Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-02-28
THE SOUTH ssRECONsTRUCTED.Y

We publish to-day, for the information
OF our readers. the scheme adopted by the
radical majority in Congress for restoring
the $50 called Confederate States to their
proper relations with ..the best govern
ment the world ever saw" The great
radical mountain has been in intense la
Dor through two whole sessions of Con-
gress, and this miserable bantling of po-
litical quackery is the grand result. It
bears upon its face unmistakable evidences
OF its paternity; that it originated in pal
pablo and wilful falsehood and SANDER.
satanic malice, and the bitterest feelings
OF revenge toward the Southern people
Will any one say that this is too harsh a
description of this infamous measure p
Is 1t true, as the preamble to .Sherman's
bill asserts, that mo legal State govern
ments or adequate protection for life or
property now exists in the rebel States Of
virginia" &c.? Every intelligent man in
the community knows that there is not
half the amount of disorder and crime in
the South as exist in the States represen-
ted by the authors of this s.bill of abomi-
nations" In fact, if the daily reports of
robberies. thefts, HOUSEKEEPING, homi-
cides, fratricides, infanticides, murders,
burglaries, and the rest, be true, or one
half true, it is unsafe for any man, woman
or child to travel in the radical States, Ell
ther by private or public conveyance, if
he or she should have money, silver
spoons, jewellery, watches, or other yalu-
ables, without being Butlerizcd or knock
ed on the head by some pious nasal-twang-
ed constituent of these puritanical phari
sees. The northern and western newspa-
pers come to us daily, filled with the hor-
rifying details Of the various degrees of
crime, perpetrated, not by southern men
and women, but by those who clanor SO
voclferously for our blood. Having rob-
bed US of our portable property, burned
our houses, and sacked our towns, these
remorse.ess vampires now prey upon each
other with the ferocity and cruelty of hum
cry wolves Or half-staryed vultures. Talk
about mo adequate protection for life or
property" forsooth. We repeat it: they
are guilty of willful falsehoea. It is gran
ted that there is some disorder in some To-
calitics in the South; that riots have oc
CURED in some three or four instances;
and that soane murders and honlicidcs
have been committed, since the surrender
of the Confederate forces; and, furtAur,
it is granted that DR.. Watson, and some
others who killed their assailants in self
defence, as was established after an i'm
partial investigation, were not hung as
murderers. These things, we say, are
granted and when we consider the da-
bolical influence brought to bear upon the
minds of the ignorant, credulous freedmen,
through the agency of northern preachers,
school teachers, aud the bureau, the oplv
wonder is that these disorders have not
more frequently occurred The impartial
historian will accord to the people of the
South, under the fiery ordeal of oppression
and degradation through which they have
passed, degree of fortitude, forbearance
and resignation, unparalleled in the hsto-
ry of any enlightened people. They con-
tended manfully, heroically, periodically,
for four years sacrificing life, property,
and all else except their sacred honor
for the maintenance of our glorious gov
eminent as established by the sages and
statesmen of former days; and when final
~ compelled to succumb to the enemy.
they accepted the situation, but scornfully
refused to kiss the hand of their country's
destroyer. More: they have refused to
become crlmlcal parties to the destruction
OF the constitution and the once glorious
government reared upon it. For this un-
pardonable sin the Southern people are
to be punished by the red handed parri-
cides in Congress. We have refused to
incorporate into our laws the monstrous
doctrines taught by the infdel fanatics of
Yankecdom, and therefore their vindictiye
representatives in Congress have solcmnly
declared that our lawse afford mo ade-
quate protection for life or property"
These malignant, cowardly demagogues,
many Of whom have quailed before the
statesmen of the South, in times past, in
the discussion Of the great principles of
the constitution, have determined that