Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-30
The South and Democracy.

leaders and efficient organization in many
of the Southern States to place the dis
affected in control of affairs, and North
Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana
and Georgia, especially, were declared to
be promising fields for preaching the Cos
pei of Independentism. Fortunately,
however, little has thus far been done in
any of these States to excite a revolt
against the dominant party save
in Georgia, and the attempt made
here, though thoroughly advertised and
supported by the approval of the ad-
ministration and the Radical press, has
proven a dismal failure. There is not a
man in Georgia capable of leading re-
volt who could now be induced to head
it, nor does the political condition of the
old commonwealth afford the slightest
opportunity for a movement of this
kind. The same is also true in the main
as to the other States selected in which
to direct the assault on "Bourbonism, d"
for of these States Tennessee, which
seemed to offer the most hopeful condi-
tions, has, by the passage of her last
debt bill, removed the strongest support
upon which the promoters of such a
movement relied.
The replies elected from Southern edi-
tors to questions propounded by the
New York Times, which we publish this
morning, should convince the President
and the Radical party in general that
"Bourbonism," so-called, is for the pres
ent the political faith of the South, and
is likely to continue so as long as Radi-
calism maintains the attitude it has thus
far assumed towards the Southern peo-
pie. For the South to turn from De-
mOcracy after achieving such great re-
suits under its sway, would be the veriest
folly. And it may be stated as a self
evident fact that until Radicalism can
instead of soreheads and demagogues-
number among its leaders in the South
men as respectable as those that lead it
in the North, it can have no footing in
this section.
Whatever President Garfield might
have been able to accomplish from the
success of the policy he was understood
to have framed, or from the gratitude of
the Southern people for the warm sym
pathy that went out to him from every
Southern home, his successor has chosen
a line of conduct that can win for him
neither the respect nor support of the
South. True, he ignored the so-called
Southern question in his first message to
Congress, and in another urged Federal
aid for the improvement of the Missis-
sippi river. Reference TO the
negro question at this late
day, however, would have been
simply gratuitous, while the Mississippi
improvement is a national work. How
ever the President might have felt for
the sufferers in the valley, there was
probably as much policy as sympathy in
his recommendation in behalf of that
great water way. In the disposal OF
Federal patronage in the South he is
regardless of the best interests of the
people. His Attorney General has
shown himself to be as rabid as any of
Grants henchmen, and as ready a tool of
party as any of his Radical predecessors.
1t is very evident, therefore, that the
solidity of the South cannot be broken
by Mr.. Arthur's methods. True, Vir-
ginia is under the rod of Malone, but
Mahoneism, as it now reveals itself,
could never have gotten a foothold in
the Old Dominion, and the structure that
Malone has reared is falling to pieces
and he will yet be buried under its ruins.
If Republican supremacy is necessary
for the welfare and goo1 order of the
North, as Radical organs stoutly main
tain, then even more so is Democratic
ascendancy requisite for the well-being
and prosperity of the South. In the
North the white race is dominant, and
there is a choice of parties. In the South
the choice is between intelligence or
ignorance, and the Democracy consti-
tutes the intelligence which should and
will direct the conduct of affairs.
In the days when Radicalism was in
control in the South, ignorance, sup
ported by Federal bayonets, ran riot in
our legislative halls, and subjected our
society to every humiliation. Intelli-
gence in time, as it always will,
asserted itself, and the South, after
costly sacrifices and years OF
disagreement, presents to-day a
spectacle which commands the
admiration of the world. Radicalism
well nigh wrought her ruin. Democracy
has brought her out Of the poverty and
humiliation to which she was reduced,
and placed her on the high road to wealth
and power. Did she wish to turn her
back on her preserver, the memories of
the tyranny and misery to which she was
subjected are yet too fresh to allow her
to forget her debt of gratitude.
While in every Southern State the in
telligent masses may differ as to matters
of local interest, on national issues self
preservation requires and will command
unwavering allegiance to the principles
of the Democracy. When Radicalism
shall have given place to political creed
less dangerous and destructive in its ten
denotes and practices, then and not till
then, can the Southern people be ex-
pected even to listen to a proposition to
change their political allegiance and their
present political convictions,
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Reviewing the present situation and
future prospects Of the crops, contem-
porarY is led to the conclusion that the
prospects continue favorable, notwith-