The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-03-27
From the Toledo Blade, (Rep.)

The newspapers of the extreme stripe are
engaged in picking out of the testimony be-
| fore the Reconstruction Committee such state
ments as show evidences of feeling dis
content and dissatisfaction ON the part of the
people of the South, which, to US, seems to be
an Improbable business.
All we can expect of them-all we have
any right to demand of them-is submission
! to the laws. The hotheaded returned soldier
will vent his spite in words for time; the
planter whose home has been destroyed will
curse the blue coats who did it; but if they
! yield obedience to the laws, and fulfill all the
conditions the Government imposes upon
them, it is all we expect or hope for.
The extremists who are insisting that they
shall be held in state of bondage until they
do love US, ask what guarantees have we that
they will not again rebel?
1. Their lack of strength. Were they
strong enough to again rebel, they would
not have stopped when they did. They laid
| down their arms because they could no Longer
WELD them-now they are without arms and
disorganized, while the Government is stong-
er than ever.
2. Their interest. They are literally ruined
and must have a term of peace to rebuild
their broken fortunes
| They are made of the same material as
| other men. They fought for their idea-they
lost, and they are making the best of what is
| left them. As matter of course they will
save out of the wreck all they can, and strive
to get back into the Union with as much of
what they went out with possible.
| It is the duty of the Government to read
nit them such terms will guarantee
a lasting peace, and make another rebellion
! impossible But to hold them aloof until
| they profess to love Il Government they do
not love-until they kiss the hand that smote
them-until they are so changed as to worship
a system they were educated to oppose, is to
pass sentence of exclusion on at least the
present generation. We can force them to
obedience, but not even bayonets can take
them farther.
1t makes no difference to the Government or
the people what they think, so that their acts
do not run counter to the laws made for them.
The old feeling will die out, and the an
cient love for the Government will take its
place, and this result will be reached before
the present generation fades away, if prudent
councils prevail at Washington. There
should be inducements held out for loyalty,
as well as punishment for disloyalty. It
should be made to the interest of the Southern
people to yield willing assent to the require
ments of the Government, andin short time
the anti-secessionists of those States will con-
troll them.
The admission of the Tennessee and Ar
kansas members is the first step TO be taken
in this direction. There can no evil result
from it, for Congress has the power to guard
itself against the admission of Improper apph-
cants. No man can take the test oath who
would not be an accession to the strength of
the Union majority.
Let them in. and in doing 50 put premi-
UNI on Southern loyalty.
The New Haven Independent says that
one-fifth of all the clergymen in Connecticut
were dismissed from their churches for i'm
proper conduct, during the past year. In the
same period there were only eleven ofdina-
tions. There are seventy empty pulpits in
the State, and strange to say, while religion
declines, politics improve.