The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-19
The Republican Party and Southern
Progress.

The declaration in General Buffers recent let
ter chat he would do anything that he
"oould be convinced would tend to
the prosperity, quiet, and regeneration
OF the South" only gives expression
to the general sentiment of the Rspubli
can party and Of all patriotic men. "The
South" is an important portion of our country,
and every step which promotes her real vel
fare rebounds directly or indirectly to the
benefit Of every American citizen. The Rebel
journals and the Democracy have so pertiuA-
Ciously represented Rebel and slaveholding
interests as synonymous with the South that
some minds have hastily accepted their absurd
theory. Nothing could have inflicted greater
injuries upon that section than the destructive
influences and the devastating system by
which its past destiny has been controlled.
The Republican party has warred only against
the injustice and crimes which have retarded
Southern growth and prosperity. We regret
that many evidences have been given in the
South of continued hatred of Northern men,
Northern progress, and of the North. This
feeling, with its accompanying out
bursts of violence, and the distrust aud
fears it awakens in the minds of those who
have the ability and the disposition to deve-
lop dormant Southern resources, is doing that
region infinitely more harm than any ether
single cause and it is the principal impedi-
ment to Southern recuperation. In thousands
of cases Northern emigrants in the South
have been persecuted, robbed, or murdered,
because they were born in the North or cher
ished Union sentiments, and in innumsrable
instances Northern capitalists, whose co-ope-
ration in Southern enterprises was solicited,
have declined to render material aid solely on
account of the constantly recurring evidences
OF Rebel hostility. 1t is alike the interest aud
the desire of all intelligent Northern men to
see the wounds of the war healed as speedily
and effectualy as possible. The only differ
enoe between parties arises from the Demo-
cratic advocacy of mode of adjustment which
would restore political power to the hands
which have used 1t so traitOrously, wickedly,
and unwisely, and the Republican preference
for a system which would disseminate
the liberal principles, the recognition of the
dignity of labor, and the blessings of universal
education which are the foundations of the
power and prosperity of the Northern States.
While the Republican party has sought to
protect the nation from the dangers of a new
rebellion, and while it has erased from the
national escu cheon the stain of slavery, it has
cleared away the OIL impediments to Southern
progress, and rendered the citizens OF the
South service which will eventually be cor
daily recognized in that section. Even now,
hundreds of thousands of men who eight
years ago considered abolition an objectionable
sin, and who willingly risked their lives to
Gefend slavery, fully realize the folly of their
old views and it is doubtful whether
msjority of the white citizens of any Southern
Stale would at this moment COZ
sent to the re. establishment of slav-
cry on any terms. In some shaps
or other, nearly every thinking man in the
country has been forced to acknowledge that
the leading measures Of the Republic an party
have proved prudent and beneficial as we'll as
patriotio aud when the griefs, passions, and
mortified pride generated by the war have
fully subsided, we do not doubt that freedom,
liberty, and justice will receive hearty
Sou hern endorsement. If General Grant eau
achieve his present purpose OF establishing
bond .fidc peace, and of preventing future
prosecutions for political sentiments in all
portions of the country, he will do the South
infinitely better service than General Lee
could have rendered if he had conquered the
Union armies. The Confederacy would have
been at best but barbarOus barracoon; the
reconstructed South may become the most
popu'ous, productive, free, and progressive
portion of the Great Republic.
Railway Crossings.