Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-09-17

try, and the only real one, we have al
wavs INSISTS |, was whether Congress, fol
party purpo SEES, by Africanizng the
South, should render negro domination
of the country certain, or whether white
men should co utinue to rule, And be-
cause we have believed this issue was
too potent to escape observation, and too
obnoxious to be borne by the North when
attention was aroused to il, we have been
sanguine Of q favorable change of public
sentiment in that quarter, even when we
had no evidence of it in any election.
There could be no doubt that the int.
rest of the Northern States would be
seriously injured by such process,
through the impoverishment ofthe South.
ern States, which supply the staples,
while they afford a market for commerce,
even if there was no danger resulting to
republican government and liberty,
Hence we have looked for revolu-
ton in the sentiments and conduct of a
people who are both intelligent and
shrewd- sighted, where their interests are
concerned. The New York Herald,
which we look to as the principal and
most reliable political weathercock, now
speaks out the existing fact of an over
whelming revolution of public sentiment
in every days issue, in aid of all the
Conservative journals. We are con-
vinced that nothing can withstand it.
President Johnson is unpopular, and the
Congress has heretofore fully represented
the utmost rawlings Of fanaticism. But
when their interests are touched the case
is altered While the active, energetic,
and irenzied fanatics of that
section have great power, and, as is usual
under ordinary circumstances, can and
do control the action of that or any PEG.
pie, it is not true that they comprise the
great majority of the North. The masses
90 as they are led, and when great and
new issue is raised, and the intellect of
the Conservative leaders is fully aroused
to its Importance, and they (the
real controlling power at last begin
to work with their full energy, it is an
other matter altogether, and we shall
see another result. The negro race can
never dominate this country while there
is a white race in it. The North will
never consent that the former slaves OF
the South shall be their peers at the
ballotbox, and sit as equals in the ma
tionsl councils-that Sambo OF South
Carolina, and Pompey Of Mississippi,
and Cuffee Of Louisiana shall sit in Con-
gress side By side with Sumner Of Massa-
chusetts, and Wade of Ohio, and Fes-
sender of Maine, equally controlling the
destinies of great country. 1t is more
than they lsrgained for; they see that
nothing less is the logical sequence of
fanatical congressiena! action, and they
have decreed that the waves which have
now rolled so wildly, in the pride Of
drunken power thus far, shall go no fur
.hor.
Congress has been hitherto supposed |
70 intend reconstruction on the basis of |
equality between the States. But it is
now seen that they intend to keep the
Southern States out until they are duly
4 lricanized and fitted to sustain the
,adical party. What will result will be
judged from the following statement by
he Herald of the condition of things:
The very serious and critical aspect of
our national affairs is beginning to fill
he public mind with sad forebodings.
II is doubtful whether in the darkest
lays of the late civil war the public
pulse ever indicated worse condition
Of things than it now does Men ask
each other when they meet how the
political problem is to be solved, and all
confess their inability to supply salts
aotory answer. In the meantime
lauguishes, the revenues
finnish, the credit of the government
Is expressed in the relations of gold to
.urrency-wanes, and the Southern sec
ion of the country, which formerly,
through its staple products, added so
argely to the wealth Of the whole nation,
S no longer source Of prosperity, but
If expense and trouble; and all because,
lfter having made every sacrifice to put
Town the rebellion, we were not willing
lfter it was put down, to sacrifice party
,rejudices in order to sanctify and make
asting the work which our armies had