Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-11-19
The Ebb of the Tide.

The Northern Republican papers have moth
ing left to complain of the Southern people
about but that they are encouraged ty the
Northern elections This, they allege, is un--
grateful and treacherous in the extreme. Did
you not acquiesce," they inquire in the Re.
accept the Sherman Shellabarger bill? And
now you look pleased at the defeat of the Rad
ical party; you are actually trying to escape
universal negro suffrage" 1t is such stuff as
| this that appears even in the New York Times,
which in its heart abhors the Reconstruction
bills But" urges the Times, will you new
er allow the country to be pacifed We must
reconstruct on some basis" By all means, we
reply, reconstruct the Southern people are
anxious enough to have little taste of liberty
they are anxious enough to see the last Fedora
soldier; they are anxious enough for some sur
cease of the persecution of the past two years
but it may be fun for the Northern people tc
pacify the country on the basis of universal ne
gro suffrage; but it is not precisely what we
would like at the South.
The prisoner on the scaffold acquiesces in the
movements OF the executioner; but if the cry
is raised that a reprieve is at hand, the poor
creature may be pardoned if he opens his eyes
upon the gracious light once more, and uncov-
ers his brow to the breezes of heaven We
think such an one might not be charged with a
spirit of impenitence or sullen contumacy.
The Southern people have not merited to be
ruined, and they see neither fairness nor wis
dom in the attempt to put them under the
wheels of the Union. All that they contended
for has been blasted and they have ceased to
nourish hopes outside of the Union; they have
been willing and anxious to take their places
inside of the Union, which was the issue against
which they fought; but to be kept not only In
the Union, but in Chains; to be put back not
only in their orbits, but to be kept enveloped
in an atmosphere of fame, must engender q
sense of discomfort which shall aspire after
something better, and which must welcome any
champion who holds out the prospect of stri
king off the letters, or any turn in the elements
which may swathe the fervid meteors in cool
er investlture.
Shall we not rejoice if the centre of the Rad
ical host is broken, and the STAR OF TIL
WHITE MAN is above the horizon? We re
joice in no anti Union spirit; we rejoice not il
the triumph Of any particular party; we re
joice not in any prospect of undoing the fair re
suits of the war; we rejoice in the evidences o.
returning good sense among the people. of the
North we rejoice in the utterance of the prac
teal mind of the North in favor of cessation
of strife and an impartial nationally; we re
ioice that the Empire of Hate has been pierced
and that the olive branch of Peace has beer
thrown into the arena by the victorious party
We rejoice that civil conflict is about to end, al
the people of England rejoiced when the revo
luton Of 1888 offered to them the prospect Of
constitutional government after the upheavals
of their political system. We rejoice as France
rejoiced when the fury of the Revolution abated
and modernism and middle parties succeeded
to the violence of great national CONFUSION.
Charlottesville Chronicle.