Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-08-18

laws, and for the speediest possible
restoration Of peace aud order" In his
first message TO Congress, on the 4h Of
July, 1861. no stated: AT the begin
ming OF the present Presidential term,
four months ago, the functions OF the
Federal Government were found 10 be
generally suspended within the several
States Of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala
hama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.
- The States have their status in the
Union, and they have no other legal
status" In bis first emancipation proc.
lamation, issued on 22d September, 1862,
he declared: Hereafter as heretofore,
the war will be prosecuted for the object
Of practically restoring the consfitu..
fionai relation between the United
States aud the people thereof In those
States in which ths, relation is, or may
be, suspended or disturbed" Well,
what was the result2 As soon as the
South laid down her arms, in the face OF
these declarations by President Lincoln
that the Union was not dissolved, Con-
gress, in its malignity toward the South
ern people, went 20 work and by Re-
construction Act dissoloed IT, Wasn't
that beautiful wasn't that consistent !
The acts of secession, which Mr.. Lincoln
said did not, and could not, destroy the
Union, the Radicals call treason; 1"
but the acts of Congress, which actually
did, and does. destroy the Union, they
call loyalty" Was ever such madness
known before Was ever a people
treated with such atrocious tyranny as
this people of the South by Radical
Congress? Never, in the memory of
man, never. There is nothing in history,
ancient or modern, equal to it You
may have read of confscations by the
Greeks and Romans, by the Lancasters
and Yorks, by the Roundheads and
Royalists; ! but their confscations were
light in comparison to the confscations
of the Radicals. Yoa\may have read Of
distinctions by the Goths and Vandals,
by the Jacquerie in France, and the
Gordon rioters in England; but their
distinctions were not half as vicious
or enormous as the distinctions of the
Radicals. Just think of their iniquities.
Eleven States, the fairest and most
productive in the Union, despoiled of
laborers under fruitless Bureau sys-
tenn; a noble people left penniless; a
wide domain, once the richest in the
land, left almost as desolate as desert
The Norman conquerors left the Saxons
their spinning-wheels. their fishing nets,
and their Runic rhymes; but the Radical
conquerors took not only the Southrons'
houses and lands, but their cotton bales
their money, their liberty. and everything
pertaining to the rights of freemen. They
have left you, workmen, in this once
happy land of plenty, "hewers of wood
and drawers of water" not only by the
bondholders' tax, but also by tax of
eleuen million dollars a month to keep
military establishment in period Of
peace The total expense paid at the
United States Treasury ON account of the
War Department, from January to
December 81, 1867, amounted to $780,
l40, 900. This is besides pensions, be-
sides navy expenses, besides the civil list,
besides the interest on the public debt
Can you bear all that on your shoulders ?
England, whose military posts encircle
the globe, pays only Sc, 900, 900 month;
bat the Radical" military establishment
costs $ll 100000 Taller.