The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-02-22
WELLINGTON, LoRAIN COUNTY OHIO, FEBRUARY p 1882
Davis and the South.

Z" History is philosophy, teaching by
example," and one of1its manifest les
sons is the danger of extensive territory
to the integrity of q republic. When
Rome had conquered the world, she
discovered that even the consolidated
character of its Republic was incom-
petent to control the magnificent dis
tances of her territory, and under the
influence of private ambition and pub
lie corruption, her Government became
concentrated into a single imperial
hand. That was not the day of the
telegraph and railroad with a net work
of iron nerves. easily connecting the
uttermost ends of a continent with the
central administration. and, therefore.
-theparaHel with our Government does
not exactly obtain. But in one partieu-
lar does similarity exist, The especial
defect of such an enlarged jurisdiction
is the necessary ignorance Of one part
OF the country concerning the habits
and ideas OF another. Engrossed with
their immediate interests and enter
prises, the people have little time to
consider the sentiments or prejudices
of those who live hundreds-or, as with
us, thousands-of miles away, and are
surprised to discover upon some unex-
Pected occasion that they know SO lit
tie OF each other. This was entirely
exemplified in our late struggle, and
we find further evidence in q leading
editorial of the Philadelphia Enquirer,
commenting on the recent speech of
the ex-President of the rebel Confed-
eracy. That paper quotes these words
of Davis: 80 if4r 'al
The cause of secession is not lost, but only
sleeping; You have done your duty in the
Past, and may God spare you 20 do 1t In the
ruture should ever the necessity again arise.
The Enquirer makes this comment:
That Northern men take no stock in
Davis, except to pity his stubborn stu
pidity; that his talk is "nothing but q
voice, and observes that he is only a
wreck left blythe retreating tide of Sc
cession. :. He simply denotes a storm
that once ragged, but which. subsidino.
has left him to indicate its fury" There
are 2ery many who think with the En-
qtfrrr that the South has repudiated its
chosen ctieftain, and is deaf to his ut
terances. Nor is this the only matter
in which the North is wofulfy ignorant
OF Southern sentiment. Wien Joe
Johnston casually connected Davis with
the disappearance of the lost Confeder-
ate specie, how quickly the Southern
press and people defended him and
forced Johnston to a retraction. Davis
was not great man, hardly great fall
ure, but he surely is not an .arrant fool.
He knows the South with the sure in
stinct of his Southern head. He is too
wise to speak often, and too wise when
he does speak not to say what his au-
dience will not appreciate. When he
says that the Lost Cause is not dead but
sleeping, and that the South expects
every man to do his duty when the time
comes, it is reasonable to suppose that
he means what he says, and that the ap-
Plause of the people means that they
agree with him.. 1t is the dangerous
folly of afalse security to urge that Davis
Is = petrifed fossil, ignored and repu-
dated by the South 1t is larnentable
nonsense; it borders upon sIecklessness
to apologize for sullen soldier who
laughs the good d-natured excuse to scorn.
Davis was a prominent man among en-
inent men. He is yet sound in mind and
body-so far, we mean, as his inner sense
goes. Why should not he mean what he
says? Has the South forgotten the Lost
Causee If so, what mean these move
ments, parades, memorial days and the
steady increase of military schools, with
the military feature in all Of themP There
is scarcely a Southern youth who has not
some military training and does not know
the uses of war-like Service Read their
school books and see if. they are not
written by the ghost of the rebellion,
walking in arms, with Its visor down,
on the shadowy platform of the Lost
Cause. g hse @
The wish is the father of the thought,
and we are apt to believe what we most
desire. Besides, prosperity and strength
incline Us of the North to peace and
amity. And it may be that Davis does
not understand his people as wen as the
Philadelphia Enquirer, and is merely
melancholy old man, garrulous of the
past and '.wandering in quest of some-
thing-he knows not what -4he cannot
find Perhaps so; but it is at, least
the part of wisdom to keep. our repub-
lican anchors firmly rooted in the firm
bed of the Union, and occasionally to
let our glasses sweep along the South
ern horizon. Omaha Republicans. ''