CHAPTER XXXIX. THE INAUGURATION OF DEMOCRACY AND CLEVELAND. THE PROVINCE OF HISTORY - WHAT THE SOUTH HAS DONE TO RECUPERATE- A -- LTHOUGH it is not so much the province of history to philosophize as to relate, the writer of this narrative has not deemed it inappropriate to comment somewhat freely upon the men and measures of his Three Decades. A civil war of unprecedented magnitude was the most striking event of this troublous period in the history of our country. That war is an epoch in our career as remarkable for the events which immediately preceded it, as for its subsequent influences on our polity and institutions. Any history of this period must necessarily discuss, almost in every chapter, the causes and the results of that terrible conflict. It is the central point of thought, whether for narrative or philosophical discussion. The men in the conflict, the men who forced the conflict, the men who made the peace; and their prejudices, passions, and patriotism must, therefore, form the main topic of discussion when recording the events of the last three decades of Federal legislation. The legislation of that period is entombed in the statute books. Most of it is obsolete and forgotten. What remains in force, as well as what is obsolete, has had its inspiration and source in the motives and acts of these men. Hence it has been the writer's aim to leave to coming generations some record of them, as a key to the history of this period when it shall be written. Our Civil War has left many indelible impressions on Southern character and life. It changed the mode of life in the South, and modified in many respects the Northern opinion of the people of that section. The men and women of the South, especially those of the Gulf states, have had experiences, mentally and morally, which have wrought many modifications in their estimates of Northern character. Most of the men who swayed Southern society and politics died in or since the war. They are gone to their rest. Their shadowy forms only appear to the soft light of affectionate remembrance. If the light which led them into secession led astray, it was light from some standard of nobility. They had a sensitive love of honor. They had a proud belief in family and state which made them over-confident. They had a great love of neighborhood which made them indiscriminately confiding. They had a grand hospitality which made it impossible for them to think truly of future events in connection with their own homesteads. But along with these qualities there was a universal self-respect which kept them pure and undegenerate. They were never base. They bore their misfortunes with uncomplaining fortitude. When the war ended, what struggles for existence ensued! Men, and even women, in their respective spheres, so long as there was military organization, could not be dispirited or beaten. The weight of exhaustless numbers and resources, the skill of invention, and the animation of a kindred gallantry for the Union could alone conquer Secession; but all these did not subdue the spirit of its adherents. The South appeared to be ruined hopelessly and irretrievably in the long contest. Her education had not fitted her for disaster. Ominous whispers ran around that her sons and daughters had been reared to make no effort, that they were destitute of energy, that their women were not housekeepers, and that their men were not provident and economical. What, then, could they accomplish under circumstances that might appall the stoutest heart and mind? This was the Northern estimate of this people; yet what could they not accomplish? What did they not do in rebuilding their shattered fortunes and dismantled places? A few years, and lo! order comes out of chaos; happiness succeeds misery; prosperity, gay, fair, debonair, healthful, and vigorous, arises out of the very ashes of desolation. How was this change wrought? Partly through the organization of the state governments which in desperation they rescued from the spoiler; partly in the counting-house, the shop, and most of all in the field of agriculture; by the loom, the needle, and the cook-stove, and by a determined persistency to succeed, never expected by the outside world. Everywhere energy and industry were displayed in connection with that splendor of gallantry which no honorable and truthful man denies to the Southern character. Now, as this volume closes, New Orleans makes her exposition of Southern achievements. It is a peaceful victory,-commercial and industrial. It exhibits the wealth and working power of the South. It bursts forth almost as unexpectedly and beautifully as the famous flower of the forests of Ceylon, with a startling report and an opulence of fragrance. Strange to say, within sight of the industrial elements at New Orleans, is a camp where the veterans of the Confederate and Union armies assemble in WHAT THE SOUTH HAS DONE TO RECUPERATE. 679 blessed concord. It is a congratulatory and hopeful augury. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg meet together: Shiloh and Antietam salute each other. The old soldiers talk over bygones, in peace and brotherhood. The great war which raged twenty years ago has left no scars with the just and honorable warriors. The channels of wrath are filled up with the waters of Lethe. Immigration comes from the North. Old foes shake hands and learn to understand each other, and to recognize their common interests and fraternity. The South no longer speaks with pathos. She no longer sings the miserere. She has gone through her poverty. She smiles at defeat. Her cities were destroyed, her fields desolated, and her labor disorganized; her homes were in ruins, her families scattered, and her sons fell in the battle; but in the face of trial and trouble, under the dark shadow of this ineffable sorrow, she rises from the ashes of desolation and reveals more clearly the splendid attributes of her character and the grand importance of the work before her. Every element in the South seems to have been resurrected for her resuscitation. What of the white man? He is enfranchised in many ways. What of the negro? He is recognized as a citizen whose rights are secure; is an integral part of Southern civilization. By a pledge stronger and firmer than any party platform or civil rights law, by a guarantee firmer than any constitutional provision, citizenship and the equality of civil and political rights have been assured to the men of swarthy looks. Whatever may have been thought of the advisability of the last two constitutional amendments at the time and under the peculiar influence of their adoption, they are now fixed in the fundamental law as firmly as any other part of it. They will never be questioned nor disturbed. By the order of events and of nature, the negro is left to his own contest. If he would have position and power he must achieve it by his own energy, judgment, and will. If he relies upon political sympathy for his advancement, he will find that he has been leaning upon a broken reed, and that he must lean upon himself. The honor of the Republic has been pledged to the sustentation of those elements which secure the negro in his citizenship with all its incidents and rights. Its Is it asked