The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-04-14

The ROftemness and Kmsfa bIIf1y Of
the Reconstructed GOvernmenfs.
The Radical party has been prolific OF
fanatics not philosophers ofdemagcgues
not statesmen. IT was their leadership
of the unreasoning multitude which
pIunged the majority of the people OF the
North into excuses which finally culmi-
mated in the destruction of the Union as
it was framed by the authors Of the orig
inal compact. Among the ablest of its
leaders, the late Governor Andrews of
Massachusetts, held high rank After
the war, in his farewell address of 1866,
he explained the policy which reason and
patriotism pointed out as the true course
for the restoration of the Southern States
to the Union upon a substantial peace
which would forcibly deprive the South
ern people of their right to choose the
men as their public agents to whom their
hearts inclined, and whose capacity,
patriotism and community of interest
with their own, commanded their conf
dence, would prove to be delusion and
snare.
With singular prescience, he submitted
the following propositions on the subject
of the organization of the Southern State
governments
| / am confident we can not reorganize
political society with any proper security
Il. Unless we let in the people to a CO.
operation, and not merely an arbitrary,
| selected portion of them.
s2. Unless we give those who are, by their
| intelligence and character, the natural lea
ders of the people, and who surely Will lead
| them, by and by, an opportunity to lead
them now. :.
when the day arrives, which must sure
ly come, when an amnesty substantially
universal shall be proclaimed, the leading
minds of the South who. by temporary and
artificial rules had been, for the while, dis
franchised, will resume their influence and
their sway. And these men, not then es-
topped by their own consent or participa-
ton in the business of reorganization. may
not be slow to question the validity of great
public transactions enacted during their own
Acknowledgement. If it is asked, in replys
What can they do 2 and What can come of
their discomfort 2 | answer, that while
do not know just what they can do, nor what
may come Of il, neither do i know what
they may not attempt, nor what they may
not accomplish l only know that we ought
to demand and to secure the cooperation
of the strongest and the ablest minds and
the natural leaders of opinion in the South.
If we can not gain their support of the just
measures needful for the work of safe re-
organization, reorganization will be detusiUe
and fuHOf danger"
Directly the reverse Of these plain
propositions founded upon common sense,
as well as true republicanism, has been
the policy of the Radical party in its
treatment of the people OF the Southern
States 1t has studiously aimed how not
to enlist in the work of reorganization
''the strongest and the ablest minds and
''the natural leaders of opinion in the
"South." 1t has placed a premium upon
mediocrity, and has sought out the men
who least of all commanded their conf
dence and respect, and who have noto7
riously subordinated the peace of commu-
mites and the rights Of the people to
their own selfish ends. The consequent
ces are as they were prophetically des-
cribed by Gov. Andrews. All is confu-
sion and discomfort. The knaves are even
quarrelng among themselves over the
spoils. The people feel themselves to be
the victims of fraud and oppression
They have no confidence in the spoilsmen
who have been palmed upon them by the
military governments. These agents have
organized corporations for wholesale
plumber, as attested by the Legislation of
every Southern State with the exception
perhaps of Virginia. Inthe other States
there are no signs of healthfulness in
their governments. The mongrel estab-
lishments are worse than whited sepul-
chres. They have not even the merit of
pleasant exterior. They are loathe-
some to look upon and foul within. The
only consolation is that they are lettering
on their foundations of corruption, and
will fall like mass of rottenness to the
ground before the tempest of popular
wrath which is gathering to sweep them
out of existence