The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1865-08-15
LETTER FROM B. JOHNSON BARBOUR
BARBouRsvI1LE, Aug. 6, 1866.

| NAoAo 6Oh q unHuluhto IOE OOuRF65s III tulS
district, has been received, and furnishes an
other assurance of your friendship and kind
consideration. I noticed the paragraph in
the Republic to which you refer, but which
was published without my knowledge or canes
ton, and / have received many similar invis
tations frsm other friends. ~'9t
| am very grateful for these manifestations
of public confidence ; but, after mature delibs
GRAFTON, have come to the fixed determine.
ton not to be q candidate. The state of my
health would prevent me from rendering eff
Gent service, and there are other reasons
with which I will not trouble you, equally
controlling. so5- -...-,,
deem it proper to say that this resolution
springs in no wise from dependency. On
the contrary, am full of exnltant hope for
my country. After an agony of contending
emotions, terrible tension of mind and
nerve, protracted through four years, it is
natural to expect the langor and prostration
of reaction. But it is unreasonabe-nay, it
is unmanly-to yield too long to this leth-
argy, or only to rouse ourselves from it to in
dulge in querulous and captious complaints.
We should bear in mind how thorough, com-
plete and emphatic has been the decision of
our great controversy. 1t had a continent
for its theatre, millions for its actors, and ex-
tended over period of time long enough to
develop oil our resources and powers. Now
that the question is finally and irrevocably
| decided, it is worse than idle to expect that
high-wrought feelings and the pride of iris
umph can at once be hushed into equanimity.
Let as consider the matter with all the calm
| ness we can summon, and We shall be con-
WINGED that whatever of trial or trouble SUR
rounds us now is but the inevitable oonses
| quence of the tremendous struggle through
which we have passed, and to expect any
other result would be illogical and absurd.
The failure to rend the oak has brought the
penalty of the rebound, and though we imi-
1 tated the folly, yet, if we are wise, we may
still escape the fate of Milo. Let us be pa
| tient and hopeful. Is it not something that
war and desolation vex the land no more p
that the earth trembles no longer under the
/ tramp of infinite cavalcades and the shock of
innumerable armies2 Is it nothing that the
daily hecatombs of gallant men, the anguish
of women and children, and all the nameless
horrors of war, have ceased And is it not
reasonable hope that our country, delivered
OF its phrensy, will soon be seen "clothed and
| in her right mind, !" animated by an exquisite
| senslbility and a thrilling unity, and radiant
with imperishable glory and happiness
When mighty war, which threatened to be
OF indefinite duration, is miracuously closed,
are we not lacking in faith to doubt that, in
due time, all sser evils will be remedied or
| removed Is it right to repine over lost
hopes when the future spreads fresher and
grandtr ones before us Even our natural
grief for the gallant dead should be softened
by the thought that in their fall they have
verified the spirit of The Roman fable and
have closed the gulf which yawned between
| the North and South. s.ag s
Moderation and prudence should, more than
ever, Dc the cardinal principles of every patriot
~ these alone can we restore happy equii~
Drium and regain that unsuspecting confs
dence which great man has said is the true |
centre, of gravity in the moral world, and |
which, better than legislation or armed pow-
or, can remove alldificnlties and reconcile all
contradictions Surely the North will remen,-
Der that power is measured by resistance, and |
VIII not consent to degrade the quality or
diminish the extent of their triumph by at
tempting to .humiliate their adversaries /
will not allow myself 10 doubt that they will
demonstrate that msgnanimity is the true de6s
ton of greatness, and that the noblest revenge
is the best, Apart from these higher motives
experience proves that the commercial world,
is unit, and that one part cannot prosper
whilst. the other is perishing from,atrophy. All
history declares that the tribute wrung from
subjugated provinces is ''sternly limited and
terribly precarious." whilst. the revenues of
| free and happy States are bounteous and
perennial. .st o4 5A2 G4l So
The part of the South in the great work Of
paci6cation is equally plain believe sim
cerely that an overwhelming majority of our
people have accepted the new order of things 1
fully and in good faith, and it is gross injus- |
tice to charge them with any disposition to
impede or defy the National authority. But
they should strive more and more to construe
Alright the moral of our great struggle. They
should remove every pretext for msconcep-
tiOn bv salectinp for Office Only suOh men aa
beyond all doubt and cavil, are true and loyal
to the Union and in their general conduct
they should recognize the two great fact,
which the war has established--Life to the
| Nation and Death to Slavery. 1t is our duty
| TO deal kindly and gently with race sudden
| ly emancipated, even though in the first flush
of freedom they should violate our traditions
al ideas of subordination and discipline. By
calmness and patience we shall do much TO,
| wards REFRESHING that spirit OF agitation
which, through folly or crime, would make
| freedom q cnrse instead of blessing to the
negro. His future condition is the only diff
cult problem left unsettled by the war, and
| for the present he should be found incompati-
| BILE with his welfare or our own, it will be-
| come the duty of the nation to provide con-
genial home for him, as has been wisely and
humanely suggested by President johnson:
| If, happily, we can remove or avoid the
difficulties and dangers growing out of this
peculiar subject, l see no reason to prevent
US from becoming happy and united peo'
| Pile, for then the sections will have been oblit
| Grated and. 81
---"those opposed eyes,
Which, like the meteors of q troubled sky, p'
Did lately meet in H. intestine shock,
l And furious close of civil butchery,
/ Shall then in mutual, well beseemiag ranks,
March ALL ONE WAY" .,i