The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-02
The south and the Prs.ldsnsy.


The attitude of the South IN the com
ing Presidential contest is most import
ant. By the logic of strange events. she
has been for some years cooperating
with one of the great national parties.
Those who look on from distance and
lament the fact of Solid South" are
sadly ignorant Of the local necessities
that compelled and yet demanded such
a result. There was no previous confer
ence of party leaders in the several
States-no arrangement of a uniform
plau and time of attack upon the carpet
bag fnisrule of our section-but Ii was
the spontaneous and desperate struggle
of q people for civil life and liberty.
They could no longer endorse the domi-
nation and speculation of the ignorant
and alien who we're here TO tend the
flock for the fleece" That same spon-
taniety Of sentiment keeps the south
solid. 1t is either that or return TO
the reign of reconstruction.
On account of this anomalous Poiltl-
cal necessity, many affiliate with the
Democratic party who have not sub
scribed TO its entire creed There ii
large freedom of opinion and interplay
} of doctrinal belief, but profound con
} yiction that the party integrity must be
preserved to arrest q lapse into the socia
and civil anarchy of carpet-bag suprema
CIV. They fly our flag, because indePend
ence or opposition means social disruP
ton and industrial ruin.
!, But this necessity has possibly local
lied our political convictions too much
, Many are content to preserve our local
7 State and county autonomy without rel
! erence to national affairs. They hav
little interest in national politics, o
what party elects the President or con
= trolls the great machinery of govern
], ment. Some go so far as to sneer at tn
national Democracy and assert that W
have nothing to expect from 1t. Ihl
we believe an error, and for several goo
and sufficient reasons:
! /. We are citizens of the nation, an
as such have a right, and are under OF
a legation, to exercise the function OF FREE
men. Our voice should be heard-mot
6 estly to be snre, but clearly-as to tn
character of the man who should be non
I mated for the Presidency. In the palm
; DAYS of the republic of Athens, the cit
q zen who failed to vote suffered politics
= discount and condemnation. The theor
= was that a man who felt so little intere
NJ in q government as not to vote II
it, was unworthy of its protection. HI
is good political philosophy, thong
7 doubtless unwisely applied. SO long
N we hesitate to assume the full respon'
- biIity of citizenship in national affair
70 purblind partisans will charge it upon
" spirit of disloyalty to the Union.
p 3. The strength and influence OF Il
o. Northern Democracy made the revol
II ton of 1875 a possibility. But for the
10 inroads upon the solid columns of Il
# Republican party-gaining here al
" there distinguished accessionS and ma
ot ing their reconstruction misrule odio
70 we never could have thrown off t
IL hateful yoke and achieved our eman'
1r patton. They extended friendly hal
h and spoke to US encouraging wore
to while laundering defiance into the ran
of the enemy. Now if We lock shiel
with them in this national contest, t
next President will be the nominee
O. the Democratic party. We cannot Il
rs in such a struggle to put forth o
er mightiest efforts, to assist friends in
e complishing for the country what tn
We assisted US in doing for our own dow
n trodden States.