The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-12-28
Progress Of tho COUNTER evslasleA-xa
Prospect Before Us. a

comes up from the South. Tho productive
region or our common country ~ become as
poor ~ II Il had been struck with sterility.
Industry has been paralyzed through tho afro.
cious legislation Of radical Congress. On
one hand starvation stares the people, both
white end black, m the face, and on the other
they live in dread Of q terrible intsrnecine
war between the races. Generals Ord and
Hancock and other sagacious and conservative
officers Of tho government in the South sse
what Is coming, and they appeal to the authorl-
ties a! Washington and to the people, through
the press, for help. But where Is help
to come from? The North Is suffering
from the same cause. Fifty thousand work
men are out of employment in New York,
and the same deplorable state of things is
seen generally throughout the Northern States.
Winter has set in with fearful prospect for
the laboring poor. What, then, will the North
be able to do for the South when widespread
distress prevails at home? What can the gov
eminent dot With burden Of taxation une-
.qualled In any country-a burden that has
become insupportable-the Northern people
cannot support freedmen's bureaus or other
monstrous charitable institutions for the main
tenance of three or four millions of idle negroes
and millions of impoverished whites in the
South. The United States Treasury, so far
from having money for such purpose, must
soon become bankrupt itself under radical
rule. Looking at all these appalling signs Of
the times, it is evident that the whole country
is on the eve Of such revulsion and such
distress as it has never yet experienced.
We said the cause Of all this is found in the
atrocious legislation of radical Congress.
Let US explain. When the war ended the in.
dustry Of the South was not destroyed. Avast
deal of properly had been destroyed, It's true
but The loss fell chiefly upon the Southerners
themselves. STILL the rich and productive soil
remained and the labor to cultivate it was
there. The people accepted their changed
situation as the natural result of the war, and
were disposed everywhere to 60 to work ear
nestly to maintain themselves and to improve
other brave and large minded military COM
manders granted liberal terms on the surren-
der of the rebel armies looking to an early
restoration of harmony and good will. The
President, though he made some mistakes in
his trying position, favored the same policy.
No one Of sense and Invested of strong preju-
dice could help seeing that the welfare Of
the North, as well as Of the South
OF the whole country, in fact-depended
upon liberal policy and early restoration Of
the rebel States But, unfortunately, we had
radical revolutionary Congress- body of
men more senseless, destructive and impracti-
cable than the Roundheads of England or the
Jacobns of France Having an overwhelm-
ing majority in Congress, though elected on no
such issue as that they have since made, they
adopted a proscriptive and ruinous policy
toward the South directly opposed to that of
the generals Of the army, the President and
the people generally. Instead of restoring the
South, with slavery abolished, they undertook
TO reconstruct it on the basis of negro supre-
macy. Their sole object was to create a
radical political power in the South by means
Of the negro vote, which would give them
continued control of the government and the
spoils OF Office This, and this alone, was and
is the motive of the so-callcd reconstruction
policy of that party. They pretend to act
upon abstract principles of right, Just
as the bloody-minded Jacobins Of France
did; but we all know this is sheer
humbug, and that their only object is
political power. In word they would see
the country plunged into anarchy and the
greatest distress rather than abandon this
selfish, infamous and ambitious object They
even have the hardihood to pursue their
destructive course after the people Of the
North have pronounced against it at the polls
hoping to reach their ends by means OF the
votes Of the semi-barbarous negroes.
Now, lei US see what has been the result o.
this Jacobin radicaIism. The Southern States
which used to contribute largely by their staple
products 10 both our domestic and foreign
trade, and which are still capable Of contribut
ing largely, are ruined The industry of the
negroes has been destroyed through giving
them political power, through false hopes o.
agrarianism having been instilled into them
by radical demagogues, and through theil
natural disposition To Incidence when mo-
under the direction of the white race. The white
people fthe South are naturally SO Disguised
by these ignorant semisavages being placed
over them that they have no heart to do any
thing. They feel that there is no security for
their labor or capital, and that il they plant
they may not reap, or that their stock and
produce win be stolen by the negroes o,
appropriated to them. Under this state o
things there will be little planting next year
comparatively. The white people will raiss
little more than is necessary for bare exist
ence, and that al the risk of this being stolen OF
taken from them. The Eastern States are over
stocked with manufactures and the West will
produce, but their best market Is cut of
Siagnation in trade and suspension OF employ.