Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1866-02-09
SECOND EDITION.
O'CLOCK P. N.
q O'CLOCK p. N.
aOvkRNmENr SECURITIES.
The SOUTH,

l TIN SOUTH.
The House, yesterday, in Committee of the
Whole, threw out sundry appropriations for
| the re-establishment of u. S. Navy Yards at
certain points in the South. The plea on which
| ii was done, was the alleged continued HOSTILE
| ty OF the people there to the altered condition
| Of their circumstances resulting from their own
| acts in endeavoring to subvert the government
| While we believe that the condition of the
Southern mind in wolves no Justification what.
ever for such legislation, 1t Is clear to us tina,
| the acts of parties in the South who yet as
sumo to speak for the Southern people afford
| very broad pretext for it. Thus, Mr.. Extra
| Billy Smith used his parole by the Pr sident-
| by which he was permitted to leave hi home
to enable him to perambulate his former Con.
gressional district, to the end of defeating the
| only candidate for Congress there whose re.
bellion record rendered 1t possible that he could
be permitted to take his seat if elected. In
! Alexandria, for instance, we hear he urged
the "unconstitutionality" Of the test oath, and
| essayed to explain how and why ii should and
| would be repealed by Congress. In this
matter he was as unsafe counsellor
| as when urging the same people into the
| acts Of treason for which they have paid
and will continue to pay most heavily,
IL continuing 10 put their trust in the class of
advisers as TO their duty in the current crisis,
Of which Mr.. Extra Billy Smith is a very fair
type, indeed. The election Of Mr.. Conrad, an
active rebel, who boasts of and glories in his
late course of treason. instead Of Mr.. McKen.
Zie, native Of Virginia of as much personal
character. general intelligence, business expe.
rience, and honest devotion to the best inter-
ests OF his State as any in its limits, who has
also been firm supporter Of the General Gov
eminent from first to last, Of course served
simply to create the impression that the people
OF the district are not to be trusted to again be-
come citizens Of the United States in good faith
Hence arises portion of the impressions upon
the minds Of Congress experimenting legisla-
tion that fayors the policy Of excepting out'
the States lately i'm rebellion. Mr. Henry A.
Wise, too, takes to eulogizing the virtue and
patriotism of the late rebellion under cover of
adulation OF those who sacrificed their lives In
its behalf He Thus spouts hours and hours on
stretch, eloquently, indeed, to the end of
keeping alive the hostility Of the southern
masses to the altered condition OF their own af.
fairs, which Smith, Wise and their aiders and
abettors have brought upon them The effect
here OF the complaceney with which he is lis.
tened to, and thus encouraged by his audiences
Is, SIMPLY, to strengthen the schemes OF
those who urge that the South shall be held
by the United States as conquered provinces.
The Richmond Examiner, and its kindred
Southern journals, labor daily as before and
during the war, to prejudice their readers
against the people of the North; holding the
latter up as continuing to be the enemies of all
things and all people southern. Such publ.
cations OF such j, urnals of course serve to in.
crease Congressional hesitancy to trust the
South to be hereafter what ninety nine in a
hundred Of its people are honestly anxious to
be-cltizens of the United States, as soIicitous
for the progress and well being of the whole
nation, as any others in the land.
The Legislature Of Virginia not only tabooes
every candidate for any place who steadily
opposed the rebellion, electing in their stead
Its active promoters, but copies from Pennsyl.
vania's statute book, law, which, in the pres.
ent condition Of Virginia, IL permitted to oper.
rate there, will amount to the virtual re-en-
slavement Of the negroes Of the State. Thus,
but for the prompt and sensible interference Of
General Terry, the adoption Of the statute In
question would have compelled the freed ne
groes to accept the Inadequate compensation
tor their labor offered by the combination of the
farmers Of Albemarle and adjacent counties,
under penalty OF imprisonment and other
punishment for refusing so to do.
Now, the United States Government is
pledged to secure the freedmen in the enioy.
nent Of all civil rights, and to give them any
necessary protection against combined efforts
TO maltreat them: and it means to redeem that
pledge to the letter. Neither the eloquence of
Mr.. Wise, the sinister counsels Of Mr. Smith,
nor the pert diatribes Of the Richmond Es.
ominer can turn the Government from that
stern but necessary duty.
Members Of the South Carolina Legislature
speak volumes against the policy of the prompt
and thorough reputation Of the rebel debt
while Georgia editors here and there write
volumes to prove the propriety OF setting up
claims on the United States for the adjustment
OF slavery; which act was but the natural,
necessary, unsuitable and legitimate result of
the attempt to destroy the Union.
Though these foolish things which are being
done at the South are the acts Of not more than
perhaps one man in q hundred, they serve,
first; to prevent the emigration Of white labor
and capital to that section; and next, to con.
firm the United States Government In hest.
fancy to admit the South to all its former
rights. We deplere the fact that the mass Of
the southern people cannot be so reached as
yet, as that they can be made to understand
how great influence all such occurrences have
in Strengthening before the people Of the North,
the hands of the politicians who are for forever
treating the South as conquered territory. They
form the staple Of the Congressional arguments
Of Messrs. Sumner. Stevens & Co., and OF the
letters OF the thousand philanthopists-
trade who, perambulating the South, assume
TO be the guardians Of the freedmen and the
regulators of all local, domestic and social
matters there. These arguments and letters
10 the number OF perhaps millions on millions
Of copies go daily into every nook and corner
of the north. Though they sadly misrepre-
sent the truth OF current Southern affairs,
(beng but expositions of exceptions to the
general rule prevaihpg,) they are most speci-
ousiy used to deceive the North into carrying
/ out the political ends Of the radicals. Time
may be safely trusted to right all these wrongs.
But in the meanwhile, the patient-the
| South-is suffering the torments Of the damned.
Ii it would shorten the period Of its suffering,
| the means are surely at hand. To that end it is
but simply necessary that it shall quickly repu.
| diate the former leaders In its public affairs
| the men who lived, moved and had their being
| wholly by slavery and its control Of every.
| thing Southern-whether they be politicians,
editors, preachers, or what not.