Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-12-02

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The doctrine of secession, and brayed death
on many well-fought field in its defence.
When it was overfhrcwn by force OF arms,
he manfully accepted the decision, and
pledged himself, in good faith, to abide
by it and accept all just consequences re-
sulting from it, For ali of these reasons,
no doubt should have been entertained of
his truth and honor In addition to these,
it would have been madness for him to
have entertained any hope of renewing
the war All considerations of selfish
policy and personal interest placed him
under bonds to redeem his pledges in all
sincerity. He belongs to class, and is
representative of that class. We
do not here say that all Of the
Confederate leaders are the peers Of
Hampton in intellect and moral worth,
but we do say that majority of themare
distinguished by the same qualities which
characterize Hampton, and were educated |
in the same school of politics and morals,
and were influenced by the same associa- |
tons. There are extremists, and bad men,
and yindictive partisans among them, but
as a class they are the best men there are |
in the South, and are to-day the only men |
to whom the negroes can safely look for |
such assistance and protection as will lift |
them above their half barbarous state. Who |
were the Confederate leaders, They were |
Congressman and State officers, and men, |
bers of thelearned professions, and Judges,
and scholars. They were the best men in |
the South, in brains and integrity, and the
only men qualified to govern. When they
surrendered, their acceptance of the de-
cision made by the war, and their
pledges to be true citizens, ought to have
been believed without doubt or hesitancy
Their honesty entitled them to this, and
all of their interests bound them to keep
their pledges. To say, in view of the
facts above stated, that such men as Lee,
and Wade Hampton, and Alex. II. Ste
phens, and Herschel V. johnson, and
thousands of other Confederate leaders,
whose only crime was that of standing by
their States in desperate struggle with
the United States, ought TO be treated as
outlaws, and deprived of all political
privileges, is a libel upon the white men
Of this country, which ought TO blister the
tongue of the demagogue who viii pre-
sumo to give it utterance To say that
national safety demands that such men
| shall be DISTINGUISHED and made sub
| ject to carpet-baggers and negroes just
emancipated from slavery, and to enact
that they shall be thus treated, is an in
fanny which should make every man exc
cradle who has given it his support and
countenance. Compare the South to-day
with what it was at the close of the war.
Then it was desOlatc Fire and flood had
swept over it, and had paralyzed indus
try. IN many quarters, famine was con-
suming the lives the sword had spared.
| Now, in spite of all the evils wrought by
military despotism, and of the crimes and
disorder encouraged by the negro and car
| pet-bag rule, it has nearly restored the
prosperity which blessed it before the war,
and looks confidently forward to a career
of unexampled growth in all that makes
States truly great. What has been
the magic of its TestoratiOn4 What
agencies have raised it, amid so
much 10 discourage and opstruct, from its
postrate state, and have brought back fer
tility to its fields and wealth to its people?
Its system of labor was overthrOwn. The
blaclness of the dcsOlation which the
hummer leaves behind him was in all
of its States. It's levecs were broken, and
stagnant pools submerged IFS choicest
| plantations 1t was without capital and
without credit, and It's young men, and
those most full of ardOr and hope, were
1
they stood last for The lost cause. Ithas
been saved from anarchy which would
have destroyed all law but that of force,
and redeemed from bankruptcy and made
again TO blossom, under circumstances
which might well have discouraged the
stoutest heart, by the management, indus
try and courage of the Confederate lead
ers. For such order rs has prevented the
absolute reign of ruflianism there since
the reconstruction infamy had birth; for
the organization of industrial forces; for
the influence which restraints crime by
teaching through example; and for all
projects intended te benefit society as a
whole, the South is indebted to men of
the Wade Hampton order Shon of all
political power, they have been the only
power working for good