The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-11-18
CHI A r L E S T ON
WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER Is. 1865
rrhe Effect of tho Elections.

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It is but two weeks since the result Of the
Presidential election was made known, ano
already theye is change for the better il
the general prospects of the State. There
has not heea as yet any conspicuous revival
of business, nor any marked advance in the
value of real estate-although in some
quarters there has been an improvement in
the selling price of cotton lands-but there
is more cheerfulness end confidence in the
demeanor of the people, an outward evil
dence of the inward consciousness that the
turning has been reached in the long lane
Of perplexity and trouble.
We are not hattering ourselves with the
belief that General Grant is Democrat, OF
that his accession to the Presidential chair
will make every politician honest and every
Republican sincere. Less than this will
satisfy our desires; for our main stumbling
block during the beginning and completion
of the scheme of reconstruction was the
dread that the morrow had in store gloom
more intense than the darkness of to-day.
There was no expectation that we should
lightly overcome tie depression caused by
four years of unsuccessful war, and our
wishes have been confined, for the most
part, to being able to follow without inter-
ruption our usual avocations, and to having
it believed, by way of variety, that every
Southern man is not of necessity rowdy
or kpave And it is because the success
of the Republican party bids fair to crafty
these our modest aspirations, that the peo-
pie are more buoyant in manner and per-
haps light of heart.
The South made good fight for Sey mour
and Blair. There was no shame in our de-
feat, and it is comfort to know that, as q
London journal expresses it, "the election
"of Grant carries with it no condemnation
"of Democratic principles. The political
battle was fought and was lost. There was
no appeal from the decree of the nation,
snd as the occupation of kicking against
the pricks is singularly improbable, it was
only left US to do the best we could with
the material at our command. 1t required
no explanation to make this fact intelligi-
BILE, and it was equally clear that what we
call bad might very well have been worse.
Now that the strife Of party is over, there
is little fear that the South will be misrep-
resented and slandered. Politicians who
have no longer anything to gain by our
srebellious spirit" can afford to be gener-
Gus and just. Tales of Ku Klux-Klans, of
murders, and of outrages, will not be thrown
upon glutted market, and it will not be
gravely asserted that the South is the tomb
of capital and the abiding place OF insecu-
rity, lawlessness and disorder. The neces-
sSy for these calumuies is past. While the
Radicals were struggling for another lease
of power, they were not over scrupulous
in selecting their weapons; but now that
the political goal is reached it is the object
of the Northern Republican as of the North
ern Democrat, to enable the South to do her
part in increasing the wealth and proVid-
ing for the debt Of the Union. In this the
interests of the two sections are one and
the same, and if the North has more to lose
Inc South has more to gain.
With no horrid tales Of riot and murder
to fright the Northern capitalist; with di-
minution in the number and influence of
the graceless knaves who have excited
against us the animosity of the freedmen;
with an absolute settlement for four years
of our Federal political status, what is tn ere
to prevent US from becoming prosperous and
rich? What we most needed was some
thing settled and determined, and this We
now have. Gradually the colored people
will see the wisdom of working with the
whites for the common benefit, and sense
of progress and of peace must make every
description of property more valuable,
while it stimulates the employment of CAPT
tai and hastens the coming of cycle Of
social quiet and healthy commercial activity.
All that we ask is fair play. Give us
tb;o ond onr naonle will do the rest