Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-05-10
The South

We continue to-day to give the editorial
notes of Mr.. VIM. G.. Prime, the able editor
of the Journal Of Commerce., taken during a
recent trip through the South aud com
mend them for their correct views of the
wants and condition of the Southern peo-
pie. There never was a people who have
labored with more diligence and under
more disadvantages than those Of the
South since the cessation of actual hostili-
ties in the Spring Of 1865. Left by the re-
suit of the revolution without money or
personal property, with large landed estates
devastated by the ravages of war. or rem
dered useless from long neglect, they were
compelled to mortgage their first crop to
procure the means necessary to place their
plantations in order, and what was left af
ter meeting these obligations was, in most
instances, more than consumed in estab
fishing u system of labor, which was very
expensive in its Inauguration. Had the
season been propitious last year, and the
planter been remunerated for his labors,
little beyond mere living could have been
under which they labored
But for the political troubles which now
so unhappily distract our country, there
could have been very reasonable hope in
dulged that the teeming wealth of the
North, now lying idle in the vaults of its
capitalists, would seek the profitable ave-
nues for investment offered in the South
There certainly could be no more inviting
fields for certain profit than exist here,
and none in which the commercial and fl
nancial prosperity of the government could
have been so benefited than in the produc-
ton of Southern staples. If the United
States is to prosper as her vast territory
and natural resources would warrant, it must
be by the development of the South, which
cannot be done until the means of work
ing successfully the rich lands of this sec
ton are placed within the reach of our
people. The paralysis which now stiles
the energies and hampers the industry of
the South will yet react seriously and dis
astrously upon the North. We are more
Immediately affected, and the evil results
are more directly felt here, but the North,
having most to lose, will eventually suffer
the greatest, as will be discovered by the
masses when the Legitimate effects of ma
tional stagnation reaches the capitalists of
that section.
There has been no intelligent observer
from the North, travelling in the Southern
States since the war, barring the paid AMI
interested emmisaries of q party whose
power in great measure was maintained
by base misrepresentation of our people,
who have not borne willing witness, not
only to the faithfulness with which we have
accepted the unsuccessful result of our eff
forts to establish a separate government,
but also the energy with which we have
struggled against all the disadvantages Of
our position; the patience with which we
have borne with our accumulated misfor-
tunes, and the uniform kindness and liber-
atty which has marked our intercourse in
our new relations with the blacks. The sue
cess attending our civil administrations, the
quiet industry of our people and the en-
couraging results of the employment of
free labor attest this in spite of the false
hoods which Congress have endeavored to
endorse by legislation, which was pretended
to have been based upon conduct exactly
the reverse. Impartial history will yet
brand these falsehoods as they justly de-
serve, and American freemen will hurl from
authority those who have sold the welfare
of people for political purposes, and offer
ed, in unholy sacrifice, the laws and Con-
stitution of country upon the altar of
party.
Arg AL i. IQalIke..