The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-01-24

Hindrances to RestOratlOn. siit
Four months ago the impression was
almost universal in the South that the in
strgent States would be speedily admitted
to a full participation in the privileges of the
Union. North Carolina was regarded as most
likely to admitted first, and it was hoped
that her sisters would soon follow. The
work of restoration was progressing finely,
and the plan of the President was regarded
as the main hope of early restoration The
President and the Provisional Governors ap-
pointed by him have performed their duty
in this great work, in manner which has
received the commendation of ALL Nothing
remained but to convince the majority in
Congress of the thorough loyalty of the peo-
pie of the insurgent States; and the elections
that were held were naturally looked to. to
produce this conviction, and to make it clear
even to the most radical" in that body, that
the people of the South were submitting in
good faith, and would omit no proper or
becoming act to re-unite themselves in fra
ternal bonds with the Northern people. The
result of these elections, and their effect upon
the Congress are known; but, unfortunate as
that result has been in many respects, our
condition has been aggravated, and Congress
and the Northern people have been set
against us, more, perhaps, by the course of
certain public prints in the South than by
the result of the elections. And the reason
for this is plain. 1t was hoped that the cleo
tions did not fairly indicate the temper of
our people; that they had turned on local
issues, or on the popularity of the various
candidates; or that the preference shown for
Secessionists or doubtful Unionists over
sound and decided Unionists, was merely
harmless indication of sectional feeling which
would gradually but certainly subside.
But the course of the presses referred to
has confirmed, whether justly or not, the be-
lief in the Northern mind that the Southern
people are not as submissive and as loyal as
they should be, and has given to the social
ed "radicals' - handle against the work of
restoration which is used with marked effect
Just now, the main hindrance to the restora-
ton of the Union is the course of these
presses. They carp, complain, denounce,
and even threaten. They assailleading mem
bers of the Cabinet and members of Con-
gress. They eulogize Mr.. Davis, and charac-
terize the purpose to try him for treason as
bloodthirsty, and as unworthy of great peo-
pie They glory in the fact that Mr.. Davis
and Gen. Lee fought it out" and they
make this the test ofpolitical merit. They
tolerate Union men in the South by saying
that they will do well enough if they will
only be quiet, aspire to no offices, and per-
NIT them to rule the country. 1t would
seem, indeed, to an intelligent stranger who
should read these prints, without being in
formed of our real condition, that they were
opposed to the reconstruction of the Union,
and were doing all in their power to widen
the breach between the Government and the
insurgent States. As a specimen of the
course of these presses, we copy the follow
ing highly objectionable article from late
number of the Richmond Examiner:
zone year ago, Jefferson Davis was second to
| no living man in fame and the Importance of his
| position; he was the head of six millions of peo
| pie struggling for nationality; year ago, he was
| the Commander-in-C Chief of armies that bore up
on their battle-lags the names of Manassas and
! Charlottesville, of Shiloh and Chickamauga, o
| Lexington and Mansfield, and of q navy whose
prowess had driven Yankee commerce from the
seas.
| History records no more Startling revolution
than twelve short months have wrought in his and
| his peoples condition. The muskets of his ar
mics are stacked; the blood-red flag, with its
starry cross, no longer CLEANS amidst the smoke
| of battle, Orleads the van OF charging sQuadr0ns
another ensign floats from the masthead of his
warships and the summit of his capitol his
l ruined people brood by their deSolate hearth
4 stones, or struggle in unwonted ayoeations to
avert the bitterness of want; and he who wa;
| their chief and representative now languishes
sick of body and of heart, in dreary prison
| house
The Congress of the United States has deman
ded of the President to be informed why Jeffer
son Davis has not been arragned for trial, and tht
response is before the country. The hearts of thu
| Radicals are made jubilant, and those of our peO
| pie wrung by the assurance that the illustrOu:
| Chief whose renOwn filled ChrstendOm; who
following the example of Washington, lacked on
ly his success to have rivaled his fame, is to bt
dragged from his prison and tried like common
malefactor for the crimes of treason, assassina
ton and the murder of prisoners of war Him
| whom success would have made demi-gOd, fail
ure has made felon. He, who in the face of tn,
| demands of Congress- of the press and the peo
pie, tempered justice with mercy, and ever re
fused to retaate upon Federal prisoners thu
atrocities perpetrated by Butler, Turchin and Me
Neil upon Confederate citizens and soldiers, nov
. finds the recognition of his clemency in beins
charged with the murder and starvation of thos'
whom he protected and saved
In no other land and in no other nation coul(
this thing be. Earth contains no people who, il
the hour of triumph so complete for themselves
and a defeat so overwhelming for their enemies
would not scorn to sully the lustre of victory b,
the meanness of revenge. Not SO with those t.
| whose tender mcrcies he has fallen prey; indi
| yiduals and generations pass away, but instincts
are imperishable as they are immutable, and trus
to its cruel and pertidious nature Puritanism
| that fed from persecution upon one continent t(
enforce it upon another, that branded with no
irons the unoffending disciples of o creed which
forbade resistance, and ran riot in the murder O
the feebest and most aged of those whose gentle
sex should have been their unanswerable appea
for pity, still finds its quarry in the defenceless
| and the weak
Between us of the South and the radical Puri
tanick masses of the North; between US who are
SO weak and those who are SO ferocious, just be
cause we are so weak, there has been one barrier
| Godgranttilat President johnson may yet contin
ue true to the high mission to which he is called
God grant that he may not yield to the clamors
/ of the butchers and money-ehapgers who pOllute
the National temple, and find their fit mouth-pie
ces in the miscreant who would avenge the mis-
fortune of single man in the blood and ruin Of
| whole people,
Appeals to radicals we are done with; the only
arguments that could reach them-the sword ant
| the lash--we cannot use; bat upon him who ha;
| done so much for us. in that he has been inst WI