Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-08-29

leaders in the rebellion, Danish all the in
fuential men from the country, and thus
the masses Of the people will be stcrced
to think for themselves, as they have not
hitherto doner' Yea, verify, the freemen
of the South viii be forced to think, ;"
not as they formerly did, when the Con-
stitution adopted by the great statesmen
Of the past was in force, but according to
the mandates Of a Congress composed of
fifth rate demagogues and puritanical fan
atics. If any man dares think" that the
principles of the proposal radical changes
in our political and social relations are
fraught with evil and calculated to prevent
the return of fraternal relations between
the North and the South, and especially
between the ghitcs and the blacks, it will
become the duty Of Congress ''to enforce
their permanent absence from the country"
Oh, glorious liberty! to be forced to
"think" just as our tyrannical oppressors
sthink !'-to "think" as the negroes and
their white confreres of the Union Leagues
are sworn to 'sthink'-to "think" as old
Thad. Stevens and his mongrel party
'think" to "think" as we "have not
hitherto done!' Surely the millennium is
about to burst upon us when we shall
all be made to "think" radical thoughts
and act radical acts, under the penalty of
permanent absence from the country ~
The "unrepentant and reactionary politi-
cal leaders, in the South will relish this
new tangled theory Of the freedom of
"speech and of the press" as expounded
by satrap Pope, hugely!
The great difficulty in the way Of these
radical reformers, it would seem, is the
prospect that, after the Southern States
shall have been restored to the Union, they
may eventually lose the supremacy which
they have secured by system Of fraud,
deception and oppression, such as has no
precedent in our past history; and to pre-
vent such an appalling catastrophe, the
personal influence" of our leading men
must be destroyed by enforcing" their
:'pernmment absence from the country;"
which, being interpreted, means, Danish
ment for life! King Pope admits that
there is danger Of losing the control of
these States when he says:
by admitting these Southern States, after
silencing the old political leaders, and neutral
ling for the mome-.t old political influences,
Congress and the people disarm themselves
Fl moment admission into the Union is &C
complished, the military power is suspended.
and with it all restrictions are removed. At
once these old political leaders and the old po-
litical and personal influence will resume their
activity, and we may find too late that such re-
construction as we have made is not only not
what was needed and expected, but what will
simply result in reproduction Of the same
condition of affairs which made reconstruction
measures necessary at all
It will require more stringent measures
than Congress will be enabled to execute to
perpetuate radical supremacy in the South
any considerable time after it shall have
been restored to its constitutional relations
with the Federal Government 1t will be
necessary not only to Danish the leaders
of the rebellion but all the intellent men
from our midst, and disfranchise their de-
scendants for at least one generation, if
they would retain their present unnatural
sway over US.
The radical leaders and the despoilers
of our homes are beginning to feel their
approaching doom, and in the frenzy of
despair, they are invoking Congress to
destroy us. Their consciences, if they
have any, make towards Of them, and
they would avert the retributive hand of
justice by sleeping their bloody hands in
still darker crimes against defenceless
and oppressed people. But the day of
retribution will come, when such petty
tyrants and willing tools Of vindictive
Congress as Pope, Sheridan, and Sickles,
shall be hurled from power, and the coun-
try shall be again restored to its former
condition Of peace, prosperity and fraternal
relations under the constitution. In the
mean time, let the radical Congress and it's
tyrannical satraps do their worst. Honest
men should not be deferred from doing
their duty: Let them bide their time
with fortitude and patience.
DY The story that John Wilkes Booth,
the murderer of President Lincoln, is still
alive, has been again revived. Profess
sor Frazer writes from Bombay, British
India, to Hon. Stephen Maxwell, at Ha-
vana, that Booth is alive and is concealed
on the island Of Ceylon. This letter, it
is stated, was copied from the original by
Hon. T. Fernandez, of Havana, expressly
for publication in the Louisville Journal.
We learn from this letter that Captain w.
NJ. Colbert, of the bird Of the Ocean"
~ IA ~