Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1870-04-09
Tns GaEAr aXsTcAL nrsTAKE.

SATURDAY.---.....APRIL o, 1870.
Tme GREAr RAaTcAL MISTAKE.
It Is an esta blished truth that sue
cess, in any undertaking. depends
upon the proper adaptation Of means
to ends. 1t matters not whether the
ends be moral, physical, or political,
- Is indispensable that the means
shall be adequate, or failure must be
the result. The Radicals, In Con-
gress, define true republicenism to be
voting the Radical ticket, and from
this foul assumption, they .deduce the
monstrous conclusion that the South
will not be reconstructed until II
shall have become Radical In theory
and practice. Admitting the logic
Of this reasoning, the question arises
rs to the fitness of the means to the
accomplishment Of the end proposed.
Were there no white men in the
South, none but negroes to deal with,
the fear engendered by bayonets in
the hands Of military despots would,
Of itself, secure the desired end, and
secure II the more effectually II, as
now, the victims Of such tyranny
were unarmed and tefenseless. But
the whites Of the South, constitute
more than two-thirds of its popula-
ton. They are, IN the main, gallant,
intelligent and heightened; they
have been taught by experience, as
well as reason, to love liberty and i'm
its defense, have suffered untold
wrongs and insults at the hands of
their oppressors; they have been
taught by the precepts of the Illus
trious dead, the broad principles
which underlie free government; and
thus taught, they are not the men to
be forced, by means of military rule,
with all its arrogance, wrongs and
insults to respect and love their ty-
rants, or to endorse the diabolical
doctrines promulgated by the Radi.
cal leaders. AS long as this genera
ton survives as long as its teach
ings may be felt by the generations
to succeed it, the reconstruction of
the South will never be perfected on
the basis now laid down. Nor as
long as the love of liberty survives
its extinction, can anything, short of
vigilant military despotism, mould
Southern sentiment to fit the re-
quiremcnts of lawless tyranny, dis
tinguished only for its bloated COR
ruption and destitution of every
christian virtue and enobling senti-
ment. The determination of the
white race In the South and filling
thevacuum with carpet-baggers will,
at once, accomplish the object of the
Radicals and prove the fitness of the
means now employed.
But IL 1t be true, "that like begets
like" the Radicals made grave
mistake when they substituted force
for argument, insult for kindness and
hatred for Cancellation. Justice, reas-
on and persuasion are the only agen-
cies, that can beget confidence and
respect In the minds and hearts of
an intelligent and honorable people.
Had these alone been employed,
peace would, at once, have taken the
place Of discordant hostility, prosper
ity succeeded the ravages of war and
the struggling masses been relieved
of much of the burden of taxation
that Is now starving the poor and inn
poverishing the sturdy laboring
classes.
But, no! these blessings formed no
part of the Radical programme. Nor
can they unroll their record and point
to single act Of political or social
justice to the South, nor even, to a
word uttered in the interest of con-
Citation, or a deed that did not orig
mate In hate and tend to further
wrong and insult. And yet they
felgn astonishmsut that such treat
ment has neither made converts to
their doctrines nor bowed us as peni-
tents Mt the feet of our oppressors-
forgetting, doubtless, that a clear con-
science cannot feel the penitence they
exact, and that high sense Of honor
cannot be bent to the endorsement OF
policy based upon the utter aban-
Comment of everything that honor
reveres and liberty cherishes.
If this be treason 1t Is because Rad.
icalisnl is at war with truth and JUS
tice, with public and private virtue
national and individual prosperity
and everything that constitutes q
wise government and makes a peo'
pie free and happy. II this be treas
on, truth Is allie, virtue myth, 1
tyrant benefactor, and liberty thu
synonyme of slavery.
Mrs, Woodruff, brokeress Of New
York, has announced herself as I
candidate for President. a woman
with masculine sense and impulses
il preferable to a man who Is endow
cd with the worst qualities of an ol'