National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-09-27
Southern Politics.


say few words in relation to southern
politics from what II considers the sensible
standpoint for southern men.
The war is over. Its verdict has been re-
corded and should be accepted by every
one as final, but we regret to say 1t is not.
No one at the north-no Republican any
where, north or south, seeks to hold the
men OF the south to any further accounta-
bility for the war. They are willing to let
the dead past bury its dead, and that
united country, united In all things, should
move on harmoniously for the future.
But northern men, whether Republicans
or Democrats, do not like to have the ghost
of the dead confederacy continually Haunted
in their faces or kept as skeleton In the
closet.
One class Of men IN the south believed In
the right OF secession. They held the union
of the states to be rope Of sand, aud that
each state had the right to secede every
Saturday evening and reunite with the
Union every Monday morning, II the state
saw fit to do so.
Another class Of southern men mistakenly
believed that the success Of the Republican
party in the election OF Lincoln was a threat
TO the people Of the south, and that the
only remedy was separation, revolution.
Admit that both classes were honest in
their beliefs and honestly fought
for them as did vast majority
of those who had any beliefs on the subject
aud were not merely blind followers OF
blind leaders, yet the war dispellel both
these delusIons, AMI proved that the
Union was stable government, that sece5-
sion was an utoplan myth, aud that repub-
lcRn principles were equally good aud
equally applicable to the states south OF
Mason and Dixon's line as to those north
of 1t.
Republicans are willing to let the issues
of the war rest where the war left them,
but southern Democrats will not permit
this. Southern Democrats insist upon
deifying the confederacy, and II a northern
man dares to hint that such Is the fact he Is
denounced as vile partisan, ga shaker OF
the bloody shirt" ~
Let any reasoning man look over the list
OF officials IN the southern states, national
as well as state officials, and he Will find
service TO the confederacy is the one SUI
preme requisite for every seeker after o'ilce.
Read the speeches Of candidates seeking
nomination, and Of their friends; read the
editorials of southern newspapers alvocat'
ing the claims OF favorites for office, aud
everywhere, even In states like Missouri
and Kentucky, that did not secede, and
you lind the one qualification most dwelt
on is service to the confederacy.
Take the case OF FitZ Hugh Lee in hi:
candidacy for governor OF Virginia. The
entire canvass was made upon the name OF
his uncle, Robert +. Lee, who near the
close Of the war became the symbol of the
confederacy. And see the canvass in
Georgia between Gen. Gordon aud Mai.
Bucan, where service to the confederlcy
was the only question and the degree OF
service the only difference between the
candidates. The late canvass in the eighth
Virginia district, which resulted in the
nomination of Gen. w. Ii. L. Lee, was
made in behalf OF Gen. Lee upon his owr
and his fathers service to the courederacy.
So in Missouri, In the case OF Gov. Marin l.
duke, confederate service was the recon-
mendatiou for his nomination.
But II is useless TO cite other cases; The
practice is universal, and there is one fea
ture of 1t not yet alluded to that is still
worse.
The most trusted leaders, the most gal
liant service, counts for nothing II the leade
or soldier does not, In southern phrase
''Remain true to the confederacy;" that is
vote with the Democratic party. Long
street, Malone, Mosby, and hundreds o
others are denounced as "traitors to tn
cause" because they choose to vote will
the Republican party.
Everywhere, on all occasions, the coufed
eracy, as It existed in arms in 1Sjl'65, aud
as It exists now in the Democratic party, Il
made supreme at the south, and the failure
to support it Is political death and socia
ostracism, while It is waving the bloody
shirt to soy this much.