The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-12-05

expend them on the useless political dis
cnssions Of the day. If there ever was a
time when the Southern mind should be
aroused from its lethargy, and should dc
its duty to its country, it is now when the
Northern press is teeming with productions
which cast false and injurious reflections
on the Southern people, and when the ef
tort is making to hand them down to pos
terity as set Of barbarians, instead OF
honorable participants in great though
unfortunate struggle. Northern publish.
ing houses, too, are daily issuing publica-
lions which cannot fail to corrupt the pub
lie taste and sap the foundations of public
morality II indeed the intellect of the
South, as we believe, has been so trained
and stimulated by our recent adversitv az
to furnish in future intellectual sustenance
for the Southern people, without encoura-
ging the corrupt and licentious taste of
Northern men OF letters, then may we we'll
conclude that the war has resulted in some
good to the South. a.s. ,,,..,a
But if the intellectual Improvement of
the South has been, so great, the war has
developed, to a still greater extent, among
our people, the moral and social virtues of
life, to the cultivation of which their for
mer prosperity had proved serious obsta-
Gle. Wealth and luxury, sloth and effemi-
macy, had engendered corrupt and selfish
passions, which were, rapidly leading the
Southern people to the same destruction
that has attended such vices ia all ages of
the world. With the war, however, and
Its attendant poverty and Distress. came
the necessity for q change in the habits
and feelings of the people, and the annals
OF the epoch show that the higher virtues
OF life never shone with a more brilliant
lustre. The patience, fortitude and self
denial, the energy, industry and economy
which characterised the Southern people
OF all ages and of both. sexes have become
as proverbial as the brilliant achievements
Of the Southern soldiers in the field. Men
who had scarcely ever labored before, and
whose age or infrmities kept them from
active service, contributed largely to the
productions which supported the able
bodied who composed the armies of the
Confederacy; And if the duties performed
by the men are entitled to so much praise,
the conduct of the women of the South
during the war affords one of the subj:
NEST spectacles of heroic devotion and pa
tient suffering that the world has everseen.
In the hospitals OF the sick soldiers, or in
the huts of the poor where the absence of
their only protectors had been the cause of
restitution ard distress, was her angelic
presence found, ministering to the wants of
those who were unable to help themselves.
They labored with their delicate hands to
provide Tor their own necessities, and prac.
used the most rigid economy that some
thing might be saved towards alternating
the sutferlngs OF those. who were exposed
to the dangers and hardships Of the cam.
paign. They banished from their presence
the towards who staid at home,, and kept
alive the fires Of patriotism in The breasts
OF the respondent and the faint-hearted.-
The wife of Junius Brutus did not excel
them in virtue, nor the mother of Coriola.
nus IN patriotism. In devotion to duty
they rlyalled the Roman matrons who cast
their jewels into their conntry's treasury
and the Carthaginian maidens who twined
their cherished tresses into bow strings
for their countrys defenders.
/ have thus, my friends, enumerated
some OF the blessings the South has deriv.
ed from war which resulted so disas.
trously for her, in my anxiety to discover
some grain Of consolation for her people
who have been overwhelmed by such a
multitude of misfortunes. The practical
question for us now is, how shall we use
those qualities which have been evoked
and cultivated by the war, and to what
shall the energies of the South be devoted
in future? 1t will hardly be denied that,
with the sad experience of the past, and
the gloomy prospects of the future, it
would be wrong for the South ever again
to devote her time and talents so eXclu.
sively, to political matters. 1t has been
SAID that war and craftsmanship are the
natural professions of the ablest intellects
OF a great nation. If the triumphs OF
statesmanship and the prowess Of arms are
indications of greatness, then has the South
abundantly established her title to. that
distinctions BUTT will not be denied that
the devotion of the best talent of the
South to the service of the government
has been one of the principal causes of the
neglect of her physical development, and Of
her consequent impoverishment today
The ablest men of the South were ever
ambitious Of distinction on the political
arena, and while they were expanding their
energies in expounding the Constitution
and enacting the laws, our Northern
friends were developing the physical re.
sources of their country and manifesting
their carelessness of a Constitution whose
provisions they intended to set at nought
when it should suit their convenience; and
of laws which they would obey only when
such obedience would not interfere with
any of their peculiar notions. This pas
sion for public life on the part of Southern
men arose from the pride-which they felt
in the greatness of their country. The
reason for that pride ,haying ceased to exist
l hope the passion has been eXtinguished
along with beyond all hope Of future
revival. / feel now with the King Of
Brobdignag, that che who can make two
ears OF corn or two blades of grass grow
where only one grew before, is worth the
whole race of politicians put together
) By the action of the fanatics who controI
the general government the South is pre-
vented from ever taking any interest in
the greatness Of the American Republic
and hope she has no desire to avail her
self Of that privilege even if it should BIZ
extended to her. We have certainly seer
enough crimes committed by great nations
within the last five years, and enough out
RACES perpetrated for the promotion 81
their greatness, to Danish from The minds
of the yirtuous all desire of ever again
having anything to do with national great
ness, or national glory. AS it is generally
the case that the noblest examples of viz
tue are found among the humble and the
lowly, and that vice keeps pace with the
increase of wealth and prosperity, so are
nations, which are only aggregations o.