Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-08-31
pA. Many of the Northern papers

comparative moderation, and not a
few in terms Of magnanimity and states.
manlike wisdom. One of the war Dem
ocrat class, the New York Citizen, which
is regarded as one Of the best exponents
of Northern opinion, holds the following
language
The patriotic Democracy Of the North
ask no political aid from the honestly
loyal men of the South they expect
nothing but minorities at present in the
rebel States, as they come back under
the Congressional plan of reeonstruc
ton, They only ask of them sincerity
Of conduct and moral support. The
Radicals have determined that the negro
vote shall assure the representatives of
Dixie to their side but the Conservative
loyalsts can beat them in the Northern
States, although they cannot beat the
Radicals and their Southern coadjutors
among the unreconstructed. We are
friends to the South; We are willing to
bury the recollections of the war beside
our dead sons; but we are not willing to
insult those sad memories by association
with Northern traitors, who doubled their
severity. We are not willing to surren-
der one jot or title of the principles to
maintain which the war was waged
Negro suffrage is extremely distasteful
among ourselves-only less than rebel
defiance. To succeed in their plans Of
defense against the common enemy com
manded by Ben. Wade and Thad Stevens,
the Conservatives must bear no odium
from riots, murders, instructions and
abuse of the helpless negro; they must
meet with frank, cordial, ingenious
acceptance of the situation, and the
utter overthrow Of tie doctrine of seces'
sion.
The daily papers are making a great
muddle over the opinions of the promi-
nent generals and the people at large ON
the question of reconstruction. They
tell US that Grant approves of the course
o. the President, that Thomas agrees
with Sheridan, and that Sherman favors
the plan of Congress or Oice versa, ac-
cordng to their political bias. We can
tell them all that if the Congressional
system is to put the South in possession
Of the negroes, it does not meet the
views Of the people, the sailors in our
fleets, the soldiers in our armies, the
merchants at their desks, the farmers at
their ploughs, or any other large body Of
our citizens. A St. Domingo is not what
we fought for; we do not want it, and
shall not have it; and that the niggers,
whether white or black, may understand
as well first as last Nations are cruel
when driven to despair; and, rather than
surrender our white nationality, we will
massacre or enslave every colored man
iu the States. This may be bold Ian
guage and unconventional, but we ask
our readers whether it does not meet the
confirmation of their hearts2 We have
sacrificed too many whites for a princi-
Pile to stop at taking the lives of few
worthless blacks
This, we doubt not, is the frank and
outspoken sentiment Of the Northern
people, harsh toward the African
race, as it may seem, What
few Radicals here may tell the
negroes can have no influence
on the great whole of the country.
They may mislead the blacks, and SO
command them and carry the elections
here, but the Northern people will give
the lie to the Radical promises to the
African race, and, it may be, make it
not only the dupe, but the victim. We
have honestly told our negro population
that the Radicals were decelving them
with fair professions, to make them 'ne
instruments Of getting Offices and money.
We warn them again that to undertake
to rule the South will bring down Oh
them the terrible vengeance OF the
North. The indications of the Northern
press are conclusive, as the expression
of NortherN public sentiment that the
majority there have resolved there shall
be no negro rule on this continent. And
the sooner the blacks of the South learn
to distruSt the lying professions of the
Southern Radical leaders, who really
care nothing for them, the better it will
be for them all. If they do not heed the
counsels of the men in whose employ
ment they get their bread, who
never yet blamed them for being set
free, as the result of great war on
which their freedom or slavery was
staked, and who, expecting TO live with
them all their lives, wish to make them
true friends, and have no motive to
injure them, but every reason and ad.
vantage in doing them good, they will
yet curse the day they ever saw
Radical and followed the counsels Of
men who came here not to do them
good, but to get rich. The Radical
papers, like the leaders, will tell them
they are their only true friends in order
to keep on the right side of them, and
use them for their own purposes. But
let them remember how all these men
have more motives to deceive them than
their old masters possibly can have, and
that the Radical papers of the South
only represent the sentiments of the
very few meu of their party here, and
could not live an hour if not supported
from the North by few men there who
are also ION the make, and have the
same motives to deceive them.
The northern people are beginning to
speak out their true sentiments. None
but fool could believe a great nation
of forty millions of white men would