The Opelousas courier., 1865-05-20
OUR FUTURE.
From the n. Y, News.

In dealing with foreign enemy, supremacy
in arms may bring about settlement Of the
questions in dispute. The trial by battle ended,
the combattants quietly resume their respective
separate missions in the family of nations. Not
SO in domestic quarrel. If, after peace has
been conquered by the stronger party, tie con-
testants are to live under the political roof,
subject to the same laws, and dependent for their
welfare and progress upon mutual good will and
cooperation in legislation, and i'll commercial
and industrial pursuits, something more is essen
tial beside triumph upon the field of battle.
Those who have confronted each other in deadly
conhiGa are not made friends by the simple act
of sheathing their swords. The hearts so lately
infamed with the passions of civil strife must be
attuned to the harmonies of tranquil companion
ship. The hands that have welded the weap-
ons of destruction must be elasped in concord.
The Ratchet must be buried, and with it the ami
mosities that engendered Or were engendered by
contention. Until that is done, it cannot be said
that peace dwells in the land.
The North has not passed unseathed the ordeal
of war. Triumph has been achieved at such a
cost that the pride of victory is subdued by pain
full memories, and exultation yields to the solemn
emotions inspired by retrospection. The chimes
will be rung. the cannons will boom, and the
millions will wear holiday faces, but beneath the
surface of popular rejoicing there will be an ir-
repressibie sentiment of awe and sadness, peo-
pies tribute to the countless fallen and bereaved
There are too many drops of blood and too many
bitter tears upon the laurels Of the North to per-
NIT us TO display them vauntingly. Let them
rest where they were culled, to honor the ashes
of the dead, and let the living seek new glories
in opening the still much encumbered path of
peace.
To overcome the physical resistance of the
South was after all, an affair of force. In their
valor, their endurance, their martial skill and
their faith in the justice of their cause. they were
equal to the North. They have been subdued
by overwhelming numbers Bnt to overcome
their resentments and secure their future arnity
will be found most difficult and delicate task
1t will not do to make parade of magnanimity
and forbearance. The quiet and unostentations
extention to them Of all the rights exercised by
the people Of the North may serve. in time. TO
reconcile them to the political companionship
that it is proposed to force upon them II they
should be compelled to re-enter the Union with
the deprivation of single privilege that was
theirs at the commencement of the struggle, the
spirit of sectional antagonism will remain, and
will be nursed and encouraged by the recollec-
tions of defeat. The history of this war will be
taught TO Southern children as the record of a
struggle not Jet ended, and the coming genera
Ii0n VIII Dc 6Quc&teQ TO nate the c0nQuefOfS OF
their fathers, and to rekindle the fame Of strife
at the first opportunity.
II Is vain to hope that this future of antagon-
ism can be averted by peopling the Southern
territory with emigrants from the North. In a
few years these Northern settlers would be iden-
tilted with Southern interests, and would become
the most earnest partisans uf the doctrines of
their adopted section. The past has demonstrated
this for, among the most bitter and violent Sc
cessionists, were those of Northern origin, and
particularly these who were born and bred in
the New England States.
If ths South 10 to be held Id subjugation BY
immense standing armies, our republicanism
must be relinauished. The States would be
powerless to resist the progress Of centraliza-
iion: and an authority supported by bayonets
would gradually oyershadow all local govern
ments, control the elective franchise, and create
a military despotism. Our condition, during the
past four years, of utter submission to the Fed.
eral will, has proved how readily such a system
of government can be thrust even upon an en-
Ightened and courageous people.
If the present Administration desires to per-
petuate its power, and subserve the interests Of
It's faction at the expense of the liberties Of the
country, il has, perhaps, at the present crisis,
such an opportunity as Is rarely offered to un-
scruuulorS anbiticr There will be found rava.