Smyrna times., 1867-02-20
A Southern Opinion.

~OutherO OpIntOu.
In an article in the February number of De
Bows Review, on the Excess OF Population
and Increase Of Crime and Pauperism, the OBJ
Ject seems to be to prove that. the excess OF
population is about to become the master evil
OF the South and of modern times that there
is now more pauperiSm and more crime than
at any former period of the worlds history;
that these abound most in the most enighten-
ed, industrious, wealthy and progressive coun
tries; and are increasing in just those countries
most rapidly" That since "abolition' the
South must be willing to accept excessive pop
ulatlOn, greatly Increased crime and pauper-
ism, and have thirty times as many pris ms
and poor houses as before "Pauners and
convlcts are the equals Of mIlinn1ires in MIS-
sachusetts and New York, where the working
classes usually wind up their career in prisons
and poor houses, there to sing peans to this
new age OF liberty, fraternity and equality. -
There Is nothing good without its attendant
evil, and nothing evil without its attendant
good. But which the writer really considers
the evil and which the good it may be hard to
guess, when he tells US on the removal Of sla-
very, IN the fourteenth and fifteenth centu.
ries, all Europe began to be infested with
bands OF robbers, murderers and sturdy beg
garS, and from that day to this crime, pauper-
Ism and beggary have been on the increase, -
and proposes to "repudiate the liberty or
lalSsez fare principle OF society so tar as is
necessary to prevent lmprovident marriages.. "
lhe eddy OF reaction has begun, and if per
severed III may yet save Christian society from
the ruin with which it is threatened" even
water, the writer adds, us failing in Eng
land, and when in fifty years the coal gives
out, the crash must come" But Massaehu-
setts and New York are 80 much more nimble
than England that they will reach the goa
OF glin so0a.r than England See the census
returnN. IL seems almost impossible that
such language can deceive any Here it can
only raise smile among those who know the
North and the South both But il believed
in the South, it must do the people much mis-.
chief. A better and more intelligent class
however, is, we hope, rising up there but the
gall and bitterness with which these article.
are written it is impossible to describe.
Still more absurd is the llth article, on the
question: 10 what extent will the negro o.
| the Southern States relapse into barbarism? /?
| 1t begins by asserting that mot one fact il
the memory Of man, Southern or Northern
| dissents from the assertion that 1.-THE negro
population Of this country are incapable o
selI.gOvernment, and ii lett to their own devi
ces must degenerate into barbarism. "Th
! QucStlOu nOW OcCOuleS. ~ what cXCe0L VIII
contact with superior race secure the negr
against the loss OF civil government and the los
OF the Christian reEgion?' two losse
! which comprise the whole catastrophe Of a re
lapse into barbariSm. Against the first los
the security is regarded as ample; against th
second, totally inadequate. The instlnC
OF alteration is " feartully active, but utterl
blind" In the Bible he overloOks the moral
ity Of the New Testament, but his simple ta,t
follows the narratives of the Old. The b
bic becomes the apolOgist tor his vices, the d.
fender OF his creed. Reason armed with rev,
! latlon is reduced from the cause OF true rel
} glon and allied to the adversaries OF God. =
The descent OF the negro has already con
menced in the State Of Georgia in 1866.
! The colOred churches reject so much Of ii
} Bible As prescribes the relative duties Of ma
ters and servants. No power can long bin
t whites aud blacks of the Southern States
the same communion. " Providence is re
: soning with man, and points to his attentiv
eye the reductto I'D dbSurdum Of modern Chi
: tlanity.' This is not language for which Il
truth is answerable 1t is at most the zeal
D a Southern neophyte. But there is a bite
ness and sort OF deSpairing recklessness run
: ing through all the articles Of this number
) the Review which must retard that steady
0 turn TO UniOnism and good feeling which re
e der restoration alone really possible. Articl
y like these can do nothing but produce misch
d aud disloyslty. Bitterness, whether at t
1t North or at :he South, can do no good, }
se will delay the better feelings which peace
d engenderlng, and which we hope is fast p
"a pairing tor better day. y.-LeitQpr.