The Cecil Whig., 1886-05-08
THE OLD SPIRIT.

SplCuOuS part OF the average Mary
land Democrats political creed now as
during the rebellion. The sentiment
of sympathy and kinship necessarily is
not so active as it was generation ago,
but when Jefferson Davis is to be apoth-
eosized the old spirit OF the Maryland
copperhead inevitably betrays its pres
ence. If this were not the fact, lead
ing Democratic journals would find no
responsive echo among their readers
for such declarations as that made last
week by the editor of the Frederick
CIhzen,a a prominent Democratic office
holder, and the son-in-la law of Mr.. Abel,
of the Baltimore SuN; that "ro day
the President of the late ContederaCy
is the grandest figure in this country
Take an extract from this delectable
sheet, the organ Of the Democratic
party in Western Maryland, as indi-
eating how far the esprit" that sus-
tanned secession has died out in the
bosom of Maryland Democrats
"The beautiful tribute of love and
respect which was shown to that grand
old hero and statesman, President ef
ferson Davis, on his recent visit to one
of the Southern cities, is an evidence
that the love which the people of the
South bear towards Jeff. Davis will
never die. 1t never should die; it
should grow and live forever, enshrined
in the hearts of every true Southeruer.
To-day the President of the late Con
federacy is the grandest figure in this
country. His name will never die, and
upon the pages of history, future gen
erations will read of his great deeds,
his noble, manly life, his craftsmanship
and patriotism which has been sec
ond to none"
The men who write this never were,
and never will be, the apologists either of
Jefferson Davis treason, or of the crime
of secession. With confidence embol-
dened by the presence of a II -G-ocratic
administration at Washington, they seek
rather to put the Union soldier and the
defenders Of our government in 1901
upon the defensive in 1886. They
would like to modify the meaning Of
the word "patriotism" SO that the low
est measure of allegiance to the general
government would fulfill the obligations
of citizenship.
The lamented Garfield once said
wisely, that the cause that triumphs in
the field does not always triumph in
history, and those who carried the war
for Union, and equal and universal
freedom to victorious issue, can never
safely relax their vigilance until the
ideas for which they fought have be-
come embodied in the enduring forms
of individual and national life. -
This trueism of the martyr president
was uttered less than ten years ago.
Do facts and the political history Of
this country during that time indicate
that the people Of the South have ac-
cepted the results OF the war in the
sense indicated?
They submitted to the national au
thorty involuntarily and from necessity,
not voluntarily and from choice.
Is there any more evidence in 1886
than there was in 1876 that the people
of the South abandoned the doctrine
of State sovereignty finally and forever,
because they had been beaten in con-
test which we believed involved the life
or the death once for all, of that well
cherished Southern heresy?
We think that the doctrine of state
sovereignty is as well cherished a doc
trine to-day in the South as it was in
1861.
The pith and the point of all these
recent ovatlons to Jefferson Davis in our
opinion indicate it. He is the highest
living embodiment of that doctrine.
He doesn't initiate the digniiled silence
of Lee in reference to it, but asserts it
boldly and aggressively at every offered
opportunity. 1t was the unanimity with
which his opinions were received by
the shouting thousands about him, that
gives significance to these recent dem
onstrations at Montgomery and else
where South. Conservative Democratic
journals at the North may smooth down
as they may the natural apprehension
and misgiyings which these demonstra-
tions excite, by palming them OFF as
the meaningless and therefore harmless
demonstrations of the affection which
the people OF the South cherish tor
Jefferson Davis personally. But the
people OF the North and West are not
to be misled by SO palpable mlsrepre
sentation. 1t is Jefferson Davis, the
still unyielding, uncompromising and
bitter advocate of States Rights and
State Sovereignty, whom the Southern
people adore, not the man Jefferson
Davis.
SIGNIFICANT SENTENCES.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics
of the State of New Jersey annually
addresses large number of printed
circulars to the working people of the
different counties of that State, rea-