The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-05-04

important thing for an individual or peopls
toknow thai they can be imposed upon line
world IN still deceived by ornament"
Now we believe the people o. 'ne sousn
have been imposed upon and deceived. They
have bean most outrageously cheated by their
ieadars More than thirty years ago one
brilliant mind began the work Of deception,
and Il has been followed up BY other minds,
lass brilliant perhaps, but yet powerful for the
evil work whose false foundations had already
been laid. That work eliminated In rebellion,
and the people of the South, or large portion
of them, have been made 10 believe in its JUS
tice. Astrapge delusionI but. nevertheless, .
powerful one. The Southern people had been
SO much cheated and deceived, and the South
ern mind so rooted and grounded in false and
even wicked doctrines, that a convulsion as
terrible as an earthquake became necessary to
/ shake it off and letthe sunlight of justice and
truth stream. into their dark and benighted
souls. ,4sgaus.
Let us see what darkness has rested upon
the Southern mind what impositlons prac
iced upon it-what strange doctrines 1t has
been made to believe-what decisions it has
labored under Why, these leaders have made
the people believe that they have been most
grossly injured by the North; that they were
hated by the Free States. aud subject 70 In
justice and rapacitys that At the North all the
people were the most afrant towards In the
world, that they would not fight under any
circumstances, however great the provocation
might be; these and many other prepostsrous
things the Southern people have been made
to believe. And worse than all and more to
be regretted, thousands upon thousands Of
poor whites who never owned single slave,
have been made to believe that human bond
age is ordained Of God and ought, and always
would, form the basis Of good society and q
stable government. ,~ron a.fuwa.
Such has been the force Of few leading
minds that a large portion of the Southern
population'have entered into the rebellion and
fought resolutely against their own interests
and favor Of negro slaveryi These opin-
ions ndfeelihgs, these pfejddices and prepos-
sessions, were 50, firmly fastened upon the
Southern mind, and so imbedded In the South
ern heart, that nothing short of the blood OF
the battle fields, the groans Of the dying, and
the horrors Of civil war, would afford rem
edy for such deep-rooted and fondly cherished
evls.a Butsschange has come over the spirit
Of Southern dreams. The bloody hand Of
civil strife has lifted the veil from their eyes
and dispersed many Of the dark clouds that
rested upon their mindsss a. 1swSI 4 20
They have been shaken as BY an earthquake,
and now begin to see and feel how grievously
they have been cheated, how sadly deluded,
how egregiously imposed uponl Light has
already penetrated the dark clouds and
streamed through the openings upon their
minds. The war has almost done the work.
a work which nothing but bloody war could
accomplish! The disease was deep seated
and virulent, and powerful remedy has been
administered. This radical change in public
sentiment, wrought upon the battle fields, will
form the basis Of a'stronger government. the
foundation Of . higher civilization. lis upon
this rock baptized in blood, q reconstructed
Union will be placed, and all the powers Of
bell can never prevail againstit. sSsss'ses