The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1866-09-13


after the close of the war it is more than
probable that the condition and disposi
ton of the people would now be far bet
ter than they are. But on the subjuga
tion of the South the national authority
in the lately rebelllous States was divid-
ed and broken up into opposing factions,
whose action greatly hindered the re.
establishment of civil law and good or.
der so much needed among people de-
moralzod by the most demoralizing Of
all agencies-civil war. The country
was flooded with Treasury agents who,
with their accomplices and imitators,
Aeeced the people right and left, return.
ing into the United States Treasury for
all the enormous amount OF property
they seized and con6scated, barely en-
ough to pay the cost of confscation.-
Agents of the Freedmen's Buresu step
ped between the planter and the laborer,
stirring up strife, perpetuating antagon-
ism and often adding their quota of ex.
tortion and oppression. On every hand
the people saw themselves robbed and
wronged by agents and self-appointed
agents protesting to act under the sane.
tion of the United States government -
Need it be wondered at, that among a
community thus dealt with, powerless
to resist, and too weak aud Frustrated
for successful complaint, some bitter
ness and illfeeling should arise !? None
but brave and well-meaning people
could have endured unresistingly all
that the South has undergone.
In prosecuting this inquiry l hardly
deemed it fair to ask more than what
had been the actions of the people of
the South toward the general govern
ment. With their private opinions,
their sympathies, and their prejudices l
had nothing to do. Yet for a more
thorough understanding of the question
I made it part of my mission to inves-
tigate even these. I found they had
universally complied with the condi.
tions granted and accepted at the final
surrender of their armies and cause.
found that they were carrying out with
good faith and alacrity the requirements
of the constitutional amendment abol-
ishing slavery, and that in all the States
except Mississippi and Texas, the
famous Civil Rights Bill has beer an.
ticipated by the action of the State
Legislatures previous to its passage by
Congress. Further than this, I found
that in the reputation of every dollar
known as the confederate debt, the same
prompt action had been taken by the
State authorities, and hq6 been univer-
sally endorsed by the people; and I
neither saw nor heard any disposition,
or anything that pointed toward dis.
position to repudiate the national debt
or to revive the institution of slavery.
But whilst the Southern people are
thus loyal, and have fulfilled all the re-
quirements asked of them by the Fed
eral government, it is impossible to dis.
guise the fact, and the better class of
citizens do not attempt to disguise it,
that there is among them deep feeling
and strong apprehension as to the
cause Of their long, continued exclusion
from Congress. They believe that it is
a part of set plan for perpetuating the
existence of the political party now in
the ascendant, and that the question Of
suffrage, readjustment of representation
and taxation are but excuses for still
longer delay. Thus regardless of the
great interests, not only of the suffering
South, but Of the whole country, bur
dened with debt and laboring under Sc.
we're embarrassment, l found the pre-
vailing opinion among the most anxious
for an early restoration of the Union, to
be that, if representation and an equa.
and just cooperation in the administra
ton of federal affairs were much longer
withheld from the Southern States, a
feeling of indifference would spring up
towards taking any part in filling fed
eral Offices, aud more particularly
towards re-flling their seats in Congress
that the people, in fact, would stay away
from the polls and allow the elections to
go by default, to the great detriment of
the country at large. This feeling Of
Indifference indeed is already manifest
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