The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-10-08

sion to the Union the North sought to ex.
clude the State for toleratlng that very
slavery which the North had done SO much |
that intense spirit of sectionalism, which
afterward drenched the country in blood,
but which Is now fast giving place to that
broader spirit of natiOnalism which will
give repose to all sections and leave the
race problem to the solution of time.
g. Slavery was M at at first tolerated by o. al. the
on the slaveholding States and made pro-
ductive by the joint action of the North and
ence. While there was strong sentiment
everywhere of its injustice, the continuance
was winked at in both sections on the ground
of public policy and constitutional federation,
For this all sections and political parties were
equally responsible. 1t was perhaps mis-
take not to have in the Revolutionary war
was acceded to by the States. But it is
easier to speculate plausibly now when a
than it was to act wisely then, when public
sentiment was not outraged by the patri-
archal institution and when personal inter-
est, it wSs thought, made negro slaves ad-
vantageous to both races. Such reflections
are prof1tless except to remind us that what
ma upon one. If it be said Shareholders ad-
hered to slavery long after the general SEN
timent of she world condemned it and when
justly asked when did a descendant of the
Puritan stock surrender an opinion to ap-
% actual Upps dr pretended to ] save the ~ eusion Of
blood? And could less tenacity or courage
be demanded of a cavalier? The struggle
1t is now over and "let the dead past bury its
dead" Ordinations and recriminations are
useless and wicked.
But it is claimed by some who assume to be
directors of opinion, that the recent success
of the Democratic party is the revival of
days of sectionalism. had ever been sectional.
To promulgate ideas and formulate policies
political parties are organized, though greed
their avowed purposes, and oftener from
| their real principles. No party ever had
prouder record than the Democratic. Con
tional glory are the charts it sails by. and
popular sovereignty its load star. In its
infancy it secuSed the addition of bill of
rights to the Constitution, demanded free
dom of speech and the press. 1t annexed all
new territory to the Republic, except bleak
| Alaska, and led in every war against q
| foreign foe. In the late secession, which it
! struggled so hard to avert, it bore its full
share in the field for the restoration of the
stitution and the peoples liberties at home.
| For twenty years it renounced power to pre-
lowering its flag. With all this brilliant his
tory its enemies denounce it as "unscrupu-
lous" and devoid of prime pie. It is national,
| stitution and Federal Union, but because it
exists and always has existed all over the
Union; In every State it has been active and
never bowing' its head to court popular
favor; In mere temporary policies it makes
mistakes, as all men and all parties some
times do, and its own members in like man
ner differ as to the applicat on of its princi
pies. But its nationality of existence, ideas
can deny. 1t has never supported any meas.
ure giving advantage to section, or that
did i'd not operate equally in every section.
wives sectionalsm is that it gives each State
an equal place in the government of the
the objectors say the States Of the South are
not entitled to equal rights in the govern
ment because eleven of them attempted to
defeated by force of arms. Slavery is gone
secession is dead, the Union restored, and
the coiored man enfranchised. But what
South" like him of old stands at the kings
gate of power and votes the Democratic
effect that the South has the same right te
vote as it pleases, that the North has. And
the ground of this denial is that in the South
they please, and the pretext is based on the
would all vote the Republican ticket AL
this is baseless assumption. The politica
nee the war is suficient explanat on Of th'
: man anywhere holds the Republican party
responsible for the war. for it was the worl
Of all parties and sections 1t is SSneedes Lee
tween free and slave States. The war die
not make the "Solid South" anti Republican
, party of the Republic was sundered on tn!
= slave line by the secession conflict, and ,
sectional party of the North, having not ever
an organization in the South passed int
/ power between the severed hosts of tn,
: Democratic party. There has never been {
Republican party in the South, except a
> the temporary creature of Federal patron
: age. When the war began it was proclaimed
l to be waged simply for the restoration o
; This was announced to the whole people a
home and to the whole world abroad ant
yet it was soon waged as war upon slavery
. said all the Southern States had to do was t.
= lay down the arms of the rebellion and talk
9 their places again on the floor of Congress
and the people of some of the secede
s States actually sent Representatives to Cor
;, gress. But no sooner was the war over tina
;. these Representatives were expelled, an
f the position assumed that every secedn
State had lost its autonomy and was noN
only conquered province, subject to tn
% law. The Sta States IS We're @ declared % out tt of f't tn
Union in law and in fact, and not to be az
:. mitted except upon terms imposed by tn
: traitors, and the Confederate States deal
i with as conquered foreign territory. The
= make Their people traitors, and foreign terr
J. tory to ahrogate their State government b
d | conquest position SO monstrous an
@ came the reunited Democracy, North an
+ South, but was forced upon the country b
3 the ruling Republican party of the Nortl
|
;. the seeded States, reconstruction fastene
# on them by force and fraud, .'carpetbag
and eftGrtOI robbed the
n to place the foot of the late slave on the nee
D. of his late master. To all this the Dem
e revolution not law. The whole Republics
g party was "solid' for these measures, ar
# the whole Democracy "sold" against theI
l, revolution made its exactments "tt
v supreme law of the land" Let neither par
that Bss who ce1a
'e pect the South to be Republican? Even
% all this was necessary to national repose
O. would be unnatural to expect the van9uish.
It to kiss the hand that smOte them. The q
al sumption that all colored voters are r
p her wishes or intmidated from voting
V. all is an insult to the South of both race
al During the war the great body of the slave
N remained in the service of their form
s. masters and raised food for their famili
and supplies for their enemies. Since t
10 war the great majority remain on t
5, the main the races are living in h,
Of on pnk friendly S'ne relations for the color
le citizen to vote with his former mast
le now now as as it was to remain e1aa and and Prote o
Id free. Grateful to the Republicans for 81
IN frage he doubtless is; but why should ;,
When Mf. their woe local anG home
st ment and the taxes are the same? Al
" especially when the colored man is 1ntel
'r gent enough to understand and rememb
ne that his manumission was more war me;
If, ure than obedience to sentiments of humt
ce ity or justice, and his enfranchisement t
to work of sectional party to strengthen
Lr hold upon power under the pretext of pl
or lection to his race. Besides, he sometim
n has a little land of his own, and natura
ne votes the Democratic ticket with other fir
tie holders. Intelligence and property COVE
of in the North; why should they not in t
lr- South? The colored man follows his mo
"a ! intellipent white QeighbOr III dema0OP
'e. appeals to the old days of slavery: The t
o. races are and must remain domicied in t
or same country, and all outside appeals a
efforts to estrange them are mischievous a
unpatriotic. They are not national, but s
al, tional, and are meant by Northern den
of gogues to solidity the Northern secti
NV against the Southern, because their sect
eS is the stronger
he By the census tables and election retul
of it seems that large percentage of electt
,s- in all the States did not vote at the Move
of ber election, and it is claimed that the p
tie centage is larger in the South than in
lg, North. This may be true as the country
al more thinly populated and farther reno,
ST