The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-08-25

the Constitution and laws of the United
States find a more prompt and entire
obedience than in those States and
among those people who were lately in
arms against them; or where there Is
less purpose or danger of any future at
tempt to overthrow their authority. 1t
would seem to be both natural and in !
recently swept by the whirlwind of
war, where all the ordinary modes and
methods of organized industry have
been broken up, and the bonds and in
fiuences that guarantee social order have
been destroyed-whcre thousands and |
tens Of thousands of turbulent spirits
have been suddenly looscncd from the
discipline of war, and thrown without .
resources or restraint upon n disorgnn-
lied and chaotic society, and where the .
keen sense of defeat is added to the |
overthrow of ambition and hope, scenes |
of violence should defy for time the .
imperfect discipline of law, and excite !
anew the fears and fOrcbOdings of the /
patriotic and we'll disposed. 1t is un-
questionably true that social disturban- |
ces of this Kind, accompanied by more |
or less of violence, do still occur. But |
they are confined entirely to the cities
and larger towns of the Southern States,
where different races and interests are
brought most closely in contact, and
where passions and rCSentments are al
ways most easily fed and famed into
outbreak /; and even there, they are quite
as much the fruit of untimelY and hurt
full political agitation rs of any hos
tility on tiic part of the people to the
authority of the National Government.
But the concurrent testimony of those
best acquainted with the condition ofso-
ciety and the state of public sentiment
in the South-including that of ito rep
resentativcS in this Convention-cstab-
fishes the fact that the great mass of the
Southern people accept, with as full
and sincere submission as do the people
of the other States, rC-cStabliShcd Su-
premacy of the national authority, and
are prepared, in the most loyal spirit,
and with zeal quicllcncd aikeby their
. interest and their pride, to cooperate
= with other States and sections in what
+ ever may be necessary to defend the
: rights, maintain the honor, and promote
/ the welfare of our common country.
= History affords no instance where a
= people, so powerful in numbers, in re-
f sources, and in public spirit, after war
q so long in its duration, so destructive in
f. its progress, and 50 adverse in its issue
n have accepted defeat and its conqucn
= COS with so much of good faith as ha,
@ marked the conduct of the people lately
y in insurrcctiOn against the United
c states. Beyond all question this ha,
" been largely duc to the wise generosity
V with which their enforced surrender
t was accepted by the President of tho
If United States and the generals in i'm
= mediate command of their armies, ant
4 to the liberal measures which were at
Il forward taken to restore order, tran
f guilty, and law to the States where nj
n had for the time been OvcrthroWn. NJ
IS steps could have been better calculated
+ to command the respect, win the conf
= dencc, revive the patriotism, and secure
!. the permanent and atlectionatc allcgi
V ancc of the people Of the South to tn
f Constitution and laws of the tniol
f than those which have been so firml,
it taken and 50 stcadIa,tly pursued by tn
# President of the United States. AnC
h if that confidence and loyalty hay,
n been since impaired; if the pco
~ plc of the South are to-day less cor
~ dial in their allegiance than they Wcr
l. Immediately upon the close of Tho
~ war, we believe ii is due to the changct
# tone of the legislative department of thu
al General Government toward them Il
.t the action by which Congress has en-
y, dcavorcd to supplant and defeat til
= Presidents wise and brnChcent polio
+ of restoration; to their exclusion frOl
@ all participation in our common CioN
# prnmcnt; to the Withdrawal from thcl
N of rights conferred and guaranteed b
st the Constitution; and to the eVidrl
n purpose of COngrc~-, in the exercise of
~ uSurpCd and unlawful authority, to r.
m ducr them from the rank Of free an
ld equal members Of Il republic of State
with rights and diguitiCs unimpairc
a. to the condition of conquered proVinc
H. and Il conquered people, in all thini
H. subordinate and subject to the will {
H. their cunuuCrcrS; free only To obC
re laws in making which they are not 4
l.