The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1884-08-28
THE SOLID SOUTH.
TO-DAY ANo Twenty YEARS 400.
iiow u People, Cnsi Down With defeat,
social Tiles sHnderod ANA Ia Pow
crty ofrur-e i,lseto the rin-
nnCIs of GREATNESS,

criy ofPur.e i'lsrto the rim
nncie Of GREATNESS,
/ When Loo surrendered, the Southern
people possessed only the sky above
| Thorn aud tho earth beneath, says
Washington correspondent Of tho New
York Herald. Nearly all their sub
stance had been dovourod 10y the war
Their currency became worthless the
money of the Union, itself the creature
Of the war, had not penetrated thoiI
territory, and for which they had moth
ing to give in exchange. Destitute OF
public revenues, an army of sick and
crippled soldiers became "A charge upon
their private charity. Their com
lnerce was destroyed, their
husbnndry langud, and their
social system OVerthrown. They were
east down with defeat, and their souls
filled with sad memories of their kin
dred slain in battle, In the midst OF
this discontinue and ruin they began a
new society; and in twenty years ol mr.
duOus and heroic efforts have converted
poverty into abundance and established
material prosperity throughout the bor-
dcrs. This people, valiant in tho pres
cncG of disaster, are Sulidly opposed 10
the party which has controlled the Fod-
crnl government during the period OF
their rehabilitation. What has evoked
this state Of feeling? Who're does the
germ of political Solidity IN the south
have its scat? Does it rest in di>loyalty
20 the Federal government Or DISLIKE
Of the northern people, or Is Il rather be-
gotten of fidelity to the law2 The south
Is not smarting from political disupp0iut-
ment, for IT has put forward no candi
date for II controlling Federal position
since the war. IL does not dislike the
people of the North, for it has voted
with great heartiness Tor candidates for
the highest positions in the Govern
ment, whose distinction was gained by
military and civil opposition To the
South during the war No man Of ma
tional fame coming from the Moth has
visited the South since peace was de-
clnred who has not been received there
with cordality. The Southern people
cannot, therefore, truthiully he charged
with contumacy. Their hostility TO the
Republican party rests upon other
grounds.
When the South returned to the Union
il took upon itself an obligation to obey
the constitution OF the United States,
with the amendments thereto, and all
laws enacted in pursuance thereof.
This obligation included the duty of
resisting enactments in violation OF
the constitution. The duty of resisting
unconstitutional laws is as sacred
as the obligation to obey the constitu-
tional ones. In our Jurisprudence the
Federal and State governments, operat-
ing within their respective spheres, com
pose but one Government. The func-
tons of one government are divided
between them. They both make one
system. Neither can be impaired with
out constitutional injury to the other.
Those provisions of the constitution of
the union which forbid the Federal gov.
ernment from subverting the State are
as highly esteemed by the Federal CON
stitution itself rs is any other provision
thereof, so that he who resiSts an en-
croachment OF the Federal upon state
power does high service to the constitu-
ton and the union.
On the 3lst day of May, 1870, Congress,
in the hands of the Republican party,
passed, and Republican president APP
proved, an enactment the third and
fourth sections of which undertook to
seize and control the whole election ma
chinery of the Southern States, and to
subject officers OF State elections
to Federal supervision. The effect
| of this enactment, if sustained. would
| have been to destroy the independence
Of these sta es in their domestic con.
Germs. This enactment was resisted by
the South, and after breeding political
pestlence for four years was declared
void by the supreme court oIthe United
States. In ISL Congress enacted what
was known in the Revised Statutes OF
the United States rs section 5,5l9. The
section was broad enough in its terms to
extend Federal criminal jurisdiction To
the trial and punishment OF two or more
persons who deprived either directly or
indirectly any person or class OF persons
, of the equal protection of the law or OF
equal privileges or inmuniteS I'm Ter
the laws. thereby transferring to the
Federal Government, all offices Of which
were filed by Republicans, power
over local police matters, by the const.-
tuition coniided to the States. Under the
pretended law indictments were found
i'll Federal courts, and prosecutions car
ried forward until lSS2, when the SIT
preme Court annulled it. On March l.,
1879, the Civil Rights act, entitled IAN
act to protect all citi2cns in their civil
and legal rights" was approved. The
scope of this act Is indicated by its title.
1t covered the remnant OF State juris-
diction uninYaded by former acts OF
Congress. In 1888 this act shared the
fate of its revolutionary predecessors.
and was cast out Of the family of laws
by the Supreme Court of the United
States. That court says Of it in declar-
ing it void: ain other words, it steps
into the domain Of local jurisprudoncO,
and lays down rules for the conduct OF
individuals in society toward each
other, and imposes sanctions for the en-
forcement of these rules without refer
ring in any manner to any supposed ac
ton of the State or it's authorities"
That all these so-called laws were UNI
constitutional is no longer questionable.
The Supreme Court, composed of judges,
all OF whom were appointed by Republi-
can Presidents, so hold. The destruc-
tive effect of this legislation upon the
Government is strikingly vivid. If sus-
tanned, it would have dismantled the
States. Its revolutionary force was so
potent that it filed the Southern mind
with alarm and provoked the solid OPP
position of intelligent whites. 1t can
from no standpoint be justified. 1t was
not to the advantage Of the colored peo-
pie, for their good could in no way be
promoted by violating the constitution.
try is the only and highest hope of the
people. To subvert that government is
to bury the liberty of the whites and
blacks i'll one common grave.
The political effect Of the legislation
above alluded to was to infiame the col
ored people of the south, in whose pre-
tended interest it was enacted, against
the whites. The colored men Of the
south were melted by these laws to in
spect and distrust the whites. They
were led by them to abhor the State
governments under which they lived,
because Multiplication these enactments
declared that State governments wore
inefficient to do them justice. The white
people on the other hand, beheld the
colored man used as preteXt by the
Republican party to centralize the gov
eminent. They all saw the constitu-