The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-03-26
IN THE SOUTHLAND.
Mr.. cAmpsELL's SECOND LETTER
A Review of tn. Political situation Ia the South.
The PsrplerIns Factors that enter ISOLATION
Of the PrObltn-rhs Negro QaestiOa
one OF Great ImpOrtanee.

I
BAY Sr. LOUIS, Miss, March 23d.-l
was the Governor Of North Carolin
who Is said to have observed to the Gov
eraor OF South Carolina that It was lon
time between drinks. And, 80, perhaps, ii
view Of the comments with which you
editor was pleased to introduce my. tirs
letter to your readers, and the expectation
thereby raised, may properly apologize
for the seeming length Of the hiatus whict
has intervened between my first letter o
July 10th, and this, my second letter, b,
saying that l came South on this trip no
so much to write frequently as to slowl!
and carefully observe the condition OF al
fairs. political and material, in this region
and only to record such Impressions as
commended themselves to my deliberate
judgement, and such as would stand thu
test OF critical review, if, perchance, there
should arise any critic who might
think worth while to review them
To this end l have spent nearly five
weeks in the city OF New Orleans, and one
week out here on the coast, since my last
letter from Birmingham, Ala, and l have
made it my business to fall in with citizens
OF various pursuits in different parts OF the
South, and, as far as possible, with those
Of various politics, although these latter
have not been easy to find, Tor it is as true
now as it has been in the recent past
that the white citizens Of the South, oi
property, influence and intelligence are
largely, may say overwhelmingly, OF one
way Of ofthinking in politics. That Is, they
are nearly all Democrats. OF course there
are Democrats and Democrats-some radi.
cal and some liberal-some narrow and
some broad-but nevertheless Democrats
who vote the Democratic ticket, State, local
and National, be the same good, bad or
Indifferent.
have no desire to make politics feat
ure Of my letters from this region, or to stir
up anybody bya rehash oil q twice told
tale OF this kind, but 1t has long ago been
decided that an actor, be he ever 80 expert,
can not play Hamlet acceptably, nor even
intelligently, with Hamlet left out. No
more can newspaper man write about the
present condition Of the South and wholly
ignore politics, for politics at the South, more
than at the North, enter into the warp and
wool OF society, because OF the presence
here OF two races that occupy a radically
different status in the matter OF social and
business relations as well as in the matter
Of natural and acquired capacity. The
two are equal before the law, but here all
equality begins and ends. In all else they
are very unequal. This inequality extends
10 politics, to business, and to all the modes
OF life that distinguish one set Of human
beings from another. Hence politics at the
South are tinged with all these various
differences, and the darkey is the pivot on
which parties hinge and swing here. But
for this the South would not differ from the
balance OF the country in It's politics, for
outside Of this there is really no cohesive
influence that would band the whites into
one solidifed class. In all else
there are shades OF opinion on
the tariff, on questions OF revenue,
internal improvements, rivers and harbors,
civil service, taxation and other issues OF an
economic character, such as would speedily
result in disintegration Of parties with as
much facility as is observable in the North.
And even despite the powerful cohesive in.
huence Of the negro question there is a
constant tendency towards more or less dis
integration OF this political unity. Despite
OF it, self interest In some other shape will
assert itself. For instance large manu-
facturer, Mr.. Hillman, Of Alabama, said
to me, that he viewed Democratic ascend.
ancy in Congress with considerable
apprehension, and although he bad
never yet voted anything but the
Democratic ticket yet he did not
know how 1t would be in the future, as he
felt himself being weaned from the tradi.
tional policy Of that party on the tariff
question. In this he was only voicing the
quiet reflections Of large number Of
Southern men who have only been kept
in line with the Democratic party by the
negro question.