The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-11-04
. One Last Word to sensible Men.

pentant Southern men When Gen. Lee
surrendered to Gen. Grant, we presume it is
truth tosay that there was not a man in the
South who did not desire to return to the
Union upon almost any terms. Returning
to the Union was the chief thing thought of
or talked of All admitted it to be highly
desirable 1t is always unpleasant to remain
out in the cold, and especially SO to people
who live in warm climate The fact that
Southern leaders of public opinion, immedi-
ately after the surrender, commenced to organ
ize for restoration, proved that they thought
they had been out of the Union and were
under another government. But Northern
Democrats, with whom they had closely af-
filiated before and during the war, soon led
them to think they were in the Union still,
and entitled to all the rights of American
citizens, Notwithstanding all they had done
to destroy the name of American citizen and
lower the respect it had commanded through
out the world. Taking the advice of Vallan-
digham rather than that of Gen. Grant, the
Southern States, with their old State organi-
cations, knocked at the doors of Congress
and were not admitted. They demanded too
much-would pray for nothing, and were, of
course, not admitted defeat on the battle
field, with them, was not defeat at the polls.
Congress, the moment it heard their de-
mands, repudiated them, but profered terms
upon which they could be admitted, and
asked them to return to their homes and con-
slider them before the people They return
edko their homes, mounted every stump in
the South, declared against the terms of
Congress, and, through legislative acts, spurn-
ed the most generous proffers ever made to a
conquered people. Another year passed by.
The South was poor and wanted pecuniary
aid from the North. She went to the mon
eyed centres, and asked for means to buy
meat and bread Philanthropists gave her
pittance, but shrewd business men told her
to eat her cotton if she could, but as for fur
nishing her with money to raise another re-
bellion, they would not Another year pas
sed, and the South grew no richer Riots
and disorders in all the larger cities alarmed
capitalists, and Northern capital, instead Of
seeking investment In the South, fled from it
by millions Congress again came to the
aid of a people who would not aid them
selves. New terms were proffered, perhaps
in the opinion of the South little more Sc
we're, but still terms simply covering equal
and abstract justice to all. The South, OBJ
stinate and thick-headed to the last, again
rejected them, and what has been the result
Two-thirds of her plantations are growing
up in weeds and forest trees, and are
not much more valuable than the primitive
wilderness from which they were made The
The most elegant mansions are decaying, and
where once cultivated people were wont to
assemble, destruction and death hold high
carnival. Merchants are counting up their
losses by thousands and tens of thousand.
and already two-thirds of them have looked
bankruptcy in the face. Lawyers are hav-
ing much to do, but have they fastened the
collection of their fees by denouncing the
reconstruction acts and laboring to prevent
the restoration of the Southern States upon
the plan laid down by the people themselves
through their Constitutional representatives?
The professions, the arts, the trades, the insti-
tutions of learning, even the churches, are
all languishing and dying. What single
interest has been benefited by this stupid
opposition to Congress, or what single inter-
est is there that has not been greatly embar-
rassed, if motifs very life jeoparded, by
opposing the will of the people9 Every
thing may be lost by persistently opposing,
everything may be gained by gracefully and
in the best of faith yielding, to the mildest
terms ever offered by magnanimous ma
ton.
II, through massacre and bloodshed, the
Southern States persist in the course they
are now persuing, it will take longer to eff
feet their agricultural and commercial resto-
ration than it will to build up ten flourish
ing States along the Pacific railroad and its
branches. Why cannot our Southern busi-
ness men see that prolonged obstinacy will
only grind them to finer powder and finally
reduce them to dust and whirl them, as
events march on, forever out of sight9 Com
pared with the vast country that is being
developed in the West and Northwest, the
Southern States are as nothing. Idaho and
Montana, which we heard of but year or
two ago, will soon be richer than q dozen
North Carolinas, if North Carolina should
again fall into the Clutches of the rebel
Democracy. j r
In the hands of the Democracy, bankrupt
cy and ruin will be the rule out of thenl
internal Improvements will commence on all
sides, appropriations-by the General Gov
ernment will be made, individual and ma
tional capital flow southwark, immigration
set In, trade revive, the soil be cultivated
new agricultural implements be introduced
labor lind employment, and, perhaps much
OF the vast business now flowing Westward,
turn in this direction and seek more ge-
NAL clime-a more fruitfulsoil Why then,
persist in this obstinacy that never has and
never can result in good to any one? It
will not be yielding half so much, and will
not be half so great struggle as the moral
conflict that ragged in the breast of General
Lee when he laid down his arms. What