Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-06-11
THE LOGIC OF ABsoLurIsM.


rendered the Army of Virginia, the wish
uppermost in the minds of the Southern
people has been for peace and union OF
all the States. If any intelligent man IN
any section Of the country does not ex-
press this conviction, he cannot deny
that he feels it. The condition in which
the close of the war left the South pre-
cluded the remotest idea of an attempt.
on its part, in this generation, to assert
its independence. 1t was reduced to the
alternative of submitting to the reunion
of the States, or of being governed as
conquered provncc Of course, it could
not hesitate. 1t did not hesitate. Over
come by military power, it supposed that
it lay at the disposition of the same. II
looked to the commander-in-chef of
the armies to determine its i'm
mediate status. Accepting the idea
inculcated by unanimous North during
the tendency of hostilities, that the war
was carried on solely for the restoration
of the Union, it surrendered to the
Union. Its anxiety to be restored was
so persistently expressed, that it became
a subject of ridicule to those who in
tended from the first to be false TO every
solemn committal, formed party nu-
clues and eliminated under the lead of
STEVENS, SUMNER and others, in the Rad
ical organization Of 1866. They laughed
at the South's calamity and Knocked when
its fear came
] Now behold the progress of human
opinion. 1t is announced that the
union sentiment in the South is dying
ont, and the alleged circumstance is
made the pretext for delaying restora-
ton. If there was so much union sem
timent in the South at the close of the
war that it become a subject of redicule,
and yet the South was kept out, is it not
false, graceless, and even contemplate
to allege a want of union feeling nor as
the reason Of exclusion2 II can be
shown that at the meeting of Congress
in December last, there was little pre-
tense set up that the South was insincere
in knocking for admittance at the doors
of the Union. Exclusion was the result
of a party understanding that, for
party purposes, representatives from
the South were refused admittance. Why?
Because the Radical party desired a
majority of two-thirds, that they might
tear the Constitution to shrsds. and sub
stitute for it their party platform. The
Southern members would have rendered
that majority impossible In their seats,
the Civil Rights BILL the Freedmen's Be-
reau bill, and the Constitutional amend
ments, could not have passed. 1t was
determined to take advantage Of the
condition in which the war left the coun-
try to change the form of the Govern
meut. Our republican system did not
suit New England. 1t wanted absolutism
somewhere Its Personal Liberty bills
showed that il wanted absolutism in the
dispersion of power among the States
The intervention of the war dispelled
that fond and cherished delusion. The
attempt at secession indicated to it
that the States we're not sovereign, but
that power had passed to the Federal
Government Rapid as an eagle, it
sailed down from State sovereignty to
central absolutism, and there it is to-day
trampling upon personal liberty bills and
State rights as remorselessly as an ele-
plant tramples upon reptiles. Eleven
States are coolly told to remain out Of
the Union. The President is denounced,
the Cabinet are abused, and every OBJ
stacle to the Radical disruption Of the
Government is mercilessly crushed
Treason" traitor" and rebel," is
the cry, and, il must be confessed, is
thoroughly effective. 1t matters not, if
in point Of fact, there are no traitors and
no rebels. 1t is all the same. There
hare been, and thati is sufficient. Suchis
the logic Of the new absolutism party.
We shall see what manner of fruit il will
bear.