New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-18
THE SOUTH AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT.

B,
To its distorted vision virtues take the form
Of vices, and heroic qualities are nothing but
objects of sarcasm and ridicule. Il is not
surprising, therefore, that the Herald takes a
curious view Of the questions before the coun-
try, and one which, in fact, people endowed
with ordinary directness of intellectual vision
are utterly incapable Of approaching. The
manner in which the constitutional amend
ment is pressed on the consideration Of the
Southern people. affords an example Of our
meaning. The radical papers make no con-
cealment Of the purposes with which they
wage war on the South. Bitter and yindictive
as they may be, they are yet serious in their
aims and earnest in their objects. But the
Herald seems incapable of understanding de-
signs which are entertained on the one side,
or the principles by which the other side is
guided. For every expression Of conscien-
tious duty it has only the sneer Of Mephis-
topheles. Take the following as an illustra-
ton:
The section of the constitutional amendment
before the States which proposes, till absolved by
q two-thirds vote of Congress, to debar from all
federal Offices hereafter all that class of men who
violated their oaths to support the Constitution as
officers in the service Of the United States, civil,
judicial or military, by engaging in the late re-
bellion, is considered in the South severe exee-
tion. It has been suggested to us, however, that
in thus clearing of all the old politicians of the
South that brought on and managed the rebel
ion--sueh rs the Masons and Hunters and Wises,
of Virginia; the Rhetts, Hamptons and Quettle-
buns of South Carolina; the Stephenses,
Toombses and Cobbs, of Georgia; the Dayises
and Thompsons, of Mississippi; the Benjamins,
Soules and Sdells, OF Louisiana. and so on to the
end of the chapter--the Southern States will be
relieved Of an immense lot Of useless rubbish and
vastly to their advantage for a new start IN the
Union. Thsis good idea. 1t is the very thing
which the Southern States ought to desire above
all other things release from all that batch of
pestlential old politicians that plunged the South
into the abyss of this late disastrous rebellion.
But not only viii the people and the States con-
cerned be relieved by this amendment Of these
old misehief-makers; they will be free to bring
into the work Of Southern political and social re-
construction anew set of leaders from their young
and vigorous men, controlled by the new ideas
they will have learned from the war-ideas con-
sstent with and adapted to the new order of
things This is the only reconstruction, after ALL
which Will put the South at once on the high road
to prosperity, wealth and power.
This is what the Herald calls 'scleal1ng
away the old political rubbish of the South. y
But We assure the Herald that We have use
yet for such rubbish" We need all the
efforts, the energy, and the hope which are to
be found among our young men but we need
also the intelligence and the experience OF
those persons at whom the Herald levels its
malevolent but harmless sareasms The
South viii never admit the justice, the Wis
dom, on the expediency Of excluding from her
eounsels the class Of men against whom the
constitutional amendment directs Its proscrip-
tive purposes. She will never admit that it
is her duty to aid in disfranchising the men
who acted as her leaders in the council and
the field during her fierce but unhappy strug-
gle for independence. In ratifying consti-
tutional amendment which involves such a
result she sees nothing but merited con-
tunely and disgrace. Even if the number to
be affected were but small that number
comprises her most cherished citizens; it em-
braces Davis, Lee semmes and others, in
fact, almost al Of the experienced intelligence
and yalor of the South But the number is
net small On the contrary it is so large that
to accept the constitutional amendment would
be equivalent to disfranehisement of that
vast number Of intelligent persons -intelli-
gent certainly as compared with the ignorant,
which radical doctrine aims to invest with
political power who have been, in one way
or another, engaged in public affairs. 1t
would exclude all of the officers Of the old
army and navy who entered the Confederate
service, all persons who had been members of
Congress, or postmasters, Eor officers of the
customs; all 5Who had ever held any State
,fiee, 81 had been members of State legis-
ature. The number would count not BY
lundfeds but BY thousands. 70 prescribe ali
hese persons would be bad enough at any
inle but when we are asked to prescribe
hem because they were. with us and not
tgainst US, we cannot regard the proposal
except IN the light Of studied insult. The
Herald suggestion that We should strive to
get rid Of these persons because they sspluneed
The South into the abysslof this late disas-
srous rebellion, is only less Insulting to our
homer because it is 1nore insulting to our in
5elligence. 1t is not true that they tspluneed
The South into the war. The secession Of
5he Southern States was compelled by an ire
siatible current Of public opinion 4 The notion
thatit was brought about BY intriguing poll
tioians was well enough for the purpose 81
amusing the credulous North at a time when
It was necessary to decry the strength of the
Southern movement; but it is opposed to the
most notorious facts Of our political history
II fact, the unanimity with which the South
srn people supported, may commanded seces-
sion in 1S60-61, is only paralleled by the
with which they now desire to be
restored to the Union, on q fair and impartial
basis Of constitutional rights. In that case
IS in this, their wishes and their feelings
we're governed by the presumed exigencies Of
heir rights and interests. The Herald may
oerhaps learn, in future, that the style Of its
irguments is not suited to the character Of
he Southern people. tt simply wastes words
when it counsels us to dishonor, and offers
he boon Of its friendship as the considera-
ion.
JnsU1rs IN TRoupIE. The Jesuits nom
Venice who have taken refuge at Prague are
ii trouble. Shortly after their arrival their
louse was surrounded by i vast crowd, who
shouted Down with the Jesuits Down
gith the hangmen r