The Portland daily press., 1866-04-20
Southern Expectations.


s----------------- faH >
-l Southern Expectations.
While the South Carolina Convention was
sitting i'm Charleston, during the last month Oh
1880, a stranger one day meeting MIR. fettigru'
the only outspoken Union man in the CITY Ut
State. asked to be directed to the Insane Asy-
lum. "There p said Mr.. Pettigru, poinung To-
ward Secession Hall, "that is the place you
are looking for" Few other men in the whole
South would have dared to utter the sarcasm.
There were many who distrusted the Spolicy"
of secession; comparatively few who felt that
their allegiance was due to the country, in
stead of the State; only here and there one
who fully believed that the whole movement
was insane from the beginning, and that the
result of such madness could only be misera-
BILE failure. r ... ,...... .....5 ....-. .-74pi.
Mr.. Stephens, of Georgia. was one of the OPP
ponents of secession. In convention, he spoke
and voted against the ordinance purporting to
withdraw his State from the Union. With
him however, it was question merely OF pol
icy, not of right. When his State voted to Sc
cede, he assented to the decision of the major
ity, without thought of his allegiance to the
national government. The only difference be-
tween Mr.. Stephens and Mr.. Davis, was diff
ference of opinion as to the result of seces-
sion. II Mr.. Stephens had believed, as Mr..
Davis did, that the Southern Confederacy
would attain its independence and become
great aristocratic republic, the grounds of his
opposition would have been entirely removed
After his election as Vice President of the
Confederacy, Mr.. Stephens said at Savannah,
"The negro is not equal to the white man.
Slavery, subordinationto the superior race, is
his natural and normal condition. This, our
new government, is the first in the history of
the world, based upon this great physical,
philosophical and moral truth |" '+,N
1t is curious to see what are low the views
of man, who thus adopted the most offensive
doctrines of the Southern creed whose notion
of Southern rights included the right of seces-
sion and the right to hold property in man.
A naturally fair-minded man, though thor
oughly imbued with the prejudices of his sec
ton, we should expect to find him prepared to
accept the verdict of arms on the two questions
of secession and slavery, and this he does 1t
was not to be expected that he would yoiun-
tarily yield more than has been ext0xted from
him by the logic ofevents. We publish else
where this morning that portion of his testi-
mony before the Congressional Committee on
reconstruction, which sheds most light upon
the present expectations of the communities
of which Mr. Stephens is in every way most
suitable representative. ,- ~ -,
The substance of the testimony is, that the
people of Georgia abandon the right of seces.
sion and accept the abolition of slavery. Con-
ceding so much, they viii refuse to assent
either to an extension of the right of voting to
negroes, or to restriction of the basis of rep
resentation. That is, they insist that the ne
groes shall neither vote themselves nor be
counted out. They deny the right of Congress
to insist upon amy conditions precedent to
their complete restoration to full political priv
ileges. They deny the constitutionality of laws
passed by the present Congress. though Mr..
Stephens says for himself, that he shall expect
to abide by the Judicial decision of the question
We regret that the South has been led to
entertain such vain expectations. The South
ern delegates voluntarily Withdrew from the
halls of Congress. They will not be received
there again merely for the asking Rebellion
is not an innocent amusement. The commu-
mites which participated in that desperate
game, will not be allowed to take part in the
government of the nation they sought to desi |
ditions as the safety of the common wealth de- |
mands. The victory which has been won in |
the field will not be lostin the Senate Cham |
Der. Especially, the States which formerly |
had Representative in Congress for every |
$4,000 negroes, will not be rewarded for rebel |
lion by the allotment now of one Representa-
tive for every 10000 negroes. The just de- |
mands of the North are backed by an unaIter- |
able purpose. The perverseness which has |
been developed at the South during the year |
since Lees surrender, may hinder the work OF |
restoration; it viii not essentially change the
method 1t is understood that the majority |
in Congress, after such deliberation as the sub |
ject required, has settled upon and will soon |
announce to the country the requirements
which will be insisted upon Ifthose require
ments are, as they undoubtedly will be, sim
ply such guarantees as the course of the dis, /
cussion has shown to be necessary to the Sc \
curity and peace of the country, the Northern
people will maintain them with manimity
and constancy such as the South has already |
experienced. If the Southern States are not |
ready 10 accept reasonable conditions of resto-
ration to national Influence, we can wait until
they are. o,'e loe. l5ai...5 ban sba,a 81 45fo M