Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-01-23
Reconstruction and LOYALTY.


These terms, which are now used so frequent
ly, are understood differently in the North and
South. In the South, we mean by ''reconstruc-
ton, the establishment of the Union as it was
before the ,cor, with the enjoyment of all the
rights guaranteed by the Constitution In the
South, we mean by loyalty, cheerful obedience
to the Constitution of the United States and all
laws passed in pursuance thereof
In the North, different views are held; at
least it is the case with that class which we de-
nominate Radicals. The Charlottesville va
Chronicle well says, that what these Northern
Radicals mean by reconstruction is not the
submission of the South to the Federal author
ity in good faith, but the Submission of the
Southern mind to the Northern mind, both IN
its opinions and feelings. They are not content
to enslave the body; they wish to enslave the
SOUL The man who differs from them is
wretch that ought to be suppressed; and it is
an inexcusable act of moral turpitude for man
reared in Florida to say the weather is warm,
when it is cool in Massachusetts,. As Massa-
chusetts sees a>proposition so, for the sake Of
the unity of the Puritan Empire, Texas man
must recognise precisely the sameoutline.
"a well-reconstructed Southern man must also
have satisfaction in pain-when the loyal North
en man strikes him, he must experience
pleasurable sensation He must not wax sad
over the desolations Of the South, because true
loyalty does not care button what becomes Of
the South, and is ever radiant with joy at the
70 @ho
rough sel6shness and heartessness. It forces
negro suffrage ON the helpless inhabitants of the
the District with the tyrannical remark that
these people in their hearts sympathized with
the rebellion. 1t would no more think of al
lowing these negroes to migrate to the State of
Vermont and vote, than the wolf would think
Of giving it's supper to the lamb. Loyalty is
not concerned baubee whether the weight of
mountain is placed ON the wasted, enfeebed
frame of the South, but it is alive with passion
if feather rests for moment on its own
brawny shoulders. Loyalty has blasted the
black man all through the North, and denied
hun the most ordinary privileges; but it would
make Jamaica of the South, with as little
concern as a schoolboy cuts down the monarch
OF the forest to get at a squirrel Loyalty needs
not the cry of anguish that goes up from the
South any more than the remorseless hounds
hear the signs Of the noble stag they have at
last pulled down Loyalty regards the South
as legitimate field for the practice of any and
all Massachusetts, theories, just as atrocious
criminals are given over to surgeons and physi-
nc f,,. do,,btf,1
Loyalty is like the man who used to whip
his slaves until he made them laugh: it pun
ishes, requires contrition, and then gladness =
For rebel to become loyal, he must not say
that he submits to the arbitrament of the sword
he must say the sword was a good sword, and
and that he has ceased to love what he loved
before he felt it, Loyalty requires boy wing
refuses to take physic to take it after being
whipped-but this is not all it insists on-the
boy must like the physic. No Southern man
is loyal, if he retains any local attachments he
must contract disgust for his ancestors, and
snap all the ties and associations of the past
Loyalty requires that any prejudice against So
cal equality with the negro must not be cher
ished at the South, but is fundamentally in
ConneAicut
"We understand reconstructed Southern
man, in the sense of Northern Radicals, to
mean that such Southern man must become
thoroughly AFFECT in his nature, and go to Mas
sachusetts for opinions, as the devout Catholic
seeks the confessor to get his religious faith
Until he undoes himself and believes against
his conscience-no matter what his outward
conduct-he is still in rebellion. War should
carry conviction as well as enforce submission
War should prove, as well as over-master IF
the surrender of General Lee did not convince
the people of Virginia that they were race Of
scoundrels, they need farther reconstruction. ;"