The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1866-03-13
HOY. to Cultivate Loyalty in the South

From the Springfield Republican, (Rep.(
A southern man may be loyal without GO
ing into ecstacies of delight over Thad. Stew
ems projects for disfrsnchislng the white
men of the south and confsoating their prop
erty To require Ehe south thus TO kiss the
rod that smites, an evidence OF loyalty, ls
TO require what human nature IN it's most
meek and gracious state has never achieved.
It is very much like the old fashioned test
applied to converts-they could not be saved
till they were willing to be damned. And
Yet this is the gist of great deal OF the prev
alent denunciation of the south. The arti-
Giles copied from southern papers as evidence
of disloyslty are chiefly distribes against the
northern extremists, who seek the further
punishment and humiliation of the south
The same papers avow their earnest purpose
to obey the institution and laws, TO accept
all the results of the war, and to conduct IN
every respect as good citizens OF the United
States. Pollard's low abuse of the Virginia
womsn who dance with Union officers is pro-
yoking enough, but it is not treason and the
suppression of his Richmond Examiner
a mistake that the president did we'll TO cor
rect What the government needs to do in
the south is not to suppress disloyal speech
and writing, but to maintain freedom of
speech and the press for all, loyal and dis
loyal. There was no such freedom in the
south while slavery existed. 1t has come in
with emancipation, and must be protected,
wherever imperilled by the old spirit of cast
and sectional hatred.
The same thing is true OF the prejudice
against colored men. 1t cannot be cured by
act of congress. Time, education, the social
changes wrought by freedom, will overcome
it, Meanwhile the government must protect
ell classes of citizens in their rights, and hav-
ing done this, its proper work is done. If it
attempts direct interference with liberty of
opinion it will only increase the evil it seeks
to remedy. The freedmen are now generally
at work on liberal wages. thousands OF
schools are educating their children, and If
the process of ameioration is allowed to go
on we shall see great results, and no infu-
ence will be able to exclude the freedmen
from such position as their improved charac-
ter will command.
1t would be we'll if our impatient reformers
understood better the real situation at the
south if they could meet with intelligent
southern men and read the leading southern
papers. Already the attempts to revive the
old hatred of the south and to inaugurate
hostile measures has made it impossible that
there shall be republican party In the re-
claimed states for q long time to come. and
has nearly destroyed that party in the bor-
der states. The senators from West Virgin
Ia are denounced for voting against the freed
mems bureau bill, but ii was impossible for
them to do otherwise and 10 Is evident that
if the lead of such extremists as Stevens is
followed, the republicans must make up their
minds to get along without a party in any
southern or border state, and with half the
western and central states In doubt, to say
the least. Indeed, there Is no certainty that
even New England can be carried unbroken
for the Stevens policy.
Another illustration of the same general
fact is found in the effect which the exclusion
of loyal congressman from the south is hav-
ing upon the southern Unionists. The Rich
mond Republic the only Richmond paper
whose loyalty has never been questioned
continues to implOre congress to admit the
senators and representatives from Virginia
whose loyalty is assured, and says:
"The loyal population of Virginia have cast
their lot for veal with the American I'm
ION. They have utilization either with those
lew decrepit Bourbons of the south, who never
can comprehend a new idea, with those in
sidious agitators of the north, who are seeking
again to fan the flames of sectional animosity for
their own political and personal advantage. IL it
which gave birth to the Union, and who have re-
manned faithful among the faithless should sub
jected to perpetual ostracsm 20
Congress ought to listen to these appeals.
They cogently reinforce the appeals of the
presidents for Justice to the Union mon of the
south. The attempt to turn aside their force
by accusing the president of desiring to
place traitors in congress is too shamefully
false to have any weight. He has made il