Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-04-13
Radicalism Cannot be SATISFIED.

In a recent article the New York Times,
speaking of the determination of the North to
seq that Justice is done to the negro, uses this
language: 90 If the Southern people lcere loiSe
90 they could promptly take the matter in hand
and settle the question themselves" Again,
saws the Times: E" A true and satisfactory peace
Sc cannot be found until the Union men of the
st North are satisfied that every vestige of the
&c slave system has been wiped out forever, and
's that every class, however ignorant or poor,
6, or even brutalized, is placed on an equality
& before the law"
We scarcely know how to reply to such an
argument, coming, as it does, from journal
that has latterly manifested friendly sentiments
towards the South. We would not be so thank
less as to say aught that could be construed as
a reproach, but we cannot pass over such an
argument from a source that stamps it with
responsibility, and gives it influence, without
some reply. If it is the legal duty of the
South to make the negroes, however "igno-
rant, poor or brutalized," "equal before the
law'' TO the whites, there must be some right
ON the part of the North to demand that
it shall be done. By his vote against
the Civil Rights Bill, and by his votes
against those propositions in Congress looking
to the investiture of negroes with suffrage, the
editor of that journal has denied such right on
the part of the North or of Congress. Does he
expect the Southern people to rebuke him and
place him in the wrongi Does he expect the
Southern people, more interested in these sub
iects than a Northern man can possibly be, to
admit what he denies-the right of the North
or of Congress to regulate their domestic inter-
nal affairs He says we should "settle the
question" so as to satisfy the North. If the
North has no right to settle the question in the
manner indicated, it has no right to demand
that the South shall settle it, or to make its so
doing condition precedent to its re-admiSsion
into the Union. The South neither expects
nor desires to satisfy the Radicals. 1t would
rather bear the worst they can inhict than sac
riRce its self-respect and its constitutional
rights, as also the rights of its pOsterity to
please Them 1t does desire to comply with
every requirement and wish of the President,
and to satisfy the honest Union men of the
North, and has "wiped out every vestige of the
slave SYSTEM" 1t would, no doubt, please, but
it would not satisfy SUMNER, STEVENS and their
lellow-Jacobins, if the South were to consent
to every humiliation and disgrace that they are
endeavoring to impose upon her. Nothing
short of the complete ostracism and utter ex-
termination of the Southern people will ever
satisfy these malignant spirits. They not only
hate, but they fear Southern men. They feel
that they have sinned against them past all
forgiveness, and they stand in personal as well
as political fear of retributiOn. To prevent
such consequences, it is their aim to keep
them poor, degraded and diStranchized.
The President is satisfied with the South
the Times sustainS the President, and We can
not understand how it can desire the South to
consent to what it and its editor, who is in Con-
gress, opposes-the unconstitutional and OPP
presSiye policy of the Radicals.