The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-19
IhO SN- m

-no south and the Constitutional
Amendment
IRON the Times.
omr intelligence from the Southern States
ehows that an effort will be made to array the
Southern people against the Constitutional
amendment upon a point OF honor Wade
uomnton,s speech was an effort in this direction
Governor Humphreys message TO the Legisla-
ture of Mississippi, of which we gave q full
synopsis by telegraph, appeals to the same SEN
timent, and aims to produce the same result.
And our correspondents in the South write that
the general sentiment OF the people is hostile to
the amendment, because they think II Is calcu-
lated to humiIiate and degrade them.
We shall regret 1t most profoundly, II these
efforts should prove successiul. Nothing, IN our
Judgment, could be more disastrOus.to the Whole
country, and especially to the Southern States
than such result. They are sacrlnclng tner
substantial interests to false idea OF thelr own
dignity and honor. They are repeating the very
mistake which dragged them nLo the Rebellion
and overwhelmed them in ruin. Wade Hamp-
ton is the very last man whose advice they can
afford to follow, for he Is type OF tne very class
Southern people were lmade 10 believe, by HIM
and others like him, that their honor was at
stake, that they were insulted by the National
Government, and that self respect forbade their
submission They had no injury TO complain
of they could point TO no tangible and positive
wrong they had suffered; but their honor would
OF the National Government. And under this
false and fatal advice they plunged into rebel
lion with the result they have now so much
reason TO deplore
der, with the same disastrous results. They are
very likely again to sacrifice their substantial
interests to q false idea OF "chivalry." Wade
Hampton, in his speech, longs Tor the counsel
ana advice OF the Rhetts and the Yanceys and
the old leaders OF the South, and deplores their
loss Nothing could be more fatal to the
South than the return of such men, and such
sentiments as theirs, to ascendancy. One would
think the Southern people had suffered enough
at their hands, and that they would now be
ready to consult their own interests, their sub
stantial welfare, rather than the passions and
resentments which these men always invoked.
Wade Hampton insists that imme iiate resto-
ration to political power was one of the terms
on which the South capitulated. He repre-
sents the cessation of host:lisies on the part of
the South as having been purchased by negoti-
alton. The surreAder OF the Southern armies,
he says, wa. the result of compact-the South
agreeing to surrender on condition of full
amnesty and instant return to political power
in the Union -and he now arraigns the Govern
ment for ITS breach of faith Nothing could be
more utterly untounded than this pretense-nor
could anything be better calculated to arouse
the intense hostility of the North than such
clam. The South did not capitulate on condi-
1iOns OF any sort. 1t surrendered because il
was unable longer to resist. Its armies could
no longer keep the field. They were utterly
defeated and surrendered, as matter of neces-
sity, without political conditions or terms of
any sort. Both Grant and Sherman refused to
accept any but an unconditional and absolute
surrender and although both those great
leaders granted very liberal and magnanimous
terms TO the armies IN the field, il was not as
the price of surrender, nor did they enter into
any stipulation as to the political status OF the
Southern States. If the South press this view
OF the case, and insist upon political power as
having been pledged as the price OF surrender.
their claim will be repudiated as arrogant and
false.
We agree that the Government stands pledged
to recognize the Southern States as in the
Union; but the pledge was given to the loyal
States, and not to those in rebellion. 1t is due
to those who fought the battle of the Union,
that the pledge should be redeemed. And ii the
South had abandoned the contest when these
declarations we're first made it would have mad
strong claim to immediate recognition and
restoration to power. But it secuted and
scorned them, and it continued the war just as
long as it could keep an army in the field.
When it was absolutely and thoroughly con-
quered, when its armies were de eated and
either killed or routed, when 1t was utterly i'm
possible to continue the war any longer then,
and not till then il surrendered; but 1t is absurd
10 claim credit for what it could moi help, and
demand reward for laying down its arms after
they had been Wresed from its hands
If the Sou hern people propose to push their
claims in the temper evlnced, and on the
grounds put forth by Wade Hampton in the
speech referred to- they viii find their contest
hopeless. No such claims will be conceded Tor a
momenI. Their complaints of breach of faith
are utterly without foundation. Their sur
render was absolute and unconditional; and
whatever rights may be theirs in the General
Government, come from the restrictions i'm
posed upon that Government by the Constitution,
and not from any terms or conditions stipulated
as the price OF their surrender. They can gam
nothing by pressing claims on that ground.
They will only arouse the indignation and re.
sentiment OF the people of the North by so
doing, and confirm their distrust of the spirit
and temper OF the Southern people. Tney can
have no worse advisers than those who appeal
10 false sense of honor, and strive to make
them believe they have been cheated and be-
tTayed by the leaders of the armies to whom
their surrender was made.