Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-04-11
Acceptingt the CONGRESSIONAL Conditions


ditions fixed by Congress forthe reorgan-
ization Of their States, and Of kissing the
rodsof the conqueror, while it issstill in
active operation. Whether they are Will
ing to accept, not only Che thing as II
stands to-day, but as it. may stand in the
future, while each day is bege;ting some
fresh enormity, adding. some new burden,
or inyenting some more extreme hu,nilia-
ting condition. is. more than we are IN IN
formed and how far they are prepared
to carry their compliance, and how fully
they represent the spirit of the Southern
people, can only be ccnjectured. aas aYed
We confess that we do not exceedingly
admire that style of political wisdom which
is willing to accept a great injustice upon
the plea Of thereby escaping a greater
But these leading men Of the South, have
not as we understand it, even an agree
ment Of this kind in support Of their posi-
ton Congress does not wait for the
South to accept or reject the conditions it
fixes. It goes on 'legislating: The Re-
construction Law, is hardly passed until it
is provided with a supplement; and before
that has gone through the forms of 'legis-
lation, another bill of pains and penalties.
confscatiohs and disqualifications is gen :.
Grated in the'ever- active brain of the great
Radical leader, to be pushed through at
his earliest convenience; each fresh crca-
ton, if possible, more enormous, ill-ad-
vised, and oppressive than its predecessor
There is such a thing as men being more
polite than prudent. The devil, 2 it is
said, did not know what he was about
when he made men polite Southern
leaders doubtless find themselves extin-
guished by the prevailing order of things.
and naturally suppose that the country is
suffering as much by their involuntary
secEusion as they are themselves. The
politician out Of place inlagines the State
to be rushing to ruin for lack of his SER
vices and is willing to make almost any
humiliation, rather than witness so serious
catastrophe. It does not by any means
follow, because men can not agitate, or
legislate, OR negotiate, that therefore, the
commonwealth is in danger and they had
great dca.' better be tied up and do nothing,
than be let loose to do mischief. One of
the evils Of the Southern economical con-
dition was that it afforded too MANY men
the leisure to become politicians; and that
is an evil whose effects, we suspect yet re
main, and are not altogether propitious.
There is, in almost all the fields of human
pursuit, such a thing as remunerative-
sometimes called masterly-inactivity; but,
in a country like ours, where there are al
ways more politicians than places, and
where the great element of personal sue
cess is to keep ones self before the people,
the idea Of gaining by not doing so, is the
one, Of all others, of which the politician is
least capable. a -4f
We do not believe that either the North
or South, the people as a people, or the
State as a State, will gain anything by
the acceptance on the part Of the South of
any terms but such as are strictly eqaita-
Bile such terms as would have been hon
orable for them to have accepted fifty years
ago, or to accept fifty years hence such
terms as put entirely out Of the question
any idea of demerit growing out of the
past events, or of special guarantees for flu
ture good behaviour. We do not believe
that a settlement upon any other terms
than such as we have described can be
durable. Humanity never lays down its
love of justice when due to itself. These
leading men of the South may bind them
selves but they cannot bind their fellow
citizens; much less can they bind posterity.
They may pledge themselves to 60 with
the North, in case the Southern people,
finding serfdom intolerable, revolt; but his
tory in its final sober Judgment will have
little to record in favor of this species Of
loyalty. hs
70 accept the Congressional condition,
in any Of its phases or stages, is to admit
all that the North ever claimed of the
crime of rebellion to accept the doctrine
that the Union is, in its constitutional
terms, indissoluble to allow that coercion
is a legitimate remedy. and that in Ill that
the North has done, it has onl y inflicted
meritcd punishment upon an insubordinate
people; and to put upon record, for ever
lasting reference, the confession that the
peoples of the South being traitors, are
unsafe copartners, upon equal terms, with
the peoples Of the North n common pol
ity, and are therefore rightly degraded
and denaturalized. Cover them with what
sugar-coating we may, these are the terms
upon which alone the Congressional, con-
ditions-if Congress can fairly be said to
have rendered any condltions-can be ac-
cepted and if the full force of the
act of self d,grelatioa is not seen
seen beforehand, it will not, after the act is
done, be long in making itself perfectly
palpable.
The peoples of the South should refrain
from giving their active assent to the OPP
pressive regime prescribed tor them, if for
no other reason, to save themselves from
the labor and danger of future rebellions
Our revolutionary history does not permit
us to deny thatthere may be circumstances
under which rebellion is not only justifa-
BILE but laudable. 1t is the duty of men
10 .;eo ~, opd mt down n rorc;ctontlx, ,,r