Year: 1871

/ Nallandtgham (peace to his ashes
there seems a providence in his sud-


den taking Off import as regards the


South2 Every advance step that has


been taken, has been by the Republi.


can party, against such opposition as


the Democratic party could make,


and the Democratic party has been
| dragged forward sUecessively to an
/ endorsement OF or acquiescence in
| these measures. Mr.. Nallandigham
and his friends have been the last to
yield. Having given up the vital
principal, is there anything left in the
Democratic party demanding the con-
tiuued allegiance OF those who still
adhere to that principle? The Demo
cratic party may become the repre-
sentative Of political measures that
you and may oppose, and rom this
cause we may in the future be
numbered among its adherents, but
having ceased to represent the vital
principle on which it closed with its
antagonist and was beaten, it ceases
to be the party that it was, and be-
comes a new party, and the relations
of its old members to it become an
open question.


So far as the practical measures
touching the South are concerned, I
am not in a position TO judge Of their
prOpriety or impropriety. I should
equally favor their modification,
whether acting with one party or the
other, ii it should be demanded by
justice and sound public policy. But,
under the New Departure, what have
those at the South, who do demand
their modification, to expect from the
Democratic more than from the Re-
publican party? 1t should be borne
in mind that, whatever the latent
principle involved, the war was a war
between sections. The two sections
hold the position of cOnquerOr and
conquered. It has been the valor dis
played by the conquered section, and
a silent consciousness that they were
not criminally in fault, together with
the advanced civilization in which we
live, and the recollection OF q common
fraternity, more than any written
Constitution, that have saved
them from a worse spOliatiOn than
has been visited upon them. But,
whether justly or unjustly dealt by,
the fact remains that it is the people
of the North that they have to deal
with, and not political party. The
now dominant party will rule with a
strong hand so long as it represents
the sentiment of the North, and il will
relax its rule as the sentiment of the
North changes. The Democratic party
of the North, which not only stood by
and permitted the Government, under
a Republican administration, to over
turn its own vital principle, but aided
it in doing so, now, for the sake of sue
cess, accepts all results as accomplished
facts, and appeals to the country to
place it in power. With this result
it becomes, instead of the
party, the representative
of Northern sentiment. That is all.
The sentiment has moi changed-only
it has changed the persons through
whom it expresses itself. From a
Southern standpoint, can the people
expect any better things from the
new representative of a sentiment
than the present ones? Would they,
in fact, be as well off? With power
freshly acquired through concession
to this sentiment, would not the new
party feel it to its interest to appeal
more directly to IL and to represent 1t !
more sharply than the party now in
power does? Evidences are not want |
ing of a reaetiOnary sentiment in the |
party itself, as instance |
the recent declarations of Mr.. Greeley. |


Is not q suspension Of Judgment on |
the new departure worth considering? |


Again, if the Southern people do |
not accept results as final, but still |
hope to see some of the DEGREES of the
past reversed, viii they not be in a |
better position to demand this by per
hitting the further success Of the Re- |
publican party under continued pro- |
Test against its acts, than by support |
ing the new departure policy, and thus |
conclude all right to object in the !
future to whatever the new departure
endorses?


If the foregoing views have any
merit, you are at liberty to use them |
in any way that you may think |
proper. In considering them, how
ever, please do not think of me as a |
Of Sny newspaper, as |
my labors with them, for some time |
past, has been professional merely,
and wholly non-pOlitical.


Your ObedieDt servant,


s. r. MCCRACKEN.
To MR. J, NJ. KEATEG,


Memphis. Tenn,