Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-04-01
Wednesday, April L, 1856.
THE SOLID SOUTH.

Mr.. Edward P Clark, well known jour
Ralist, now connected with the Brooklyn
Union, discusses in an open letter in the
Century the causes and probable. break
ing up of the solid South. The letter is we'll
worth attention. The political solidifcation
of the southern States on the Democratic
side is considered by the writer to have been
an inevitable result of the enfranohisement
of the freedmen and the attempt of the Re
publican leaders to "placs ignorance and
poverty in authority over intelligence and
property" The idea of Thad. Stevens and
his associates was that $50 many negroes
mean SO many Republican votes;" and they
hoped by their course in supplementing free
dom with enfranchisement to secure the as
tendency of their party in several of the
southern States for many years to come.
But, as Mr.. Clark1points out, ga stupendous
blunder'' crept into this calculation. They
left out the factor of civilization, and ignored
the fact of the sure supremacy of intellect,
education and ruling capacity in the govern
ment. Far-sighted southern men foresaw
the result more clearly. Governor Parsons,
of Alabama, when told of the purpose of the
radical leaders in 1865, said: eve shall have
ten years of hell, and in the end the
South will gain thirty members of Congress
and the same number of electoral votes, and
her white people will control every State. :"
He could hardly have predicted more Gor-
rectly.
Mr.. Clark believes that this solidity is to
be broken and soon too. He shows
that in States and congressional dis
tricts where the white majority is large
enough to prevent any fear of negro rule the
vote has long been divided. The.two mo-
tives that have hitherto conspired to make
the negroes Republicans are gratitude and
fear" The edge of gratitude has been dulled
by time, and by the hard fact that "a Repub-
ican administration at Washington has prac-
tically left the negro in the South to shift
for himself" On the other hand, ''the Dem
ocratic State governments in the South have
pleasantly disappointed him. The appro-
priations for schools have, almost without
exception, been steadily increased above the
amounts provided by Republican legisla-
lures, and his children now have better
teachers and longer terms than ten years ago.
A distinct advance in kindliness of relations
on the part of the white man is already so
perceptible as to have favorably affected the
negro sentiment toward him." The fear of
harm from a national administration alone
survives, and Mr.. Clark believes that "ths
administration of a Democratic President
will emaneipate the blacks from this night
mare of apprehension. Freed from this
overmastering fear the negroes will, for the
first time, be governed in casting their BAL
lots by the same motives, good and bad,
which sway voters elsewhere; and thus, with
the division of the negro vote, the "Solid
South" will begin to disintegrate.
Ali this seems probable, in fact almost
certain. But whether the Republican party
is to profit by the change remains to be seen.
Mr.. Clark thinks that in most of the cotton
States there will be, at first, Ga temporary
depression of the Republican party below
even its present weak condition." because
''the machine" has no very great inducement
to keep in good working order.