The Portland daily press., 1866-01-24

/
The Great Want Of the South
When, the other day, Mr.. E. K. Pollard, the
irepressible editor of the Richmond E1amia-
er, attempted by means of bowie knife and
cow-hide to silence the correspondent Of the
New York Times, he was unconseiously Illus
trating the great underlying principle of the
southern social fabric. The contempt tor
law and for individual right, and the enthrone-
ment over both OF mere brute force, has been,
ana stlll IS the distinguishing characteristic of
society in the South. 1t was this which muz-
zled the press, which stifled free speech, and
made even free thought virtual impossibility.
which placed every mans life at the mercv of
a mob, and which growing always more out
rageous and defiant, finally eliminated in Sc
cession and rebellion. 1t is this fatal p,ocljv-
ity which yet stands more obstinately in the
way of the pacifcation and reh abilitation of
the South than anything else. The various
schemes of political reconstruction may be
good or bad in themselves, but they can have
little or no effect in establishing permanent
order until some means shall have been found
| for eradicating this deep-seated evil tendency.
We had written thus tar when, CHANGING to
take up the latest issue of the New York
Nation, we lighted upon an article which so
forcibly expresses our own views upon the
subject, that we cannot refrain from making
use of it. After saying that there is at pres
| ent, no quarter of the South, outside the
reach of Northern garri3ons, in which there
| is any safety for the life or property of man
who dares to speak or think differently from
his neighbors on any agitating question; and
that no Northern man can there hold and Ut
| ter the sentiments ON social and political top
| which the majority hold and utter here, the
writer adds: !, -sr.a
| We profess to place great reliance on the in
| fucnce of Northern emigration in reorganiz-
| ing Southern society, and modifying South
| ern opinions. But, at present, no emigrants
J can show their faces there with safety, or 90
to their beds with the certainty of rising in
the morning, unless they take special pains
| either not to exercise any influence whatever,
or consent, both by speech and example, to
strengthen Southern preiudices. Emigration
that viii be of any use to us politically is, un-
/ der these circumstances, not to be thought of
| Moreover, we look for a great change in
Southern feeling and habits through the
spread of education, and the diffusion of books
and periodicals amongst the poorer and mora
| ignorant classes. We look for the elevation of
| the negroes through the opening and main-
| tanning of schools for them, and the growth
| amongst them, as the result OF Northern
teaching, OF self-respect and of mutual respect.
| But the fact-the hard, stern, repulsive fact
| is that according to the testimony of all
those who have recently visited the South,
| there is no probability that any Northern
man will be allowed either to teach, write,
speak OF print in any part of the South, doc
| trines conflicting with those commonly he'd
/ in Southern society on social or political top
| les. Where is the district, we should like to
| know. in which a Northern man or woman
will be able to open and conduct school, or
! print newspaper, or make speech, with free
| dom and security, one month after the federal
/ troops are withdrawn ? What probability is
| there, in short, that any of the influences
which we most value, and which we consider
most conducive to progress and civilization
| can be brought anywhere into play at the
South under the protection of State laws?
/ , Now the very basis of civil sooioty is seeuri-
1 ty of life and property. Freedom of speech
/ and of locomotion, of trade, of following all
| lawful callings, from selling needles to making
stump speeches, without let or hindrance, Is at
the very foundation of tree society, and above
4. H.. "A
| things there is no freedom, and there can be
| no progress in civilization. an1 to talk OF the
\ authority of the United States being really
restored over any State or territory or district
| in which 1t cannot guarantee these things to
all classes of the population, is an abuse Of
language, All reconstruction, though it give
| every black at the South two votes, which did
not secure these things to both white men
| and blacks, would be delusion and O. snare
| and all arrangements for bestowing the suf-
frage on the negro, or for coercing his late
masters into giving it him, which do not pro-
vide also for protecting him in the exercise of
it, and in preparing his mind for the light ex-
ercise of it, will prove futile. The South viii
never really be in this Union until Henry
i Warl Beecher can read an article from the
New York Tribune on the steps of the prin-
cipal hotel in jackson, Missis sippi, and can
3peddle" the paper afterwards, should he feel
so disposed, through the town, without feai
of other harm than what may come from a
sscathing editorial in the local World or
Dailu Nesvs, whatever their names may be.
That Is no part of the A,nericm linton IN
truth and in deed, no matter scho uotes In IL
or hoao many members IL may send to Congress
in achich any man. may not speak The thing h
| arills, or in achicb he has to fear q p0lUeT be
sied the lao arlich the la,u cannot control.
For many years before the war the South
! was in the Union only In name. Its connec
ton with the North was hardly recognized by
| local legislation or local opinion. The domin
4 ion of law as we understand it, and as every
civilized country must understand it If i
means to retain its civilization, was unsncwr
in the mass of the Southern people. The ne
cessities Of their social system made respect
for legal forms, or processes, or individual
rights, impossible The quick, sharp, peremp
tory mandate of mob of citizens collected
from the neiehbor,ng plantations Is at thi:
moment the highest sanction known to mos
Southern men, something far higher than act
of the Legislature or DEGREES of courts. TIL,
: idea of deliberate resistance tc local vigi
lance committee Is what never enters into tn
head OF Southern boy.
IF we want peace at the South, and perma
! npnt peace, we must in some way or othel
FIRST Of all familiarize the mass of the peopl
with the idea Of law as an irresistible powe
to which all must bow and which throws jus
the same amOtint Of protection over the mean
est as the proudest black or white.
If this can only be done by force force w
must have to do it, and, until this is cone, tn
first step has still to be made in the re-organi
zation Of Southern society. Whatever militia
ry force may be necessary to afford to ever,
n freeman, of every color, the protection which
the Constitution guarantees him. in persoI
and property, we must maintain, and in dom.
. so we shall be carrying out the true Democrat
ic theory Of government. The absolute 90
minion of a few men over any spot OF our sol
is the vilest kind of oligarchy--no very grea
improvement on feudalism.
y