The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1865-08-31
a Plain Danper.

| not learning from eXpeience. The spirit OF
nildelity of popular institutions and of
| hostility to the Union and Government
| iHVlng proved its character and purpose
! ~ n war continued with unpara lleled fe-
rocitr until it failed from sheer @ \ haustion.
| is now gravely proposen that we shall
at as il that spirit were no longer danger
Gus, simply because, for the present it is
Exhausted.
There could be no more fatal mistake.-
Civil war is neither u cure nor palliative
7f the spirit from which it springs. The
traditions and education OF "the South"
are what they always were. The domi-
nant class of that section is not less domi-
nant because it is defeated. Its authority
is now consecrated in the popular mind of
| its region by suffering and misfortune. Its
hautiness is supreme. its hate is uncon-
| luerabie. 1t soothes its pride by the con-
vtetion that il was only overcnn1a nv ,,,--.-4-
bcrs, and disdainfully awaits the day when
| can again try its fortune in the field; or,
should that he hopeless. when ite snllen
| 2asivity of resistance shall paralize all eff
| 'prts Of the Government at reorganization.
Is there is any sense i'm pretending that
this 10 not so? Can there he any folly
more signal than that OF regarding the
| ceiling OF a section as merely the spleen OF
= few disappointed leaders? Have we not
| rlwavS said and said truly, that the mass
- of the South were swayed by domi-
1sut class? DO we think they have ceased
to hc sw.yed? Even the Governors pro-
visi0nallv appointed hy the United States
still speak Of ''our cause" "our armics."
and "the South" Even paper noted for
its "Uni0niSm' must be suppressed for the
unconcealed rage and hostility of its tone.
| We have vet to soc in tho columns ofa sim
rle journal. or to hear in the speech OF q
-inglc orator In tho rebel States tho faint
| 'st indications ofthe least fidelity either to
the spirit or the form Of the Government
/ VI the United state. Governors and gen
erals and editors and orators advise sub
mission to superior force. 1--WE cannot
help ourselves" is the burden of their
| strain.
! Has any man who ha, read history or
-tudiied human nature any doubt of the
| incxprassihe hatred TO this Government
which shoulders i'm the hearts of those
whose lips nimhlv repeat an oath Of allegi-
ance? Let any one who doubts talk with
any late rebel. or read the public corres-
pondence from the region lately in rebell-
| ION, or the private letters OF those who
were and are OF the dominant class, or let
him take the testimony ofany Of our au-
| thorities in the South, or compare the cd
toriais written there: let him reflect that
not one solitary, spontaneous movement
ofanv truly popular or Representatives. body
has been made for reorganization through
siucere sympathy with the Government.
and he will find some reason to believe that
we do not misrepresent the actual condi-
tion Of affairs. And if, by any chance,
some one, man or woman. of that domi-
nant class, st tnding amidst the total wreck
Of fortune, in the midst of universal be-
reavement, homeless and hopeless, should
read these words, he wold cry, "Yes
thank God vou are right! We hate you
and your Government with an undving
ilossal, and your guilt not to be described
Shall we be told that these are but a dis
eontented few But if they are few,
where and who are the many? Ten years
ago, every man who knew anything in
this country of the public situation was
perfectly aware Of the absolute disunion OF
opinion and sympathy and political and
social faith, between the free and slave
States. The naughty society that came to
the Northern Watering places In the sum
mer, and to the New York hotels in the au-
ltumn, mingled chiefly-with notable ex-
Iceptions--with those who were as obsequi-
ous to them as their own-slaves. The great
body Of representative American society
held aloff This Southern Class reviled the
American principle, and hercely protested
its devotion to "tho South" Its is sick
ening to remember that swaggcr after this
bloody lapse Of four Years.
But this class was numerous; It was not
small. 1t represented the wealth, the intel
lligence, the traditional leadership of its
section; and what governs any ignorant
multitude but intelligence, wealth and ira
dition, unless the power Of all these forces
be paralyzed by the conciousness ofa class
or race that such forces have beer .teadi-
ly used to wrong them? The Southern
slave-rnasters have always controlled the
Ignorant clsss oftheir own eoIor in whose