The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1868-01-31

| ltS hutnofS OF ttS otlSn-ol Oltter, terrible,
protracted war, in which tho farest fields
were repeatedly trampled by armies of
friends and foes, in which the youth of tho
nation were used up with reckless gal.
lantry that may be called chivalric, as the
insane enthusiasm Of Don Quixote was
called so, in which the last cent, even the
last ring and broastpiu was contributed to
remorseless expenditure, in which tho
whole labor system of the country was
broken to pieces in which the most ON.
bittered and passionate hatreds were en-.
gendered and bequeathei to posterity-
four years of such war, we say, cannot
pass away without leaving the indelliblc
traces of it's passage; aud however great
| the resources of nation, however power.
ful its rccuperative springs, it is not in
tho nature of things that it should recover
without exhaustion and langour, and rengs
| OF intense pain. Our southern correspond.
ent. in the consideration Of his facts must
not overlook the old Bible saying, that
they who SOW the wind are apt to reap the
whirlwind.
Thirdly, the admission Of the negroes to
| the suffrage, it is said, and tho manner Of
carrying the scheme into effect, has wrought
! the most serious evils. We do not deny
| il we have insisted with all our force that
some test of intelligence or probation of
time should be applied in the freedmen, as
we apply them to our children and to
aliens and so, as we have not approved
those measures, we are not specially called
upon to defend them but let US again re-
MUD our southern trends that it was in
their power, without dishonor, to have
avcrted the calamites, real or funcied, that
have grown out OF them. They might have
| done 80 in two ways. In the first place,
| instead OF giving way 10 their old hatreds
! of caste, to the old master feeling in regard
to the negroes, and re.enacting the old ex.
elusive and unjust laws, they might have
joined the intelligent and moderate men OF
the North-the liberal and wisc men of
their own scciOn--in devising some pro.
hutionary scheme which would in the end
command itself to the good sense of all
parties. MIR. Hampton, Mr.. Barringer, the
able editor Of the Nashville Banner, the
Charleston Courier if we mistake not, aud
many other high southern authorities, saw
early the necessity of this, and counselled
their colleagues wisely but their advice
was not headed. The negro was still
deemed brute to be tanned, and not q man
to be developed and civilized. lie was
one of the lower animals, or at best an in
ferior human, whose eternal doom it is,
whether free or slave, to become the pariah
Of society.
In the second place, when tho constitu-
tional amendment known as article four
teen, was presented TO them. they rejected
it either with sullenness or with scorn.
If that amendment contained dislranchise.
ments that were disagrecable, it neverthe.
less left the regulation of the suffrage sub.
tioll lV IN, Tol
accepted it frankly, the disabilities de-
nounced in it would have been rapidly re-
moved, the controversy would havo been
at an end, and the Union restored. if not to
It's former harmony. TO more than its former
integrity and beneiicence. But the South
stood upon punciilios it did not frankly
accept the results of the war the old ami.
mosities, the old prejudiccs, the old ar
rogauces, were nursed and cherished its
newspapers tcemGd. as many uf them still
teem Tread "rravcllcrs" testimony with
virulent and distempered outbreaks of
mali c5 towards the North, and of contempt
for the negroes and this unreasonable dis
play ofrancor and hostility provoked that
legislation Of resentment which moderate
men of all sides and of all sections will
have reason to regret. Extremes have be-
gotten extremes, until the situation has
reached an embarrassment and perplcXity
that will require all the wisdom, disinter-
es tedncss and freedom from partisan feel.
ing, that can be summoned to our aid on
both sides, to extricate us from the diff.
Guilty.
We do not, however, despair of that sit
uation; we do not believe that the conflict
of races which one of our correspondents
apprehends, will come of it; the question
at issue is question of principle, and it
will be settled according to principle--if
not by this Congress, by another aud if
not by the present leaders of opinion, by
leaders that the people will soon bring up.
on the stage. What the North asks, what
the best men of the South already counsel,
is a settlement of the relations of all the
races embraced in the bosom of the repub-
lie, not on a prejudice, which is no settle.
ment, but on the tried and approved truths
of our republican system. The United
States is not nation of caste or races. but
of men, in which the chances and oppOr.
tunities of life are freely opened to all
human creatures. It's fundamental poit-
ical principle is that political privileges
should be shared by all men who are com.
petent TO use them that every class has a
right to such protection az the suffrage
affords to its own interests, as they are re.
gardcd by itself; and that the state
itself is enlightened, iiberalzed made
strong.b this general participation Of the
people in it's functions and duties. This
principle does not imply that the suffrage
should be given at once, and without con
ditoh, to all men, to lunalics to infants,
women, aliens, emancipates and Asiatics,
but that it should be prospectively open TO
all men, to be enjoyed when their capacity
and worthiness is evident. This principle
the leading men of the South have under
taken to deny, and in so doing they have
widened the breach between themselves
and the North, and while they abjure il
there will be no end to controversy. On
rhe other hand, let them adopt it, let them
join in plans for its application, let them
proclaim justice, and not Partially, as the
only true basis of the state, and their
horizon will brighten as dawn of new
day-N p. Post
A Steam Man.