The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-01-26

the world, heretofore, wrongs and out
RACES innumerable happen there; but
that is not the question. The question
is what is the condition of the mass Of
| the people in the South; what is their
disposition and tendency; not to love
! the North, not to love the honorable
/ Senator from Observation-Disclosures
very much fear that will not be brought
about soon unless there is a change in
the temper of both parties-not to have
hearts overtiowing with love and graf
itude to those who persecute and hunt
them in their submission; who kick
and strike at them after they are down,
after they have cried 'enOugh'-but
/ the question is what is their disposition
| to obey the laws? What do we care a.
h"'.+ +hniv hearts or thair hisDnSitinns
if they are oOedAent to the laws, and
submit to the laws? Now they have
! submitted to laws which impose the
heaviest penalty, for if they are traitors
the law imposes the penalty of death
and cOnfiscatiOn Of estate by means OF
fine | will read what the President
says now of the condition Of that peO-
pie from the information he has receiv-
ed: "In that portion of the Union late
ly in rebellion, the aspect of affairs is
more promising than in view of all the
circumstances could well have been eX-
/ pected.o | think there is no candid
man who will not indorse that senti-
ment. "Thepeople throughout the en-
tire South eince a laudable desire to
renew their allegiance to the Cove m
ment, and to repair the devastations of
war by prompt and cheerful return
to peaceful pursuits"
Why should they not" To suppose
anything else is to suppose that they
are demented; that they have no kind
of common sense left; that four years
Of the most terrible war, and the most
terrible punishments ever inflicted up
! on people, have been without their
/ lessons. 1t cannot be, Mr.. President;
/ it is not in the nature of things that it
should be.
Gan abiding faith'' on the part Of
this man who suffered from these peO-
pie; who suffered from this war and
the doctrine Of secession, "An abiding
faith is entertained that their actions
will conform to their professions, and
that in acknowledging the supremacy
of the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, their loyalty will be un-
reservedly given to the Government,
whose leniency they cannot fail to APP
preciate, and whose fostering care will
/ soon restore item to a condition of pros
/ perity."
And here, Mr.. President, allow me
! to ask when in the history Of this world
or of the human family, has it happen
ed that severity, cruelty, persecution,
! refusal to recognize common rights, has
reconciled people and pacitied a dis
| tracted country; and when it happen
ed that clemency, leniency, as the Pres
dent expresses it, has failed to produce
| beneficial results? 1t is not necessary to
90 very far back for instances to show
! this. Look at the treatment of Eng
/ land toward Ireland. What has been
the result of her holding that people in
a species of vassalage? A Fenian insur-
rection upon her hands now, after hun
| dreds of years of attempt to dominate
over that people. Look at Poland;
| look everywhere. And if it be neces-
| sary to see what clemency, what len
! iency and Justice, and trust and conf
| dence can do to restore people once IN
| revolution, take the conduct of HOche
! in La Vendee. There, by the genius of
one man, high enough to be above vul-
| car passion, statesman enough to look
! to the future, La Nendee was restored
! to France, and is there now, part and
parcel of it, with every recollection Of
the revolution etfaced.
Says the President:
at is true that in some of the States
the demOralizing effects of the war are
| to be seen in occasional disorders
| these effects are to be seen in the North
as well as in the South-"but these are
! local in character, not frequent in Oc-
currence, and are rapidly disappearing
as theauthority of civil law iseXtended
and sustained. PerpleXing questions
were naturally to be expected from the
great and sudden change in the rela-
tions between the two races, but sys-
tens, are gradually developing them
i selves under which the freedman will
receive the protection to which he is
Justly entitled, and by means OF his Ia
Dor make himselfa useful and indepen-
dent member of the community in
which he has his home. From all the
information in my possession, and from
that which have recently derived
from the most reliable authority, | am
induced to cherish the belief that sec
tional animosity is surely and rapidly
merging itself into IA spirit of national
! ity, and that representation, connected
with a properly adjusted system Of tax
alton, will result in harmonious res
toration of the relations of the States
to the National Union"
There is little more testimony yet,
Mr.. President, and it is well worth