The national Republican., 1868-12-24


ever In the newspaper rumor that the sonates
Judiciary Committee determined, before the
commencement Of the holidays, to report that
no further legislation BY Congress 10 necss.
sary to oonsummate "reconstruetlon" In aeor-
gla. On the contrary, the probability 10 that
either Senator Stewards or Senator Pomeroyis
bill (both designed to compel Georgia to re-
spect the spirit OF the recenstruction lsws)
will be reported back with favorable recon.
mendation. Even though Conservation -
should prove too strong In the committee for
the ends OF humanity and justice, and the true
Interests Of the South, IL 10 clear that Con.
gress will require every reconstructed state
to obey the reconstruction laws to their ut
most letter. To fail so to do, will be to close
the whole South TO the emigration OF skilled
labor and capital As effsctuslly a. though both
were prohibited from going thither by positive |
legal ensotment OF heavy penalties. Labor
Ing men with an ounce OF braius, seek |
Ing new homes, cannot be expected to 10.
cate where those who claim to be the lead |
ing classes In society regard labor n de
gradingi or where the life or the peace Of
the laborcr 10 not safe unless he surren.
ders the great American privileges OF free
speech and independent thought. These priv
iisses are at the bottom Of the greater liberty
hhViutut 10 ihe IN America wnere American
principles really permeste society, as they do
not, aud never have done as yet, throughout
the South. There most white men have en-.
joyed the freedom or right to violate law and
the rights Of others, In order to punish or re-
1 venge faneied wrongs OF their own; but no
man In any walk In life has ever yet been FREQ In
| the South to entertain and express sentiments
which all the rest Of the civilized world ap-
prove with reference to the economy and
| Christianity OF slavery and the effects Of its
associations upon the intelligence, thrift, and
| character OF communities, wherein Its insuits
| to honesty, to the "goldcn rulen OF life-to
Justice between man aud man-to public mo.
| rality and common sense form the basis OF
popular thought aud practice In most affairs
OF life. Throughout our South tho right,
under the law, to hold man a. property, was
struck down by the rebellion. Yet the spirit
that upheld that right and sought to fssten Its
| enlargement for ages to come upon the Gen.
eral Governments policy In providing for the
nations expansion, ls almost as rife as In 1850;
| II not so rampant as In '6l, "a, and '63. Then,
| to be suspected even Of doubling the legality
or divinity Of Its claim to supremacy over
every other interest Of society, was to accept
the position Of sosiety's proclaimed enemy,
with death by the bowie-knife, the bsyonet,
the bullet, the bloodhound's fangs, or the
hangman's rope as the almost Inevitable
penalty.
The real work OF rcconstruotion 10 the ersdi-
cation Of this still existing tone OF the South
ern popular mind. No statutes that Congress
or Southern State Legislatures can enact will
properly "reeonstruet the Southern States
until immigration and education shall, to-
gether, teach the Southern whites the better
economy and thrift and the purer christianity
Of freedom.
Under the teachings OF Calhoun and his dis
ciples, true progress, as understood and i'm
proved In the non-slaveholdiug States, was
early arrested with an iron hand. Popular
education retrograded rapidly. 1t became 8
crime under the law (as 1t was nowhere under
this Government before Calhoun taught to
enlighten black man Though the medium Of
books. Throughout the richest agricultural
sections OF the South the advancement OF
slavery was Invariably attended with the In
crease Of educational disabilities upon the
lows, vIz' As the nuest lands 10 Georgia, Ala.
bsma, MiSsissippi, and Louisiana were res.
oued from the savage tribes, they were taken
up by small farmers In quarter sections. These
men, who worked with their own hands, were
. soon bought out or elbowed out OF their home.
steads by slsveholders. whose system OF econ
omy, though enormously Increasing their In.
dividual wealth, was absolute death to every
other interest In society.
The planter had no employment for white
! carpenters, blacksmiths, taiiors, wheel.
wrights, shoemakers, or any other white me.
. chanics in his neighborhooi. All the mechani
4 cal necessities of the plantation were supplied
. by his own slaves. There was slight worl
: among his surroundings for the schoolmaster
|. little for the physician except at n meagr,
| stipulation per head per annum, and non,
whatever for the preacher who failed to teach
that the whole aim of Chris tianity was I,
inculcate the divine origin of slavery, an,
the hell-coneeived criminality Of murmurin
a against Its accompanying enormities and pai
!, alyzing influences. All laws were made to tn
A end Of increasing the slave-holder's profit
y and lessening his risksj and any interest con
|, dieting with his was driven out OF oompet
A. tion by persistent statutory enactment Tha
n such public policy should increase genera
Il unthrih and ignorance, pdrri paisu as It pro
,, | gressed, was inevitable. It spread q pail o
n mental darkness over the Southern twhite
e popular mind. only equaled by that which th
d remains Of the feudal System In England hs
!. for centuries held down over the intelleets o
G England's agricultural and mining laboreri
c In proportion to population, under Its bans
ful influence the relative number Of reall
educated men among the favored class O
:, the South manifestly decreased; as boor
n, aud brutes Increased amazingly 10 numbe
- among slave-holders who failed to use thei
wealth to the enlightenment OF their eaildrer
as was SO universally done by those who hel
!, slaves In the South before Calhoun's idea
eoncerning slavery superseded those OF Georg
Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
When the rebellion broke out no poor ma
e. Ia the South could secure his son any but th
# most meagre mechanical education, becaus
IL there was not a workship such as then existe
I. at almost every crossroads throughout tn
10 non-slaveholdtng States, within fifty miles
/. oGe Ia a hundred Southern children. Tn
southern poor were too poor to pay for tn
l. education Of their youth, and Southern ethiC
W held that free schools were dangerous institI
y tions, Literature had declined throughou
Ia the South most lamentably. Science had oil
tained no foothold whatever In the Souther
popular mind, and agriculture, ms = geners
, thing, was well nigh as rude as In Europe
II the breaking up OF the Roman empire. NJ
ID one farmer in fifty was certain that a hydraul
9 ram might not, after all, be but the product
the Cotswold buck crossed on a Merino ew
Not one Southern mechanic In ATTY, workin
+ In metals, knew Aught OF the process OF col
At verting iron into steel; and not one non.labo
Ing Southern white man In hundred kne'
what component Of atmospheric air was n
's cessary to the ordinary combustion OF a tallo
candle Such, In 1890, was the grand result {