The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-23

Bourbon Democracy of the Old Dominion
Rendered Desperate by the Ohio Defeat.

Petersburg, Va, Correspondence Philadelphia Press
The Virginia Republicans rejoice the re-
suit of the election in Ohio, not only for the en-
couragement 1T gives them in the fight against
Bourbonism here. but because it is accepted as a
pledge of the sympathy felt by Northern Repub-
licans with their Southern brethren il the fight
FOR a free ballot and fair count. Senator Sher-
man. who. with Governor Foraker. led the Repub-
lican army in the Buckeye State at the beginning
OF the campaign boldly denounced the methods
by which Southern Republicans are disfran-
chised and the territory formerly in rebellion is
kept firmly under Democratic control. Mr..
Sherman was accused of preaching the gospel
of hate" of waving the bloody shirt, of reviving
war memories and arraying North against South.
HIS sleGge-hammer blows struck home, and the
Bourbon newspapers of Virginia have abused
him necessarily for the past month. The Rich
mond Dispatch, in bewailing the loss of Ohio.
this morning says:
Let the Democrats of Virginia take warning.
They cannot doubt that the success Of
Malone would be accounted a second edition Of
the Ohio victory. Sherman. Hoar. Dawes, Reid,
Chandler, Halstead, and all the rest of the
malignants would claim a Malone victory in
Virginia proof positive that the people of the
Old Dominion were in favor of shearing the
Southern States of large portion of their
strength In Congrcss-say, thirtv-eight TO forty
members. Those malignantS would at once set
to work to carry out their unpatriotic, selfish,
sectional schemes They would say that you,
the voters of Virginia, had Endorsed their libels
and SANDERS. and thus invited the intervention
in the affairs of this Commonwealth of the
strong arm of the federal government. They
would, like Peter the Hermit preach a
crusade They would see in sectional strife, not
the wrong of it, but the honors, the Offices and
the emouments which would fall TO them The
solid South would be solid no longer-not even,
to use again Senator Voorhees, words for
solid safety Virginia has stood as a break
water and prevented her Southern sisters from
being inundated by radicalisn. Let her give
wav, and the South will be the South no longer"
The last sentence of this editorial con ains the
milk in the Bourbon cocoanut. Northern Re
publicaLs who deprecate sectional agitation and
who are strangely reluctant to offend the tender
suSceptlbilities of Southern Democrats by de-
manding fair play for Republicans at the South,
cannot or will not see that the South is solidly
Democratic to-day simply because Demo
cratic politicians and newspapers in the South
are unremitting in their appeals to sectional
prejudice. These people. with hypocrisy that
challenges admiration, while protesting their
love for a united country and abusing every
Northern man who may express a doubt as to
the fairness of Southern elections, cunningly ap
peal to every passion and prejudice to keep the
South solid, no matter what the cost, against
the triumph of Republican principles. To de-
mand free and fair elections, to ask that the
people of Virginia shall have the same rights as
the voters of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio
to express their will in the determination OF the
affairs Of the Nation. is here called "waving the
bloody shirt But the Virginia politician who
insists that the Old Dimnion shall, at all
hazards and by every means, be Kept in Bour-
bon hands to maintain the solid South. is an ir:
reproachable patriot. laboiinS for the best inter
este of the commonwealth against the assaults
of moral outcasts" and social lepers."
The expression ''our people, conveys mean
ing here in Virginia that 1t is almost impossible
to describe 1t means, upon Bourbon tongues,
the old aristocracy of the commonwealth 1t
means the white Democrats Of the Southern
States; it means class that has not forgotten
the war; accepted its results; it means
intolerance; it means the divine" right
to rule; it means the prescription of white
Republicans; it means. wherever possible, the
elimination of the colored factor in
politics; it means, in short, the solid South.
Virginia has stood as a breakwater. and pre-
vented her Southern sisters from being inun-
dated by radicasm. Let her give way. and the
South will he the South no longer" When these
sentences were written the author struck the
key note of the contest in this State A Repub-
ican victory In Virginia this fall means the
overthrow of the solid South 1t is not battle
involving the loss of life and territory. 1t is a
contest which will decide for the future whether
the majority shall rule, and the rights guaran-
teed by the amendments to the Constitution to
the blacks shall be preserved. The settlement
of this question in Virginia means its determi-
nation III every other Southern State.