The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-06-22
Southern Men for Southern Offices.

President Johnson consults the dictates
of good policy in selecting, SO far as pos
sible, for official stations in the Southern
States, loyal Southern men. In the ap.
pointment of Mr.. Holden to be Military
Governor of North Carolina, and in Sc,
Letting Southern residents for Collectors
of Internal Revenue in Savannah
Charleston, Mobile, and Pensacola, be
has indicated the general policy to be
pursued in this respect. 1t is nlach
wiser than the policy which has been
warmly pressed upon him, of sending
Northern men to all those offices in the
rebel States. The latter course would be
distinct practical proclamation that we
had achieved conquest of the Southern
people, and that we intended to hold and
to treat them as a subjugated commune
ty; that we would not entrust ,,leul with
any of the duties and powers of office,
but would send men among them from
other States to execute the law and
represent,the authority of the victorious
and conquering Government. Such q
course could not fail to exasperate and
ALLEVIATE the great body of the Southern
people. s# t,a
1t is not wise for. us to forget that our
interest, as well asjustice, now demands
that we should do everything in our
power to appease the resentments, allay
the distrust, and win the confidence OF
the people of the Southern States. They
are henceforth to be our fellow-citizens.
They are to constitute part of our Union.
They are to be sharers with us, in the
duties, the privileges, the rights and re-
sponsibilities of a republican govern
inent, and foremost among those rights
and duties is that OF taking part in the
government themselves. This they will
do from this time forward. It certainly
Is not, therefore, matter of small inn
portance thatwe should win their con-
fidence, and secure their cooperation in
all great measures for promoting the
welfare and securing the prosperity OF
the whole country. rlf5o1 b..
Nothing could do more to ALLEVIATE the
Southern people than sending hosts OF
Northern men to fill all the offices OF
power and trust among them. 1t would
be a practical exclusion of them all from
what, under republican government,
is the common right OF all. They could
regard it in no other light than as an
actual Acknowledgement of the whole
Southern population. So long as men
can be found among them capable of
performing the duties OF those places,
we should never send Northern COVER
nors, Northern judges, Northern mar
shals, or Northern officers of any sort to
execute the law among them.
Nor should 1t be of necessitXk fatal to
the. claims of Southern CANDY Ates for
office that they have not always been
bold, active q Mon men throughout the
rebellion. IT was impossible that they
should be. They were compelled, at
least silently, to acquiesce in the action
of the community In which they lived.
No man finds iteasy to do otherwise any
where--nor has it been easy a&any time
since the rebellion broke out for any man
in the South to escape active connections OF
some kind with the movements of the
State in which i,e lived. We must cease
to inquire mainly what men have been
hitherto, and find out what they are
now and will be hereafter, if we would
Judge Alright of their fitness to take part
in public affairs. .raz .ltta.et
President johnson, himself South.
ern man, and exposed to all the fury OF
the rebellion in a Border State, Gan
judge accurately and wisely Of this class
of cases. We think the course he is pur.
suing is eminently calculated to insure
and hasten the return Of peace and pros.
perity to the Southern States. II Ne,l
York Times, g.l.F