The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-10-17
The Middle Path.

Passion and sentiment are at once treach-
erous and dangerous guides. In moments
when it is most necessary to the we'll being
of the commonwealth that reason and judg-
ment should direct the actions of men, they
lead the popular mind astray, and cause it
to obey the impulse of feeling rather than
the counsel of mature and sober thought.
Circumstanced as we are, we cannot afford
to be headstrong and rash. The security
and property which we now possess we dare
not throw away, and if we would retain
and increase the little that remains, we must
accustom ourselves to avoid every extreme
of hatred or of love, and walk in that MID
die path in which alone is safety.
1t is hard, indeed, 10 bear in silence con
tumely and oppression. It is harder still
to refrain from giving back blow for blow
and wrong for wrong 1t is hardest of all
to act with moderation, when those who are
opposed to us push violence to the extreme.
But, taking selfshness as the handspring
of life. our own interests tell US that it is
unwise to pour oil upon the fame of resent
ment, and that gentleness and calmness nay
conquer the fortune wy covet, while their
opposites but aggravate the evils which we
suffer.
This whole country has for lifetime
been the scene of bitterness and turbulence
of spirit. Political parties, blinded by
their impetuosity, have too often denied
that any purity or virtue could exist in the
parties or persons who opposed them.
General evaporation has been succeeded
by individual malice, and antagonism OF
principle has produced, not the reconcilia-
tion of jarring claims, but the intensifying
of prejudice and bigoted clinging to pre-
conceived ideas. This is plainly visible in
the history of the last few years, and it
becomes us now to ponder whether we may
not lesrn lesson from our foes and teach
them higher philosophy than any which
they have hitherto enjoyed.
The middle path is in every walk of life
the path of success. Moderation will cause
us to respect the opinions of others, however
different from those we may entertain.
Charity of thought and kindness of word
will quickly follow, and, while VIC claim the
right to hold our own belief, we shall not
consider every man trickster or kHave
whose creed is not cur own. This is not
speculative thought; i: is essentially matter
of fact. To bear and forbear is golden
rule, and it is but just to believe our neigh
Dor honest until he has abused trust.
Unless We are prepared to give up some
thing of the prejudice which we have nour-
ished against others, we cannot expect
others to forget the prejudices they have
cherished against ourselves. There must
be mutual concession, or enmity and ma
leyolence will be eternal.
At this time, when the shadows of the
strife between the friends of order and the
party of revolution are cast over the land,
it is supremely necessary to pluck the Bit
terness from the heart and to root out from
the mind the seeds of hostility and discon-
tent. Even when the battle is won, when the
constitution is vindicated, We cannot walk
alone. No wall can be built up to cut us
off from the North which will not shut us
out from the means of recovering our an
cient strength. We are not and cannot be
Independent. With little wealth, with little
credit, with small means of developing our
vast resources, we cannot make China of
the South. We have the elements Of pros
perity, but we have not the means of so
combining them that the result will be o
smiling and happy land; and unless we are
prepared to admit that there are honest,
virtuous and sincere men outside of our
own little world, we cannot command the
help we need, and cannot hope to prosper.