Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-08-28

conjecture.
BeA. In our more charitable moments
we have sought to become, if possible,
tho apologist Of our enemies and persC-
cutors. Repeatedly we have ondeavored
to trace to some reasonable pretext or
admissible provocation theunappeasable
malevolence and hatred borne the South
by the dominant party of the North, but
so signal has ever been our failure that
we have abandoned the task as hope
lessly vain. We are forced to the belief
that Radicalism has reached that sin
trinity of evil when, like outlawed
Manfred, it
To Justify its deeds unite itself"
Has the spirit exercised by the North
apology in the existence of facts, or may
it be attributed to continuance Of the
i'll feeling engendorod by the WARP The
fight has now been over nearly three
years, and the bitterness Of sentiment in
the Northern mind is at pitch it
never Appropriated when arms
we're actually clashiRg, and the land was
drenohed with rivers of blood. Three
years of peace have done more to exas'
perate and engender hatred in the
radical heart than did four years Of
carnage and hloodshed. The lapse of
time. which should heal the aching
wounds, efface the scars and Danish the
memories of painful past, seems to be
attended by directly opposite results,
and but intensifies the malignity and
hostility OF the North. AS the provoca-
ton and occasion recedes the very laws
of nature and morals are reversed, and
the mountain of our oaenses increases
in size and developes holder outlines as
we forsake it. How can we account for
so unnatural condition of things I
Effect can no longer claim apology in
cause. All cause, so far as we OF
the South are concerned, has long
since ceased to exist Our perceptions
we are made to endure after we have
ceased to deserve them. Our punishment
ia after we have washed our hands of all
iniquity. With rebellion or the posi-
bility of an uprising nowhere in the
South, We are treated as rebels actually
in arms. The tramp of armed battalions
is heard amid the din of our commerce,
and bristling bsyonets impale communi-
ties pursuing, orderly and peaceably,
the pursuits of civil life. Our States,
whose authority to shape theiE own
destiny beyond the reach of Federal law
and without the pale of the Federal
Union was disputed to the bitter end, are
grouped into military districts, and lorded
over by military satraps, who scrpple
at no infraction of the laws, Federal or
local. Having laid down our arms, we
are denied the blessings ofpeace. While
taxation is forced upon US, we are
deprived of citizenship that it may be
transferred to an element of our society
which neither pay taxes or comprehend
the interests and affairs of the commu-
nifty which they are permitted to control.
Such are few of the grievances of
which the South complains, and for which
we can discover no provocation. Shall
we further seek the apology. 1t we're
useless. We can find none. There ia
none. The conduct of our enemies is
tyranny, which we are not expected to
excuse-which does not seek to excuse
itself. 1t is persecution, such as the
noble and generous would soorn to inhict.
Better that we are the recipients than
the inhietors. The South can far better
bear the outrage than the infamy and
disgrace Of being its authors. Bat Is
there no hope2 We can see but one:
The destinies Of the South aud the whole
country, in a great measure, are in the
hands Of the President, and as he dis
charges or neglects the discharge Of his
duty, even so will they be shaped.
Never was SO grave and important
public charge inirusted to the hands Of
any one man.