TIARPER'S WEEKLY.
ld that Mr. DORSIIEIMER must take his
ace. A moro disgraceful confusion, yet
le more clearly indicative of the real feel-
and purpose of a party, was never
lown. The nomination of WADE HAMP-
by the South Carolina Democrats and
HORATIO SEYMOUR by the Democrats of
York is the conclusive and startling
ridence of the reactionary and dangerous
'irit of the Democratic party. We do not
nieve that any honest independent" citi-
m—Mr. ADAMS, for instance, or General
ARTLETT—can really suppose that if SEY-
OUR were chosen Governor of New York
ld WADE HAMPTON of South Carolina, the
elfare of the country would be more cer-
Linly secured than by the election of MOR-
AN in New York and of CHAMBERLAIN in
outh Carolina.
Those who insist upon change for the
Ike of change, and who declare that any
hange would be improvement, are merely
Ily. Those who assert that a party which
lowed at its Convention the character and
le conduct displayed by the New York
bemocrats is more to be trusted for good
overnment than one whose spirit and ac-
Ion were those of the New York Republic-
ns, are either blinded by party spirit or
ersonal prejudice. The real import in this
lection may be seen in New York, the key
f the position. The New York Democrats
had been any where amoncr any consider-
able part of the white population a solitary
sign of really friendly interest, or care, or
desire of making the best instead of the
worst of the situation, there would have
been no white line, no considerable Ku-
Klux, no Southern question.
The troubles of that question are not, as
is constantly alleged, mainly due to the Re-
publican party, but to the sullen folly which
has always insisted upon one thing, and one
only—that the Southern whites should be
left to do with the blacks as they choose.
This is what is meant by home rule," and
this is what Mr. LAMAR and the Democratic
party hope to accomplish by the election of
Mr. TILDEN. The Republicans are respon-
Sible for many mistakes and offenses in the
Southern States, but the greatest of all for
purned reform, and nominated the very
epresentative of reaction. The New York
have broken the machine,"
md nominated candidates already designa-
Jed by the reform sentiment of the party.
e gin
SOUTH."
THE Republican party is held responsible
for the condition of the Southern States. It
is asserted that it ought to have pacified
them and established harmony, and that the
Southern situation is the reproach of Repub-
lican statesmanship. Now we concede all
that may fairly be urged against the party.
We do not defend the extraordinary report
of Mr. BOUTWELL, nor any of the proved de-
linquencies and rascalities of any Republic-
an offcer, nor the extravagance and cor-
ruption of much legislation in some of the
Southern States. But the responsibility of
the Southern situation rests mainly with
the Southern whites and with the Demo-
cratic party both in the Northern and South-
ern States. When the war ended, the entire
moral and mental mastery of the position
was in the hands of the Southern master
the country would be to abandon them in
despair. There is quite enough intelligence
and patriotism among Republicans to pur-
sue a policy that could not be stigmatized
as that of the carpet-bag or the bayonet.
It is that foreshadowed by Mr. HAYES ; while
that of the Democrats must necessarily be
that of Mr. LAMAR and of JEFFERSON I)Av1S
in 1861, Let us alone." They wished to be
let alone then to secure slavery out of the
Union, and they wish to be let alone now to
secure practical political subjection of the
negro within the Union. This is a policy
sure to follow Democratic success, and no
less sure to keep the country indefinitely
disturbed, because the conscience and com-
mon-sense of the American people who freed
the slaves will not endure the injustice in-
volved in such a situation. The final set-
tlement of the question lies, and lies only, in
the defeat of that Democratic party to whose
success "the South" looks to get even" with
the negroes and the Republicans, and in the
triumph of that just, generous, and forbear-
ing policy, under Republican auspices, which
the election of Governor HAYES will secure.
class. This has been always evident to any
one who reflected upon the subject. But
the late speech of Mr. LAMAR, the only real-
ly able Southern Representative, if accepted
as a correct statement, would put it beyond
question. He involves himself, indeed, in a
logical absurdity by the effort to use his own
statement against its necessary conclusion,
but his evidence is decisive.
In speaking of the slaves and masters, Mr.
