Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-03-09

lie IOu tuC DpCCCu VI AIOu DCIu LOW AhOpubh-
CAM at the Celebration Of Lincoln's
birthday, in Brooklyn.l
KEEPING THE WAR FEELING ALIVE.
And now, gentlemen, what is the relation
of the Republican party to the new voters
in the national field :? Even here the Re-
publican party starts with the great advan-
tage of q former record sure to appeal
winsomely to the hearts and imaginations
of young men. But, most unhappily, as l
conceive the situation, the party is allow
ing its own great past to become its Stun
bling block. Pardon me. if speak plainly.
My plain spe, king is the speaking of
friend, and I speak with complete respect
for those who differ from me. Let us look
by way of illustration at the recent action
of the party, upon the confirmation of Mr..
Lamar as a Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States. From the moment the
the old flag was re-raised over Fort Sumter,
it became certain that at some time or other
those who had fought to destroy the Union
must stand once more in equal citizenship
with those who had fought to preserve the
Urion. If it did not mean this, we ought
to have raised on that historic flagstaff,
that saw the sad beginning of the flaternal
strife, not the old flag, but another. When
1OIutI WSIC hioV 1Otu AONt w
Congress the air was made to ring with the
cry that the rebel brigadiers were again in
the saddle, as though it were the nations
disgrace, and not its glory, that, rebellion
being put down, the renewed Union should
manifestly appear before the eyes of the
whole world. When former Confederates
were sent as Ministers to foreign powers
this cry broke out afresh in many quarters,
as though it were not an added glory to
show these Powers. in this conclusive way,
how magnanimous the great Republic was.
For little space, it seemed as though the
Republican party had risen to its true alti-
tude, IS though it had come to tell that the
people of the loyal North were glad that
these things were SO. AS represented by a
majority of the Senate, the Republican
party promptly confirmed Mr.. Clevelands
Cabinet, and followed this by passing
bill which placed Mr.. Lamar himself in the
line of succession to the Presidency! But
now, three years later, we hear again the
old war cry, as though share in each
fresh department of the Government were
to be conceded to the renewed citizenship
of the South only at the point of the bay
onet, and the Republican party with ihdi-
vidual exceptions. takes its stand against
his confirmation. Gentlemen, whatever else
may be said of this attitude, and I freely
concede that much may be said for it, |
venture to think that it places the Republi-
can party in position of distinct dlsad-
vantage as towards the new voter. The
new voters of 1888 were not born when Lee
surrendered at Appomattox, and even the
new voters of 1884 were at the breast when
Gettysburg was being fought. To these the
war is history; its passions happily cannot
be imagined by them. But to them the idea
of renewed Union, in which South and
North take equal and brotherly part, is as
fascinating as it is inspiring. To one in
famed with this ideal, the Republican
party, in this relation, may seem to be de-
scribed by the poet only too we'll when he
says, though writing, indeed, OF another
people:
s'And thus forever, with reverted look,
The mystic volume of the world they read
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became legend OF the dead"
THE NEGRO VOTE AT THE SOUTH.
Again, as to the negro vote in the South.
think the Republican party is right in be-
lieving that the negro vote is in part sup
pressed. think it would err as matter
of fact, should it allege this of the South
as whole, or even as to the whole of any
one State. I will yield to no man in my
sense of the magnitude of the danger, when
in country resting upon the ballot, the
right of suffrage is systematically withheld
from large numbers of the people. 1 can
not think that the sense of this danger es-
capes even those who are guilty of the sup
preston. But what is the remedy sugges-
ted by the Republican party? So far as I
can see, only continuous appeals to the
-
because these things are SO. Occasionally
suggestion is made of some return to leg
islation by Congress along lines which
have already been tried and abandoned,
and which proved Intellectual when the Re-
publican party was in the plenitude of its
| power. In effect, suppose the question
| is one of the many forms of the race ques-
| ton, which, in one way or another. is GER
| tain to perplex this country for many de-
cades to come. The national Government
has done all, as I conceive, which. under
our system. it can do, in securing to the
freedmen the legal right to vote. 1t, with
that unquestioned right, they are not able
to exercise it, even where they are in a
majority, you might as well try to make
them good penmen by legislation, or, with
out instruction in writing, by furnishing
some one to guide pen in every Negroes
hand, as to secure to them the exercise of
| the freeman's privilege of voting by nation
al edict or by national power. The ballot
is the weapon of a man; it is not given to
a slave or to child; and, if, as matter of
fact, we have given it, and rightly given
| it, under all the circumstances, as think,
| to those who are children still in develop
ment and in power, believe me, however
much we may wish it otherwise, there is no
remedy except in time and in' education.
Meanwhile, appeals to the North to solldl-
| fly itself against the South, keep the South
solid and prevent it from dividing as moth
ing else can. In Atlanta, year or two
ago, near twice as many votes were cast on
the subject of prohibition as had been
cast two or three months before IN electlng
members of Congress. The reason was
palpabl9. On prohibition the white men
were divided, and each party protected IN
their rights the negroes friendly to them.
So it will be when the white men OF the
South divide on any issue. The attitude
OF the Republican party Ga this question,
to me seems peculiarly re-aetlonary. IL
leads to no definite end that is tolerable,
and its political result, as / see it, is bad.
Itdivides the North and solidifles the South.
To the average young voter ! cannot thlnk
1t will look differently. 1t prolongs sec
tionalism. and keeps the Republican party
at war with the future because OF the past.
THE REVISION OF THE TARIFF.
And now permit me to say word about
the tariff. 1t seems to me the Republican
party is in danger of making the same sort
of mistake there. Instead OF becoming as-
eressively the party to reform the tariff, as
f might SO easily be, out of sheer antagon,
ism to the Democracy 1t is tending toward
an attitude which is new to the party, and
which means protection, not as means to
an end. but as an end in itself: l cannot