The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-06
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF The LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT TOP1Cs-CoMPILED EVERY
DAY FoR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
Temper of the South.

From The ". Y. Times
The South suffers now, as before the war,
from the unsOund judgment and overbearlug
temper of editors and politicians who profess
to speak in its behalf. These men appeal less
to the reason than to the passions aud preju-
dices of their audiences. They estimate tho
people and policy of the North from partisan
standpoint, and endeavor to prove their fidelity
to their own section by abuse and misrepre-
sentaton of all others. They scout the idea
Of reconciliation, spurn as insulting the set
tied results of the conflict, and act on the
hypothesis that they best earn the confidence
OF their neighbors by the constant display, in
their name, of extreme demands. The effect
Is unfortunate for the South. 1t is made re-
sponsible for the course of its extremists, and
suffers for sins OF which in the aggregate it is
not guilty.
The injustice is not intentional, and to a
certain extent, is unavoidable. TIE South
knows little OF the present feeling and pur-
pose of the North; and the North is imper-
fectly acquainted with the condition, the
spirit, and the disposition of the South.
Each is, in large degree, dependent upon
the materials for the formation of opinions
which are furnished by the journals aud the
public speakers of the other. And these are
not absolutely trustworthy sources OF inior-
nation. In the nature OF things, they reflect
what is on the surface rather than the deep
under-currents OF society; and the cOnse-
uuenCe is mutual misapprehensiOu, as be-
tween the sections, which operates injuriously
on both.
OF the reality of this injury, so far as the
South is concerned, we have evidence in the
reported statements OF the Rev. DIR. Sears, the
agent of the Peabody educational fund, who
in that capacity has recently investigated the
condition of the Southern States. Address,
ing a Boston audience, DR.. Sears declares
"that both sections OF the country do very
each other;' and he suggests as the most
eifectual method OF correcting error the inter-
change of 'delegatiUus from the middlng
olasses-sober-m men," whose visits
and representations, he thinks, "would do
more to bring about good order of things
than all that can be accomplished in formal
way"
Dr. Sears exposition of the prevailing tenn
per in the Southern States is on the whole
satisfactory. The extinction of slavery, he
testifes, is acquiesced in by the better por-
tions of the community sincerely and with
out reluctance"
"An the consequences of emancipation will
be admitted, and are tu "a very great extent All
mitted now; and whS' ever may be the views
entertained in regard TO the past, there IL this
conviction, becoming more aud more general
every day, that all their society, all their inStl
tutlons OF society, and all the working Of their
system, Is TO be reeast, and Northern principles
are to prevail. THEY say this in q whisper, but
they say it."
The consciousness of the fact that the de-
velopment of the vast resources of the South is
contingent upon Northern help, is producing
its natural effect; and the determination spreads
to adapt Southern economies nearer to the
standard which has worked advautageously at
the North. "EducatiOn, universal education,
has become to no small extent the favorite
doctrine with many of the strongest and most
influential minds" 81 have scarcely found a
man who entered more heartily into the sub
ject," says the Doctor ethan the Treasurer of
the Confederate Congress and men of similar
positions" Over this class the noisy poll
tician has little influence. They neither share
his enmilies nor approve the violent and offsn-
sive course which he advocates persistently.
1t is the standing difference between the good
principle and practical sense of people and
the demagogueism with which they are 90 per-
petually afflicted.
The conclusion in regard to Northern set
tiers which DR.. Sears has arrived at, after
journeying through eight or ten States, differs
from the common version of implacable hos
tility. He does not conceal the bi ter feeling
which existed at the close of the war towards
the North and its citizens. "But that feeling
is to a remarkable degree passing away"
The cause of the change he does not attempt
to explain. The fact is as he states, and he
states it emphatically. There are qualfca-
tions and exceptions, of course, which time
and other considerations will alone remove.
Generally, however, the assurance is given
that "any man coming in ordinary civility
and human kindness will not only be re-
ceived, but sought and welcomed" More
than this it were folly to expect. The obliga-
tiOns of courtesy and respect for others OPT
pions are reciprocal.