LAMAR said :
6' Harmony, friendship, and confidence existed be-
tween these two races. Indescribable sympathies, old
memories, kindly services mutually rendered, ties of
childhood, of youth, of manhood, days of labor, days
of battle, nights of watching, nights of anguish, had
so intertwined the lives of that generation of Southern
men and women, white and black, that at the close of
the war there was scarce a black man, woman, or child
who did not have some endearing relation with a white
man, woman, or child, and was not also the object of
a reciprocal attachment."
This, then, according to Mr. LAMAR, was the
relation between the races when the slaves
were emancipated. But if it were so, it is
not conceivable that the docile, dependent,
affectionate blacks whom Mr. LAMAR de-
scribes would instantly have deserted those
with whom they were living in such endear-
ing relations, to ally themselves with utter
strangers. Yet the fact of the desertion is
undeniable, and it can have, upon Mr. LA-
WANTED—A PERFUME OF
ARABY.
THE assumption that charges against the
personal character of candidates are to be
treated with contempt as mud-throwing"
is very amusing when it comes from those
who condemn the entire Republican party
as unworthy because of BELKNAP, BABCOCK,
and other wrong - doers. Mr. TILDEN is
charged with virtual perjury to escape tax-
ation. The charges are set forth that at the
end of 1863 he made oath that his income for
1862 from all sources was about 87000, and
that in 1876 he made oath that in 1862 he
received $20,000 as a fee in a railroad case.
Here is bad business for a gentleman claim-
ing to be especially the reformer" of a low
moral tone in public affairs. There is a nat-
ural, eager, pressing desire to hear the ex-
planation. And his supporters, with a fine
sarcastic air, think it enough to reply that
he will probably be next charged with the
murder of NATHAN and the abduction of
CHARLEY Ross. Meanwhile the charge re-
mains unexplained that the reform" can-
didate made a false return of income, and
so escaped taxation. Many others, we are
told, did the same. But they would not be
selected as types of a reforming and ele-
vating and purifying political movement.
The campaign hitherto has certainly gone
far to prove that Mr. TILDEN is not a frank
MAR'S theory, but one explanation. It is
that the freedmen suddenly distrusted the
master class.
What was the reason of this distrust upon
the part of those who had been upon such
endearing" terms with the whites? Mr.
LAMAR insists that the government inspired
distrust by assuming the hostility of the
whites. But had the relation been what
he describes, no government could possibly
have accomplished such a result. From his
own argument the conclusion is irresistible
that it is the intelligent Southern whites
and not the ignorant blacks who have
drawn the color line. For if in any State
the spirit of the master class had been truly
friendly; if the first State legislation after
the war had not been an oppressive black
code; if the tone of the press had been sen-
Sible and sympathetic instead of cruel and
scornful; if labor contracts had been rea-
sonable and honestly enforced; if schools
had been liberally encouraged; if political
co-operation had been sincerely sought; if
white public opinion had made the Ku-Klux
impossible by its summary repression ; if the
press had denounced it, and the courts and
juries and all local legal authorities had
pursued and punished it; if, indeed, there
and straightforward" man, but an indirect
and sly politician. The defense against his
clear and consistent public Copperhead rec-
ord is only that he is said to have written
something in favor of the Union during the
war, which has remained a close secret until
now. The excuse for his appropriation to
himself of a large amount of money from
the surplus in the Terre Haute and Alton
Railroad negotiation is virtually that as
administrator he could only recognize the
dead, and not the heirs at law. And the
explanation of his apparent evasion by
falsehood of an honest payment is that per-
havs he is the man who struck Billy Patter-
son. Under these circumstances, it is not
surprising that his friends betake them-
selves to stigmatizing all charges as mud.
throwing" and slander, and to a dignified
bewailing of the indecorum of our political
discussions.
There will always be lies told in
campaign. Party spirit will distort, con
ceal, and misinterpret the plainest facts
Candidates and their friends will solemnl*
deny certain stories, and still they will ech
and re-echo as settled truths among partism
papers and from the lips of partisan speak
erg. There will be a great deal too muc
of disgusting personality in politics, and
great deal too little of honest discussion o
principles. This is all true. He is foolis
who denies it, and unpatriotic who does nc
try to better it. But while all this is tru
why did Mr. TILDEN make oath in 1863 tlu
his income was so much smaller than
now makes oath that it was? Why does
man who apparently kept back in his
pocket money justly due to the public Trea
quotationof.com