The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1868-04-09
al the constitutional conventions.


How about Southern loyally.S
About three fourths Of lbe South.
ern people are passively disloyal.
Gould 1t be otherwise? For four
years they rained death on the ma.
tional flag and tho national uni.
form. They shot at and cursed
them. In every church IN the
Confederacy they prayed and sup.
pllcated with fervor and with tears
to have thcm go down in Disgrace.
Can 1t be thai their gorge does not
rise now at their sight7
On tho boat coming up the Po.
tomac from Acquia Creek heard
a Southerner confess that though
he tried 10 sobdue the emotion, he
still felt a hatred of the stars and
stripes. He had fought under Lee.
from first to last, and during that
time had seen the flag so olten.in
battle when the Army Of the Poto.
mac swept down upon him and his
companions in arms, that he fear.
ed he would never again be able
to look upon il as his flag.
The dominant class in the South
never was republican in it's traits,
tastes or habits. The revolution
now going on in its industries and
system OF labor tend 10 make it so,
but as long as this generation lives
the change cannot be complete
Tho Southern man and woman
still deem themselves better or.
der Of beings than the Yankees.
They will die in that faith. The
vanity is ingram.
/ have been astonished to fnd
how generally the Southerners be-
lieve the North to be OH the verge
OF civil convulsion Reading only
their own newspapers snd the most
violent Copperhead journals pub.
lished in the North, they. are frm.
ly convinced that nothing is more
likely TO happen than the embroil
ment Of the Western with the Mid.
die and New England States. That
they would delight in such a ca.
lamity is as certain as the fact that
the next gale that sweeps from the
North will not take 10 them "the
clash Of resounding arms" They
cannot understand the elastic tenn
per and wholesome tolerance Of the
North, where elections come and
go, crises ripen and decline, with
no thoughts of bIoodshed, nor
black lists, nor social disdain, con-
tempt and prosecutions.
The Soutbcrner is generous in
some things, and honorable in
many, but ho is not yet good
citizen for republic. That is the
whole trouble. He must be made
80, or stand back for his children.
lie needs firm, resolute guidance
mot unkindly, unless he will
have it so-but firm, always firm
The moment We waver, he wavers.
Whom he fully and finally under.
stands that his old undue political
importanQPis irrevocably athing
of the past, he will take the first
step on the road to valuable citi
zenship. But between Andrew
johnson and tho "Great De mocrat.
ic Reaction" he has como TO be
liove in the speedy ovoithrow Of
the Republican party, and in the
restoration of tie slave dynasty to
reign over dominant party. com.
posed Of Southern extremists and
Northern doughfaces.
The South to-day is not divided
into parties, unless it be whitc vs.
black. The whites do not call
themselves Democrats, though they
pray for the success of that party
in-the reasonable hope that its tri
umph will again commi. it and the
country to their malignant con
troi.
Such q political revolution would
be a horror beside which oppres
sive taxation and Congressional ex.
cesses (if either exist or have been
commltted) count as nothing
Weighed against that contingency,
Impeachment is but q feather in
the scale. The South has deceiv.
ed and we'll nigh ruined us once.
That was their fault. If they do it
again it will be ours.
Before starting South I thought
| should vote the Republican tick :.
ct. Now, know il. Whatever
the moral of this Southern Jour.
ney" has been to such Of your
readers as have followed it, tho
moral to me is an exalted faith in
the Republican party, and q pro.
found, uncompromising distrust Of
Southern character and Southern
sentiment. A prominent Alabam.
ian assured me that the rebels were
crushed because they fought against
God. Yes, and they are fighting
against God to day. ]. W. NJ.