assimilate. but
they can never be more agreed as to the
merits of Radicalism than they are at
present
We commend, therefore, to our
Republican contemporaries the duty
of reforming the grand
old party" or devising something better
to take its place. Until the shriekers for
the liberalization" of the South display
an appreciable consistency in the matter
of liberalizing public thought through
out the country, and dispense with geo.
graphical limits in calculating their
views, we must accept their deliverances
as the shallowest hypocrisy. Human ma
ture is much the same the world over,
and new departure is wont to be sub
iected to the test, will it pay2" The
liberalization" of the South is simply
old scalawagism and Radicalism labelled
anew. Decidedly, it will not pay.