Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-03-16
The Reconstruction Plan in the South

The Reconstruction Plan in the South,
 There appears to be considerable cx- citement in the South on the subject of the Military bill and the plan of recon struction it proposes. The agitation oi the subject ofacceptance or rejection has commenced in Georgia with much spirit, Ex-Governor Joe Brown has ta ken the lead in the advocacy of the acceptance of the terms prescribed by Congress, and it was fitting that he should. A thorough paced demagogue. who has an eye single to his own in- tcrcsts, and is governed in his every movement and impulse by what he thinks will rebound to his own bene- fit, possessing little manly spirit, and but languid sense of honor, he has ever stood readyto barter off the inter- ests and honor ofhis State and section Tor his own personal aggrandizement. lie mas written long letterin response to one addressed tohim by parcel of individuals, the greater portion of whom are controlledb by similar impuls- cs With himself, men who were either among the earliest advocates of the revolution and then intotal disregard or all the requirements of patriotism, used 1t for their own emolumcnts. while others were left to fight out the war which they had precipitatcd, or were actually hostile to the Confedcr- acy. They and Joe Brown amasscd fortunes by questionable speculations. while the men whom they had guided to to the vortex of revolution were 'isking theirslives for principles whi sh these men did not think it W orth while t incur any risk to defend.
 All over the South we can put our fiIger upon men of this class. who weuld be prompt if they deemed it safe to drge the Southern people to accept this inexpressible dishonor. Having dole nothing during the war to com meid themselves to either side. and having gained no heritage in the glory whih either side achieved, they have notiing to sacrifice in the way of honor and ,an best subserve their personal enterprises by the restoration of the State, and this they are willing to ac- compish by the surrender of the most value, public rights, and the last ves- tige O State sovereignty. They have no hestation in prescribing the gallant spirltsyho professed the same princi- ples With themselves, but who led when tly dared not follow, and who poured ut their blood on the fields of glory wkle every thought of their sor- did and slfish souls was bent to the &C., cumulatin of gold which they secured at the exFnse of the credit of the Con- federacy. ..-.....
 These Inn have a holy horor of the loss of thelunder, they so disreputa- bly acquird, and the threat of confis- cation of Sdthern property, which may involve thT own has brought them to their knees. They now appeal in pitc- ous tones toThe people to flee from the wrath to coie, and avoid ruin more complete by accepting that now ten- deretas the ply mode of escape. This Is the point bon which Gov. Brown chiefly relies move the people to his cowardly purposes. Confscation is the specter which haunts him, and which he sees oi every side. He points to it as the dead alternative which will surely beinhicted as the conse- quence of fnrher obstinacy. The great principles of liberty which, in iooi, he so earnetly urged the people to defend, are no, lost sight of, and do not weigh in the sale of dirty dollars. The danger of theconsolidation of the government whici it was then so i'm portanl to guard s9inst and oppose, is