Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1865-12-13
HOW TIE SOUTH HAS BLUNDERED IN
TU nIRrfvEI0N OF RECONSTRUCTION.

HOW THE sou nAo nHoNDLhED IN
TWE nIRECTI0N OF RECONSTRUCTION.
The politicians of the South have made one
vital mistake, mistake which is now telling
against then severely at Washington, and the
oorseouen les of which will pursue them for
many a Dng day, as matters are progressing
We have taken occasion briefly to instance this
hilbert, and it is the mistake of coming back
under The power and protection of the General
Govmment, with those principles borne
,roldly aloft which were as fatal to their in
Hunce and to their States, in the struggle
vnich has Just been brought to an end. Either
hey were losers in the great trial of strength,
or they were not. To say that they were
'beaten, but not conquered" may be a salye
to wounded pride; but under the circumstan-
ces, it is delusion and snare, calculated to
perpetuate feelings of anger and animosity
amongst the masses, and what is worse for
them, to give to another class of politicians,
their recognized opponents, a pretext for
Withholding from them political privileges and
favors essential to their advance, on the plea
that they are not yet fit to be trusted, and must
be held for yet longer period on their good
behavior, before they can be admitted to those
rights readily conceded before they attempted
to defy the Government
And what makes the matter worse for the
South in this connection is, that these organs
of public sentiment have greatly limited the
power of the President, in his efforts to aid
them inasmuch as when he, by his measures
of relief, sought to vouch to Congress and the
nation for their discretion and forbearance,
they have taken such action as sought to JUS
tify their follies and crimes, ventilating the
most mischievous political heresies, and put
ting forward as their fitting representatives
men thoroughly responsible for the evils that
have been brought upon the nation and their
own States. The natural conclusion from all
this could be none other than that they were
not yet cured of their errors and decisions; and
although, under the circumstances, consider
ing the terrible humiliations suffered by them,
reasonable men might well excuse some of
these manifestations springing from wounded
pride and from defeat, yet it would have been
the part of true wisdom for them to have
frankly acknowledged the frightful mistakes
made, and to have shown thorough peni-
tence for the wrongs committed. Beaten in the
field what supreme folly was it to thrust forward
their military leaders, in many cases, as their
political representatives; as if thereby they
purposed merely to transfer the fight from the
field to the forum and what could have been
expected from their old antagonists in Con-
gress, but that these latter should shut the
doors in their faces, and thereby call upon the
people of the South to send up an entirely
different class to represent them in the ma
tional councils, if they really wished for
permanent peace in the land?
In all this, we say, that they do not seem
to have justified the action of the President,
and it is unfortunate all around, that such is
the case. 1t is the interest, and should be
the wish of every loyal person in the country,
to see the South recover as soon as possible
from the evils and disabilities under which it
at present suffers, but we must insist again
and again, that the only way this is to be ac-
complished is for all down there to turn short
about and cultivate a thoroughly national
feeling, to cherish patriotism, respect and love
for the Union, and by this means to disarm
opposition, and enable the friends of peace
and harmony to WELD that influence in their
favor calculated to restore happiness and
prosperity.
And that this necessity begins to be recog-
nized and truly appreciated, is, perhaps, no.
where better shown than in North Carolina
just now, ana IN the late message OF Governor
Holden to the Legislature of that State. He
says:
''We can entertain no hope that confidence
"and activity in business will be revived, or
''that our people can even begin to renew
''their former prosperity, until the State shall
share been fully restored to her place in the
"UniOn. The greatest good of the present
''and of all coming generations, will be en-
"bodied in the practical fact that ace are once
"nore a part of the treest, proudest, and most
prosperous Government an the arOTtd. As
"long as this fact is unrealized, the State must
necessarily languish in all its interests, and
"instead of availing herself of her great nat
"ural advantages, and springing forward in
"competition with other States in the career
"of wealth and prosperity, she will become
"more and more impoverished.
'Let US, then, omit nothing which may be
"deemed necessary or even expedient, to
"attain the great end we have in view, to wit:
'the complete restoration of the State in all
''its constitutional relations to the common
Government. Let the differences and divis-
lions that exist among us, and which are cal
"culated to obstruct the work of reconstruc-
''tion, disappear under the influence Of amore
"deroted patriotism. He who does anything
snow, whether by word or act, calculated or
intended to embarrass the National Admin
'lstration, or to obstruct the work of restora.
'hon, incurs grave responsibility, and can
'be no friend either to the Federal Union or
''to North Carolina
Now could anything well imply more than
is contained in the two paragraphs we have
quoted, in rebuke of the policy and practice
too prevalent down South, and of which we
have taken occasion to complain? Was it
wise in the people and the politicians of the |
South to thrust forward men relied upon TO
compose difficulties, who had made themselves
the most obnoxious in bringing on and con.
tlnulng the late conflict? And has not one con- |
sequence been-a most unfortunate one for the |
South, too-that the position of the President
as their Judicious friend and the champion of |
the Union also, has been seriously compro,
missed, that those who bear him no good will
have been afforded a chance to arraign and
cast imputations upon his policy?
1t is too late now to correct all this, so as
10 save the South from the present consequen.
ces OF its folly; but then, it is not too late to
make the lesson effectual to the prevention of
plumbers in the same line in the future. Onlv
he determination, once for all, to recognize
he National Government as the mighty power
is-a power it is idle to war against, or cabal
4gainst, only the determination to revere
and stand by it as the protector if
nay become to those who in good faith
acknowledge its prerogatives, can relieve the
South of the evils that now atflict it, evils
which so cast distrust upon its future, as to
make the outside world refrain from going to
is aid, and the Congress of the nation from
rusting it. And if those who have hitherto
assumed to be its leaders have any real regard |