Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-05-30

their maintenance and equipment tor life
was mover thought OF as u burden. Con-
trast these domestic conditions with the
abnormal state OF thugs in one oil the Old
est Commemorative Of tho republic. where
there are hundreds of homes without q
child and over n hundred thousand fami-
lies with bu. one child each. An agricul-
turist rather than q mercantile or manu-
featuring people. the typical south
err homo was county manson.
Tho club was almost unknown,
nor was even the hotel very
common. Neither was needed for pleasure
or for hospitality. because both were
abundantly provided in the home. Be-
fore the State or the city or county. rs
receiving the first loyalty and love and as
fundamental to the beautiful social fabric
of those sweet. Idyllic DAYS. was That IN
comparable institution the southern home,
implorng that purest of all governments
the Oid-time southern family
Honorable citizenship also marked the
politics OF the "Old South we were
almost overwhelmingly homogeneous
people Of the same speech. race, creed
and customs. What contrast 10 the
mixed population of modern America.
MANY MILLIONS OF FOREIGNERS.
DO you know that TO-DAY in the United
States there are, including their offspring,
49, SOC. 600 foreigners from nuAberiess
countries? Professor Boyesen, himself
Norwegian, says: Once our immigration
came chiefly from the best parts OF Italy,
LON bardv. and the Piedmont region; to-
dsv II Is from Sicily, Naples. and the low
est strata of Italian society" ASIA
threatens us with an invasion on the East
Of her pagan myrmIdons Immigrants we
all were once to be sure; immigrants ana
foreigners were our AnglO-Saxop ances-
tors, who took these shores from
the Indian. the only native Amer;
can of that period. immigrants ana
foreigners so far from beng dlsllked VIII DE
ever welcome provided they came TO De
American citizens in fun sympathy with
free American institutions. But when we
rememb Der that we nave no intelligent
naturalization laws; when we recall me
fact that day every alien may get out iull
naturalization papers after only nye years
residence III America. and III some states,
as IN Colorado. be entitled To vote Tor
President OF the United States after resi-
dence Of only fo'v months. We NAV well
inaulre if American codes and customs 90
stand the strain. Each and every Amun-
can, with personal and hereditary interest
IN our land. must wait twenty-onc years
before he casts his ballot. while the for
eicaer, always ignorant and often antago-
nistic to the genius Of the government,
may vote III four months Well NAV we
inquire If II is not time we were excluding
from our shores what Chauncev Depew
calls the drink and scum element which
are making our laud the degraded dump
ing-eround of European and Asiatic peo-
pies"
RETURN TO OLD TINES.
What remedy for America but a return
to the conditions OF citizenship IN the
"Old SOUTH There the individual citi-
zen of homogeneous society valued
the night of franchise az sacred
thing. The Office sought the man
and not the man the office. Even
officers who lapSe1 in private morality
were seldom wanting IN public virtue.
Nominations to Office were not secured by
packed conventions nor by hired bench
men. but by an intelligent majority of free
Anglo-Saxon citizens. PUbic otce was re-
garded, as President Cleveland is trying to
make it to-day, public trust. HIS
Georgian Secretary l. true to southern
traditions when he tells our countrvmen
that public Offices should be used for the
exclusive benefit OF those who do not
hold them" NeDofsa was unknown -
southern craftsmanship; gltt-taking by
public officer was scorned a. II
genteel form of bribery; paternalism
in government was repudiatei on the
ground that" the least governed people Is
the best governed people" lntiyldualism
was fOstcred on the principle that tue
State pauperlZes and degrades the citizen
when II seeks II do for him what he Is
able to DO for himself. Strict construction
of the Constitution was demanded even
when lax views OF that noble instrument
would have enriched the South by enor-
nous expenditures on rivers. harbors.
public buildings. and coast defences and
the like All these iuct and righteous
principles found their incarnation IN
Jefferson DAVIS DAVIS, returning from
Mexico with the laurels of victory on his
brow, declined as unconstitutional COM
mission to brigader-generaPs rank Of
fered by the President of the United
States. Davis during the civil war, when
the enemy threatened his private property
on the Mississippi, spurned the suggestion
that ne should seek TO save u by COntcde-
ratio troops, maintaining that private inte-
rests should be subordinate 10 the public
good. Davis. again. when liberal citizens
Of this city purchased and presented to
HIM house, refused 10 accept 1t on the
ground that the President OF a
great republic should not be de-
pendent on private kindness. DAVIS
was the unanimous choice OF the South
TO the presidency. SO far from seeking
the highest civil station the preference of
DAVIS was for military leadership, and the
former was actually thrust upon MIN by
his enthusiastic countrymen.
BROAD NATIONAL PATRIOTISM.
Davis, besides all this. would speak TO
us of the South words of broad, national
patriotism. StlgmatiZed as a traitor he
may be by partlZan hate and sectional de-
traction, bur patriot he was WAS after. as
well as before and during, the war, always
and everywhere patriot The object OF
his allegiance changes properly enough,
lna
sued for no pardon from the Federal
Government does not disorove his patriot
ism; that he declined TO serve as senator
from Mississippi does not show relU ctance
TO work for the upbuildiug Of the reunited
country. How could he obtain pardon
without loss OF scf-respect; how could
he accept citizenship without pardon !;
how could he hold Office under the domi-
nant party a. the South but the minority
party IN the republic. without inten 'fy-
ing rather than allaylng. sectional bitter
ness and so DELAYING fraternity and CO.
operation? Silence and scclusIOn were
the only recourse left to the uncrowned
king of a fallen nation" Speech aud
publicity would have been unpatrlotic,
because liable to stir mp the incorporate
love Of friends and lnfiame the unscrupu-
lous vindictiyeLesS of fOes.
1--WE ARE NOW AT PEACE
Fortunately for HISTORY Mr. DAVIS once
or twice broke his dlgriiied reserve to ex-
press his sentiments on the duty OF the
new South to the republic. What were
those sentiments? What American, North
or South would wish to conceal them
Hear them. pray YOU. In a speech at q
| banquet given by the Army of Northern
Virginia in New Orleans December 6, 1873.
Air. Davis says: I'VE are now at peace
and / trust will ever remain SO. We
have recently been taught that those we
had considered enemies had hearts beat
ing in sympathy with our grief. We have
been taught by their generosity, that
bounded with quick response to the af-
flictiCns of the South, that the vast body
of the people of the North are our BROTH
ers still. And the heart would be dead to
every generous Impulse that would try TO
stimulate in you now feeling of hostility
to those where so large a majority have
manifested nothing but brotberly love for
yoa." Hear hun again. In an adj
dress before the Mississippi Legislature
March 10. 1884, he says: "Our people have
accepted the decree of fate IT therefore be-
hooves them. as they may, to promote, the
general welfare of the Union; TO show to
the world that hereafter. as heretofore,
the patriotism of our people is not mea-
sured by lines of latitude and longitude,
but is as broad as the Obligations they have
assumed. and embraces the whole of our
ocean-bound domain
LET Us DE AMERICANS.
Such utterances mean that we should
love the old flag and be loval to the Union.
L. -