The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-12
Magnanimous Temper of the South
0ru PeOule.

The sl,bjoined article from the New
York World contains many just state
ments and judicibus reflections, which
we trust the Administration and the
; people of the North generally will
calmly ponder:
The bearing of.the Southern people
under their defeat and the immense
loss of property involved in the eman-
cipation Of their slaves, is more gene
rous, manly and self-respecting thar
we had any reason to expect. From
the Potomac to the Rio Grande, there
Is not single guerilla band nor any
demonstration of resistance to the
Federal authority. TIE influential
statesmen of the South anG their
trusted military lenders, are disposed,
to man, to acquiesce in reunion and
make the best of the situation. Gen.
Lee, whom the Southern people almost
revere, is an open applicant foy par
don, and lends his weighty example
to q sincere and faithful submission 10
the laws.
Gen. Johnston, who stood next to
Lee IN Southern consideration, has
publicly given as rational advice to
his fellow-citizens as could have been
dictated by the staunchcst friends of
the Union. Mr.. Boyce, of South ca
rolln:', Governor Brown, of Georgia.
and other Southern statesmen of equal
distinction, have made addresses coun-
selling acqniescence in the abolition OF
slavery and fealty to the Federal Go
vernment. The Southern newspapers
are almost universally conducted in
the same admirable and manly spirit.
There Is no contumacious sullenness,
no captlous defining on the Constit,,-
ton, no refractory assertion Of State
sovereignty, no h:::s!. criticism, Of the
policy of President johnson, none of
the naughty tone Of self-assertion once
STD characteristic of Southern public
men. And yet there is nothing scrvile
or craven in the general tone Of ac-
qulesccnce and submission. 1t is the
simple manifestation of good sense
and manly feeling, which accepts the
inevitable without womanish petulence
and seeks, i'll straight forward man
ncr, to adapt itself to the actual sitra-
ton.
AS Americans, the South has given
us no reasons to be ashamed of our
count,ymen. They made, to be sure,
4 terrible mistake in going into this
contest; but orcc in, they bore them
selves with Il resolution, gallant-v.
persistence and fidelity to each other,
winch did no >..i.;>..,di1 10 t.ia;r .,,:h1;c
spirit and sollivrly qualities Inc
h|r'llran and protracted eXertion We
were compelled; TO make to subS.ue
them, attest their vi:gor and ardor;
and after SO to:lgh = contest we canno3
deny them the possession of great
Qualities without humiliating seif-dis-
paragcmcilt ];ut the franlSness of
then submission, when they SAW fi.cv
were beaten, i, as conspicuous a proof
OF n.asLanimity as the chivalric de-
terml,ati~n III. which they fought
against superior odds. ~ ;,d(..s 70 our
sense of national strength that. IN
future wars with foreign powers, we
shall have tn" support of men who
understand SO well the duties Of SOL
dicrs and citizens.
Considering tl.irp: .,sent admirable
bearing, ought We to treat them as
friends or as. enemies? When we
separated from Great Britain We pro-
claimed to the world, i'll the Deuiara !
ton OF Independence, that we should
hold the Britons, like otler foreign
peoples, ''enel.. e:' in war, III peace
friends" Shall We treat our own re-
pcntant brethren With less ma..nani-
nifty than foreign nations prac actica
toward each other? Having treated
these bravo and misguided fellow !
conntrvmen as enemies in war, shall /
we rc;nse to treat them us friends in /
peace? Why should our newspapers
teem with calnmnies on their charac- |
ter? When they so ir,,1k]y accept the
new order Of things, and the mighty
revolution in their social system, What
sense, what lnagnanimit::, what de- !!
cenry even, is there in subjecting
them to needless humiliation and in
lignities? Nobody fears new rebel
lion: nobody bn1jevnS thc+ +bo f,o,>l