The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1866-07-13
Twelve Months Ago.

What changes have occurred during the
past twelve monthsl Lees surrender took
place in April, 1865; then followed Joe
Johnston's; then Dick TaylOr's, and Kirby
Smiths, and the fighting was over.
The parOled boys in gray, after battling
for four dreary years. and vindioating their
manhood on many bloody field, came
home as best they could. singly, in squads,
weary and cast down. The embattled hosts
have disappeared: have subsidized into citi-
zens-are now farmers, mechanics, work
men, lawyers, doctors, business men-the
"boys in blue" and the ''boys in gray"
who so long confronted each other in the
fierce shock of battle, now are found side
by side in the peaceable avocadons of life;
and in place of destroying are now pro-
ducing.
"Grim yisaged war has smoothed his
wrinkled 'front.' smiling Peace broOds over
the land, and is fast healing and hiding the
ghastly wounds of war.
Look back at the state Of things year
ago, and compare them with the present,
and see what wonderful progress has been
made in one short twelve months. Armies
disbanded by wholesale; the tread of fterible
battalons no longer heard; farms hamlets,
towns, cities, no longer destroyed by war,
but repaired by peace. Nature smiles se-
rene, and lends her bounteous hand to re-
store and repair wars ravages. Men, set
free to labor unmolested aud to reap the
due rewards thereof, are heartily at work,
fulfilling the Divine command. Ciyilly, all
was chaos year ago: Dread and despair
possessed the people: Law and order were
in abeyanoe. Now, civil government ex-
ists-State action goes on; courts sit, law
reigns, justice is executed, the citizen is
protected, the criminal is punished. The
gallows and the headman's axe 49,
no political victims. A msgn
Government hae granted general pardon
and amnesty to all of us in rebellion to
overthrow its lawful authority. It's authori-
ty now reigns supreme where for more than
four years it was set at armed defiance
The ports are open, trade is unrestricted,
commerce resumes its old channels, the
Post Offices are being opened. the taxes
are collected, the railroads are repaired, and
travel is as of yore-no passports, no
guards, NO oaths-but ali free to go at will.
When so much has been accomplished
towards a return to civil life, to regular
government, to law and order, to free, un-
restricted labor, trade and travel, to the res
toration of political rights, shall We be cast
down because ay is not yet secure? No.
The wonder is, that 50 much has been ae-
complished in one short year.
Time, patience, quiet, obedience and
cheerful acquiescencs in the Inevitable, will
work out for US as People our full politi-
/ cal salvation under the new dispensation.
This has been one of the mightiest reVo-
lutions the world ever saw, and we can't
expect to recover from it in one year, nor
even to realize fully the great changes it
has already effected and is destined to effect
in the unfolding of PFovidsno& We ex-
perisnee yet many of the evils of the war,
its disastrous results, aud have not been
able to accommodate ourselves fully to the
new status. Politically, we have no voice
in the national legislation, because Con
grsss has not yet seen proper to accord It to