New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-09-19
TIE cRIuES or TIE LOYIL NORTH

sReuvIHiuaed. tDemoersue majoFue' mo oPP0"N0h
TIE GRIMES or TIE LOY1L NORTH
When tie war ended the world was amazed
at the magnaumity of the victor to the van
qushed none were more astonished than our
enemies, who expected their punishment to be
commensurate with their guilt They remem-
bercd the stern order of the Confederate
Government expeling all Northern men from
the Southern States; the barbnrous military
orders refusing quarter 10 colored Union sol
ders; the iiendish system of starvation eStab-
lishcd in the Southern prisons; they knew thc
magnitude of the evils they had brought upon
the country, and their just fears were increased
by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln 10y IN
instrument of the Rebellion. They had given
US no mercy they expected little in return.
and when Lee surrendered his sword the whole
South trcmbled at the feet of the Government.
Many of its leaders fled to Mexico and Europe;
jefferson Davis, pursued by Il few hundred men,
hid himself, Disguised in Alabama. A plea Tor
mercy came from the entire South; 1t stood
appalled, at the greatness of its own crimes,
and the terrors of its stupendous failure.
Into almost every Northern family the war
brought death; Rebel bullets had laid the
the treachcry of the South had imposed upon
the North u vast debt, winch generations VIII
have to bear The wrath of the loyal people
had been wrought To excess by struggle OF
unparalleled ferocity. Our foes had even IN
voked foreign interference To aid In the desirnc-
ton of the Union. What could they expect
but acknowledgements Punishment. or
the gallowsi Such penalties had been inflicted
by all other civilized nations in dealing with a
conquered rebellion. Austria had shot the
Hungarian leaders, and England had hung
| her Irish patriots and had blown her Sepoys
! TO fragments at the lannon's mouth. If Amer
lea had so understood human justice, If she
| had but family initiated this severity, all CIV
! zed precedents would have justified her
action. But Christianity had made unknown
progress in the North its spirit trumphed
over all cOunsels of vengeance; and for
the fist time in tho history of the
world great nation was found great enough
to live up to the doctrine forgive your enc
"mes and do good TO those that despitefully
"use YOU" We forgave them all. Our pardon
was as free and general the air. -Four muir
dcrers were hung; the miserable Wirz atoned
upon the scaifold for crimes for which, perhaps,
he was not responsible; but all the great crimi-
nails of the South were Internationally par
doned Not an inch of Southern land was con-
fiscated Jefferson Davis was imprisoned, it is
true-but not at Andersonville. All that We
demanded was this: that the leaders of the Re-
bcllion should not retain tho control of the
South, and that none but loyal men should
take part in its reconstruction. At first the
people of the Southern States were bewildered
by the generosity they received. For time
they were unable TO under stand that it would
continue; but now how do they repay it9 Let
the New Orleans massacre, the reign of terror
in Texas, the speeches of Wade Hampton and
Howell Cobb, the threats of the Rebel press,
the crueltes of the Ku-Klux KlaD. answer for
their gratitude.
Under the guidance of a party controlled by
professional politicians and Office hunters, the
South now assumes tho attitude Of wr9nged
and outraged people. 1t has forgotten all that
has happened since 1860, and remembers only
the golden age OF Buchanan and Pierce, when
none but SOntherners were permitted to rule
the country: when the North was regarded
only AS a mighty slave to do the work of its
Southern masters. 1t has forgotten all that it
did to destroy the Constitution, and claims to
be the especial champion of that document
which Davis trampled in the dust, and Lee
riddlcd with bullets. 1t has forgotten that to
all crimes penalties are attached, and has trans
ferrcd to the North the entire responsibility Of
the war and the miseries which the Rebellion
caused. Democratic orators and conventions
accuse the Government of the United States of
military despOtism; of overthrowing the flee-
dom Of speech and tho press; of converting
the National Capitol into Bastile, and of aim
ing to effect the subjugation of the people
"amid the ruins of liberty and the
Shattered fragments Of the Constitu-
"tiOn." Rebel Generals meet in the North
to nominate q President for the Repub-
lie, and to dictate the principles Of Reconstruc-
ton. A pirate and guerrilla declare the
General of the Union armies an enemy of the
country he saved From all parts of the Rebel
States comes the cry that American magnan-
unity is worse than Russian tyranny, and it il
the favOrite theme of the Rebel Cceros to rep
resent the South rs beautiful and bleeding
Poland, trampled upon by the brutal heels of
Northern Huns, and tortured because of her
virtues. Mouths which are most eloquent in
curses, represent the South as drenched in her
own tears and men whose highest inspiration