Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-01-10
From the New York Times, Dc 80
A Conquered People.


An officer of high rank and eminent Iii
tinction, who has recently returned fl, ma
leisurely tour which he had occasion a..
undertake through the Southern tate .
far as Mississippi has described 10 II. .l,.
profound political indifference and ar
apathy of spirit and supineness of feeli.y
that he found to exist among the people OF
the South.
The Southern politicians may be rs -
whole placid enough in their temrcl and
tone The Southern newspapers as Il zen.
eral thing may be temperate enough in
their utterance. The Southern Lroisk,t,I,,,
may have expressed their deep desire for
peace, quiet and Cancellation, but ncjil,,r
the politician, the journalist, nor tie lee
! 1slat1ve bodies give representation o. lie
! 0l1-cOntgOding and inerpreSsibie desire M,,t err
iStS among the great bodg Of the Southern j,so-
! Dle-he planters, tie t0acnSpeOpie, tie h'0d,r.,
| dc.-.for relief from political turmoil aid e.
| element. They hare little care. about me terms
| Of reconstruction that man be offered MeH, or
The political forms M0ttleir Northern conyuc,-
Ors may impose upon them. If they have q
desire at all that the old order of things may
berenewed, as far as that is now possible, tits
mainly because the pre-revoutiOnary orpre-
| Confederate customs and traditions have
still hold upon them. But if it be the
determination of the North to reduce the
once proud and powerful States of the
South to territorial condition, Or to gov
ern them by military power exclusively. the
bulk of the conquered people will receive
| the knowledge of the fact with something
very like entire unconcern. and vii su2cumb
with only the feeblest of protests Nay, If
The Congress at Washington acere TO decree an
entire change Of government, and 10 proclaim
q regal or Imperial OTUer Of things for he
| IL \
least recognize tie Emperor, and 1cOutd make
not eren a shoaC Of resistance to the force ,chich
| they hare dlrendy acknowledged TO be supreme
Orer them. The fact is, in brief, that they
are thoroughly disguised with politics, pol
| iticians, and all the political pretensions
and pretendeTs which have wrought them
out such grievous ruin, and as they look
round upon their desolated country, and
their blasted prospects-as they see the
weeds growing over the graves where the
| flower Of Southern youth and chivalry lies
sleeping-as they feel the deep oppression
of ruined hopes and broken hearts, they
cry in WEAKNESS and despair of soul, rs for
merly they cried angrily and defantly, 'slct
us alone"
| The results Of tie crtenSire ObserrdtiOa If
the officer IN question differ entirely from lie
numerous representations are hare lad IN tie
| North, that tie Southern people are still dcf-
ant and cOntetn1dciOuS, still pregd7d UW Tie
spirit Of rebellion, sill uuatCdre MatHey trc1'e
OUe7thrO,Cn IN aC0r, and sill Determined II
MaCU1t the Northern purpose and gice the qoc-
er'nnaent as much trouble as possible. We are
certain that if any one takes the trouble TO
investigate the grounds on which assertions
of this kind are based, he will generally
find them extremely dubious and frequent
| ly extremely ridiculous. If it is reported,
for example, that a black man gets killed
in q melee somewhere in Georgia, we ut
once see elaborate arguments that the re-
| bel spirit is still rampant III that State. II
it be published that some white or black
rascal gets whipped by order of a North
Carolina court, in accordance with law
which has been in force there for
over two hundred and fifty years,
we are at once told that this ancient
State should be degraded to a Territory
If Mississippi newspaper, printed on din
gy paper i'll some foolish fellows shanty
! speaks of the Yankees as clock makers,"
or as "slab-sided " negro-Iovers We ut
once see it demonstrated that the Missis-
sippians are unfit to be represented in Con
gross, and that Il people so lost to all sense
of decency are fit only to be ruled by the
iron rod of General Butler. We appeal TO
the records of the entire past year if argu-
ments such as these have not been used
daily, and if much of the /" craftsmanship
of our so-called /" statesmen " has not been
of the style we illustrated and based on
such data as we have given. We confess
we should desire to see another order OF
craftsmanship brought to the treatment of
such great questions as now demand settle
ment in this country.
| Neither can be said Tie refusal of the
| South 10 1atify The Constitutional Amendment
conferences in any ecay these Representations NJ
! The broken spirit and political up0tly If the
SOuih. For it is but fair that we should
! give consideration to the reasons which
| they themselves allege for this rejection
and though we may not regard them as
conclusive either III a moral of political as
| pect, yet we must have respect for the fact
! of their weight in the minds of the popula-
| ton Of a vast section of our country. If
! there appear to be at least a withercd rem
nant of a once full blown pride in their re-
fusal to ratify q measure to which we know
| they will submit if the North imposes it, we
must remember how often little pride will
! linger amid ruin, and where all else is gone.
If it seems foolish in them to refuse to take
/ part in disabling those whom we have des-
| ignated as leaders in rebellion, we must re-
member that they do not regard them in
the same light as we do, and, moreover,
that if they will not put their own hand TO
the deed of disablement they will put no
bar to orr enforcing it to its full extent
Dislike as they may our policy, suffer as
may by our legislation, they have neither
the power nor the disposition to resist
them.
We believe it will be years before the
Southern neople rise out of this apathetic
and supine condition. We believe it is in tho
power Of Congress to fix them in that con
dition, andto SOW at the same time the seeds
of acrimonious feeling for the future. And
we believe that only generosity and mag
nanimity Of treatment will save them from
misfortune which would not only be dam
aging to themselves, but exceedingly DANA
ging to the entire country and all its inter
ests.
Important to Tobacco Chevvers and Smo-
l<ers.
If what is said by the Philadelphia Press
below be true, and we have no reason to
/ HOnbt IT Xya tbot InI,Iig