Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-03-28
SOUTHERN Am1TY.

portion which related TO the public meet
ing held at Wilmington, making public
acknowledgment of full submission to the
authority of the United States, and final
abandonment of all allegiance to the rebel
Government. At that meeting, the Mayor
of the city, in his address to his fellow
citizens, said:
my friends-Let US tonight forget and
forgive all past political differences, and live
only for the future +; resolving that henceforth
it shall be our aim and object to secure peace,
promote prosperity, and add to the glory and
grandeur Of our common country"
The sentiment is perfectly correct, and
evinces q return to reason. We hope that
the Mayor expressed the real sentiment Of
the populace; and that the presence Of the
overwhelming legions Of the nation, all
powerful to compel that obedience, had
no influence in evoking that expression.
Wilmington has, all through this four
years of war, been almost an open port,
has carried on q contraband trade with
foreign countries almost uninterrupted.
If there has been such thing as prosperi-
ty in any portion of the Confederacy, one
one would suppose that Wilmington must
have prospered. The devastation which
has visited other portions of rebeldom has
not been felt in that portion Of North
Carolina. There the Confederate rule has
been uninterrupted; and save in those af-
hietions which have been suffered in the
loss of kindred, Wilmington has been eI-
empt from the terrors of the war. They
have been permitted to "snuff the battle
from affair."" and to watch itI progress
critically. They have been able, not only
to note the progress of the war, and to
calculate its probable results but 10 COM
pare the workings of the two Governments
which were battling for the mastery.
They had known the old Government
from their infancy, and had lived under
it, and seen their "rebellious sisters live
under it, for more than eighty years, pros
perously and happily. They had tried
the new and had experienced its workings
for four years. In those four years, they
had seen every vesuge of free govern
ment swept away, and an unfettered and
relentless despotisn erected upon its ruins.
They had seen the doctrine of Estate Sover-
eighty" the rock upon which the Southern
leaders sought to split the Union, practi-
cally and CONTEMPORARY ignored-in
their own State more signally than in any
other-and centralized Empire created,
with its capital at Richmond. They had
seen the boosted strength Of the Confed-
eracy put to the stern test OF arms, and
its real weakness demonstrated in success
sive battle fields, and in the steady onward
advance of the armies of the nation which
it defed. They had seen the "corner-
stone" of their projected political edi6ce,
crumble before the edicts of the govern
ment of the Union, and saw the whole
structure shattered and tottering from
turret TO foundation stone. They saw the
limits of the ConfedeIacy, once bounded
by the Potomac and the Gulf, the At
lantic and the Rocky Mountains, contract
ed to patch of territory scarcely larger
than North Carolina, their own city being
at length the only seaport on the coast in
possession of the rebel government. The
fall of Fort Fisher closed that port forever
and in a few days their streets were filled
with the blue-coated soldiery Of the
Union, and from the flagstaff Of their city
aoated the ever advancing Banner of the
Stars. Full time, one would suppose it
TO be, that the conviction that Southern
power and Southern independence were a
chinera and phantasy, had forced itself
upon the minds of the people of Whining
ton. That they should so publicly and
solemnly declare may be no great matter
of establishment. That they believe it we
have not much doubt; that they have de-
cided to submit to destiny with cheerful
ness they have solemnly declared whe-
Their they earnestly rejoice at it, may per-
haps be question to be solved by future
acts. The Mayor proposes that they shall
forget and forgiveI" That there is much
that they should naturally desire to " for
get" must be admitted. There are four
years of history, commencing with the
Act of Secession of North Carolina, that
they might well desire to obliterate; and
had Cape Fear River the magical power
of the mythical Lethe, the inhabitants of
Wilmington, from gray-haired sire to
newborn babe, might rejoice in taking
the baptism Of oblivion. Forgetfulness
would be blessing-for which they might
thank the gods. ForgetfulnesS is well
advised; and .forgireness is decidedly
good; but the loyal North will be con-
strained to wonder where the forgive
ness" comes in: To forgive is divine,
and if the loyal hearts who have sustained
the honor and glory and unity of the ma
ton, and have dragged North Carolina
from the despotic bondage Of jeff. Davis,
and restored her to the nation for whose
future glory" Wilmington now prays ;
if these have committed ought that needs
forgiveness" they will rejoice to kno"
that forgiveness is granted. We are
bound, however, to receive the declaration
of the Mayor as sincere on his part. and
we earnestly hope that the sentiment eI-
pressed BY him is endorsed BY all his fell
ow-citizens. 1t speaks an earnest con-
viction that the cause Of rebellion is lost