Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-07-21
DEAD ISSUES.

ana Is possessed OF no vital principle
that should keep it in existence, than
such utterances as the following from
the brilliant pen of Murat Halstead
AS long as the solid South stands
as a menace to the nation, we shall saw
the people of the United States would
be simply mad to trust themselves to a
party subordinated to the shotgun
policy. When the time comes that it
ceases to be reproach to a man to
have fought for his country, we shall
feel that we Do not need to say more
about the necessity of seeing TO it that
the Southern Confederacy is not set
up anew as the rightful power to rule
and regulate us all"
When a journalist of Mr.. Halsteads
distinguished ability resorts to argu-
ments OF this nature in a state cam
paign like that which is now being
carried on in Ohio, the conclusion
forces itself that his party, like his
logic, is cropping in the moonlight OF
the past and has no part in the sun
shine of progress in which a great and
united nation now basks.
If the republican party is entitled to
praise and gratitude for having pre-
served the Union as political entity,
1t has forfeited all such deserts by its
long-continued and industrious efforts
to keep the people of the North and
South devided in feeling The per-
sistency with which such utterances as
the above are made at the North in
every campaign would lead 70 the be-
lief that the Republican party hopes
for new rebellion in order that il
may again become the great war party
and thus regain its old time vigor.
The enlightenment of the day is too
far advanced for such arguments as
those Mr.. Halstead makes to do damage
to any one except the party that uses
them. The true sentiments of the
Southern people and the real condi-
ton of affairs in this section are well
known to every intelligent Northern
man and talk about shotgun policy"
and the solid South standing as a
menace to the nation" can have no
other effect than to produce a feeble
and incredulous smile. The falsity OF
such statements regarding the South
is proven by the better and more
creditable utterance of Major Daniels,
of Virginia, in his recent eloquent
Grafton over the recumbent stature of
Robert Z. Lee:
"And we can only lament that shall
how politicians have proved unworthy
of the American name, and are not
imbued with the great, free spirit of a
great, free people. We have not
thought or desire or fancy to undo the
perpetuity of the Union. For any
man to pretend to think otherwise is
proclamation of his falsehood or his
Jolly. But we intend to be free citi-
Zens of the Union, accepting no badge
OF inferiorty or dishonOr."
Since the South laid down her arms
there has been no thought of reviving
the strife. The causes that brought
about the war had ceased to exist
when it ended, and the only desire of
the Southern people was to resume
their position in the Union and to be
left alone in their home affairs. With
such desire it was natural that they
should unite with the Democratic par
ty which advocated such a policy, and
all the more natural that they should
have an antipathy for the Republican
party which bounded them with
abuse, reconstruction acts and carpet
bag administrations. The Solid South
means nothing more or less than that
the people of this section are a unit
Tor restored good feeling and that they
oppose to a man the party that would
keep alive strife and dissensiOn. There
Is no treason in such an attitude, and
the intelligent voters of the North have
discovered the fact.
Political parties must subsist on Nv
ing principles. Their only office is to
carry out or perpetuate principles.
Such thing as supporting party
through gratitude for its past acts IS
the silEest of sentimentality. Politics
has to do only with the future and such
an intangible and impersonal thing as
party can claim no support ON ac-
count of what it has done. If the |
Union was in danger a party that |
favored its preservation would be in |
demand, but the party that has moth
ing better to say for itself than that it
did favor the preservation of the
Union twenty years ago must give
place to Il more vital Organization.
That the Republican party has no
better plea to make than to brag on
what it has done Is clearly shown by
the above quotation from Mr.. Hal
stead. This strained attempt to keep
alive dead issues and sectional hatred
Is the best exhibit that could be made
Of Republican weakness and fore
shadows the early decay of the party.