The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-08-04


were seriously wounded and one MORALLY.
Tho Presidential Campaign-Folly Of the
Old Rebel Leaders.
With the opening of the Presidential cam
paign and as the hopes of the democratic
politicians of the South begin to revive the
old rebel leaders show their hands. Wade
Hampton at Charleston, Robert Toombs at
Atlanta, and others among the most prominent
rebels at other places, have been making most
foolish and injurious speeches on the issues of
the past and present They appeal to the
rebel sympathies and memories Of the South
ern people and faunt the rebel flag as the
emblem of all that is heroic and noble. While
pretending to denounce the radicals of the
North, they in reality denounce the whole of
the Northern people, democrats as well as
republicans, who entered into or favored the
war for the Union. They make their lost
cause holy one and boast of the part
they took in it. They claim admira-
ton when they should sue for forgive
ness for the bloodshed, debt and innu-
merable evils they have brought upon
the country. However disposed generous
pathze with them for their sufferings and dis
abilities, though brought upon themselves,
and however ready they may be to accord to
these Southerners the merit of bravery, they
cannot forget the bloodshed and horrors of
great civil war, with the enormous burden of
1abt hoo fho
through the madness and crime of these same
rebel leaders. There is noble disposition to
bury the Ratchet of war, and for the welfare
of both sections in the future to cultivate
harmony but this cannot be while such foolish
men as Hampton and Toombs flaunt the rebel
flag in the face of the Northern people,
Phe radical organs and leaders are de-
lighted, of course, with these bombastic and
foolish speeches of the old rebels. They can
find nothing better to use in the political cam
paign, and they are using them with great
effect. Nothing will tend so much to defeat
Dental ticket and for Congress. They will
neutralize all the effect of the reaction which
had set in against radical misrule usurpa-
ton and extravaganza; for the war is
yet alive in the memory of the people,
and the consequences are yet felt
too keenly to tolerate such assumption
and folly. We have all along pleaded for
mercy to the South, have opposed the pro-
scriptive policy of our radical Congress, and
have argued in favor of restoration and har-
mony as best for both sections of the country
but our efforts become paralyzed by the foolish
conduct of the Southern fre-eaters. There
was reason for long time to commend the
moderation and reticence Of the Southerners
They seemed to realize their subjugated and
helpless condition. More than once we had
modesty, and of Wade Hamptons discreet
conduct in particular. Even at the Democratic
Convention in this city they wisely remained in
the background But the sudden burst of
rebel and sectional feeling to which we have
referred must tend to destroy the good effect
Of all this. Not that there is any fear of an
other rebellion. The war was too terrible and
the subjugation of the rebels too complete to
admit of such a thought. Nor can the conse-
quences of the war in the destruction of
slavery, in the non-recognition of the rebel
debt and in the recognition and payment of
the federal debt ever be reversed. All this
has been fixed by the constitutional amend
ment. But we want political peace and har-
mony between the North and the South We
want the bitterness and evils of the war to be
buried in oblivion. Foreign wars may be
remembered and commemorated with satisfac-
ton and even to a good purpose, like that of
our war with Great Britain, or the war of
independence, but not civil wars, and least of
all by the vanquished and those who cause
them.
Shosld the Southern leaders continue In
their imprudent and suicidal course the first
effect will be not only the election OF the radi-
cal Presidential ticket, but another radical Con-
gress also Then the South will lose the sym
patty and aid Of large portion of the con
sentative people of the North. Capitalists
will be more afraid of investing their money in
the South than they were before the war and
while slavery existed, and as consequence
that productive and beautiful section will re-
main a comparative waste. Sectional ill-feel-
ing will be kept alive and increase. In all
probability local troubles may arise that
will call for or be made the pretext Of mill
tary rule, and though the Southern States
may be nominally reconstructed and restored,
they will be virtually under military au-
thority. Such are a few of the evils which
must spring from attempts on the part Of the
rebel leaders to keep up the old spirit Of sec
tional hostility. The Southerners are not out
of the woods yet, and we advise them to keep
quiet. They have nothing to gain and much
to lose by imprudently keeping alive the
memory and feehng Of the war If Wade
Hampton, Toombs and other rebel chiefs have
i rot .aara aanaa xuo ha..x, Al. 49, - -