American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-11-08
Southern UBiODism---Vfews of
Hon. h. RaynOr of n. o.


ty years, as one of the most moderate and
tair-minded Of Southere politicians. lie
stood up against the Annexation Of Tex
as-condemned the repudiation of the
Missouri compact--regarded the Lecomp-
ton Constitution, with the whole series of
outrages whereby Kansas was sought to
be dragged into the embrace of Slavery,
with undisguised abhorrence=s1 was
always less hard upon us than a Northern
doughface with respect to the Right of
Petition. There was no STAKEHOLDER in all
the South who elung more tenaciously to
thr Union, or evinced more abiding
consciousness that Northern convictions
of righteousness and d-benefcienee Of Lib.
crty we're 70 be duly regarded, as we'll as
SoutherlfTTejudices in behalf of Slavery,
IF the Union was indeed to be preserved
Mr.. kaynor has just written long
and able letter on Reconstruction,
wherein he confirms our belief that it
would have been perfectly safe for the
North to have proposed submission of
the issue Of Union or Disunion to n fair
and free popular vote of the Slave States
alone; He says:
"The hearts of the great mass Of the
Southern people were never in this dis
union movement. In calling their State
Convention, it was not with the foregone
conclusion that disunion was to follow
1t was because the times were porilous,
and it was thought best to convene the
sovereign power Of the States, to consult
on what was best for the common good
In not State, Ct tliink) was the oidi-
nance Of Secessi6Ikevor submitted to the
people for their ratification or rejection.
IT'S true that in the Spring of 1861 there
was storm Of feeling that swept over
the South-a sort of turore, growing out
of The idea before suggested, that it was
war Of vindictiveness on the part Of
section, rather than the effort of gov
ernment to'enforce its lawful authority
But that tornado soon .subsided;' as was
evinced blythe necessity of conscrip-
tion, in order to keep up the army.
GAS | have already said, the conycn-
tion Of this State, tand, so far as the
Union element is concerned | believe |
may speak for the other States, in voting
for secession did not regard it as a fore
gone conclusion that disunion must fof
low. The friends of the Union hoped
that the immineuce of the conflict would
force settlement of the difficulty. aud
even after blood began to fow, they earn
estly and anxiously looked forward, day,
after day, an1 month after month for
something to turn up that would result
in the making Of peace, and the re5tora-
ton of harmony. But here was their
difficulty: After having placed the State
in the position where she was-or rather
in having adopted her to the position in
which Mr. Buchanan had placed her
they felt bound, as a matter of personal
honor; to sustain her ia that position un-
til reconciliation should take place.
That was, no doubt, the moving consider
alton with the members of the Confed-
crate Congress, who still had hopes of a
peaceful settlement on the basis Of recon-
struction. But they ultimately found out
that by sustaining the Confederate Gov
crnment, for the time being, under any
impulse of personal honor, apd for the
additional reason that the more respecta-
e BILE the position of that government, the
better terms they may expect to obtain
in the adjustment of the difiiculty-that
they had made the government too stroHg
for themselves, and thereby disarmed
themselves of all power to restrain and
controlit. Thus it was, the Union men
found themselves powerless Having
blundered into the difficulty, and every
effort to get out seemed to involve ge-
.ries Of additional blunders Finally, CON
scrption, habeas corpus repeal, repudia.
tions, tithes, impressment, aud heavy tax.
alton consumated tho reign of terror,
which crushed and prostratcd, and sealed
the mouths of the friends of the Union
throughout the South " & y
81 speak plainly = You want the truth.
and the truth you shall have regard
it as more than idle now to attempt to
Justify or excuse the Southern people for
the course they pursued, or to Justify and
e excuse the Union men of tie South for
that which they ought to have done but
did not do. They ought to have thrown
themselves into the breach in the first
instance, and have risked civil war at
home rather than have allowed an issue
Vi Hi hc bStNSCu blit SctllOUS 10 nave Ia
Ken place, Failing to do that, they should
have arrested the war by counter-revolu-
'tion as soon asthey discovered that South
'ern independence, as condition prece
dent in negotiation for peace was i'm
practicable and impossible Their errors
were errors of omission, rather than of
commission Still their errors were most
grievous, aud most grievously have they
suffered for them. .eri-s. e
MIR. .Raynor very forcibiy and truly de-
'picts the present bankrupt, destitute con-
dition Of the Southern people, ruined by
a war forced upon them by ambitious and
self.seeking politicians. He says
"You can have no idoa-no Northern
man can have-of the utterly subdued,
crushed, and broken spirited condition of
our people Such an upheaval, moral,
social and political, has not been witness
ed, in my opinion, in any civilized coun-
try in modern history. L. know it is a
.yers easy way Of disposing of the diff
ceulty by one who cannot appreciate the