what will be the condition of parties in the South at the end of the next decade? The last election perhaps indicates, to some extent. The significant utterances of President Cleveland demonstrate that the party which is now dominant is not the sectional party. That party is national which polls the grand majorities South and an immense vote North. voters in the North, South, and West, in spite of all objurgation to the contrary, are too strong in intelligence and numbers for any future disquietude as to sectionalism. Ten millions of people have voted to discontinue the long retained power of government in the hands of one party. There were reasons for this change. Reasons which fail to justify heavy taxation, or to vindicate accumulations in the treasury. Reasons which are larger than fiscal policies. They belong to the policy of principle. They are historic and philosophic,-historic because philosophic. We had reached a stage which certain leaders of the Republican party would have embraced any pretext for transforming our government into something more absolute than it is. It is a marvel that the Constitution has been preserved to us through the ordeal of civil war It is, at the same time, almost a miracle that the pendulum is again swinging toward decentralization. Alexander Hamilton thought that the British Government was the best in the world, and doubted much whether anything short of it would do for America. He declaimed against the vices of democracy, and insisted that the British Government was the only one in the world which united public strength with individual security. He insisted on our government being modeled after the British Government as nearly as practicable, and proposed to abolish the states, or subordinate them in the municipal corporation and consolidate all power in the Federal Government. But were he alive to-day, would he not abandon his worship of the old Federal fetich? Would he not say that the philosophy of the Democratic party should be judged by the experience of a hundred years, and the tenets by which its perpetuity has been made so honorable and prosperous? Each of the great parties to-day professes, and can profess, no other than popular democratic principles. Were not Milton, Locke, and Algernon Sidney the prototypes of Jefferson? Is there any party to-day which would openly advocate aristocratic and autocratic rule? It would have a summary fate and short shrift. This has been the final outcome and end of the various parties which, since 1791, have opposed the Democracy. Whatever their name, there will ever be two schools of political philosophy, and two parties in this country accepting their doctrines; one with Federal tendencies for a strong centralized government, distrustful of the people, and the other seeking local governments and strictly defining the sphere of national powers to national necessities. Hence, in concluding these chapters of our history of three decades, is it not well to remember that, however plausible the platform adopted at Chicago by the convention which nominated Mr. Blaine may be, and however suave his letter of acceptance,— the federative system of Hamilton is the framework of that platform. It was repudiated by the people when they sustained a platform which contains something beyond platitudes. The Democratic platform was inherited from the days of Jefferson. What does it mean? Free commerce with all nations, political connections with none. Hostility to monopoly by legislation as violative of the equal rights of the people. No fostering of one branch of industry to the detriment of another. The practice of the most rigid economy in the conduct of public affairs. No more revenue than is required to defray the necessary expenses of government. These doctrines are a part of the Democratic platform of every state convention. The Democratic platform adopted at Chicago on the 10th of July, 1884, was not made for the purpose of assisting the election of any one man President, THE PROFESSIONS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 681 even though he might be as honest as Grover Cleveland. That platform was a declaration of principles adopted by representative men, who saw that the Nation was growing older, and that new issues were born. They had gone through many trials during the war, and they desired the preservation of personal rights, and of the reserved rights of the states, while acknowledging the supremacy of the Federal Government within the limits of the Constitution. These are the true bases of our liberties which the Democracy could not surrender. When the condition of the country demanded a change the Democracy made an indictment of the party which had been in power for a quarter of a century. The platform charged that the Republican party during its legal, its stolen, and its bought tenures of power had steadily decayed in moral character and political capacity. Its promises as to the navy and shipping were failures. It was at war with its own professions as to the public lands and small holdings. The indictment proceeds to say, that that party has given away to railroads, and non-resident aliens, individual and corporate, a larger area than that of all our farms between the two seas. Has not the verdict sustained the indictment? The Republican party still professes a preference for free institutions: yet it organized and tried to legalize a control of state elections by Federal troops. It professes a desire to elevate labor : yet it subjected American workingmen to the competition of convict labor and imported contract laborers. It professes gratitude to all who were disabled or died in the war, leaving widows and orphans: yet it left to a Democratic House of Representatives the first effort to equalize both bounties and pensions. It proffers a pledge to correct the irregularities of our tariff: yet it created and continued them. Its own Tariff Commission confessed the need of more than twenty per cent. reduction yet its Representatives in Congress gave a reduction of less than four per cent. It declares for the protection of American manufactures: yet it subjected them to an increasing flood of home manufactured goods, and a hopeless competition with manufacturing nations, not one of which taxes. raw materials. It professes to protect all American industries: yet it impoverished many to subsidize a few. It professes the protection of American labor: yet it depleted the returns of agriculture—an industry followed by half our people. It professes the equality of all men before the law and while attempting to fix the status of colored citizens, the acts of its Congresses were overset by the decisions of Republican courts. anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform": yet its detected criminals are permitted to escape through contrived delays or actual connivance of the prosecution. Honeycombed with corruption, outbreaking exposures have long since ceased to shock its moral sense. Its honest members, its independent journals, no longer maintain a successful contest for authority in its counsels or support its bad nominations. That change of party rule was necessary, is proved by an existing surplus of more than one hundred It" accepts |