The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-01-14

The "B0fuef StAtCSI uA W. Lc hlll
wont 70 term them, according TO the
phraseology Of days when unllHppily there
rus hostile border, running straight
through the Union, have naturally been
among the last to forget the fierce hHtreds
Of the war. In them brother was arTayed
against brother, and father against son
A great gulf yawned between people OF
the same Statewide espoused rival causes,
"a gulf which at once seemed impossible,
in our generation at least to bridge
There have been no more vcncmous pot
litical contests since the war than those OF
the border States. In no part. Of The
Union has sOciGly heen more cGnvplsed,
or has 1t tdkGl longer for the ethrltulent
elements 10 become tranquil. As they
were the main campaigning grounds IN
war, so In peace the political Cauldron has
in them sGctlled with greatest fury. AS
they were the scenes Of bridge burnings
and all the horrors Of private or guerrilla
warfare, SO now in them "Ku-klux Khnsi
and "RegulatOrs have icolnmittel Their
worst ieXCesScS. Ssi 7 .tyytl Z !
Anthiswc.ay, OrcohTse, not IN any Re,
prOach upon the existing state Of society
but hy way Of accounting for the fierce
ness Of political feeling still prevalent It
was almost to be expected, for example,
that partisanship should Nt first he more
violent, vindictive and venOmOus in Viz;
ginia than in Florida; that "UniOnism
should be less mugnanimOus In Tennessee
and Missouri than in South Carolina; that
even Maryland and Kentucky should be
more surly and stubborn in accepting
the new situation than North Carolina or
Alabama. But we may take Il to be
bright omen for the future that even tho
Border States arc conceding something OIL
all sides. In Virginia,-tllnt Flanders Of
the rcbelliOn,-the iirst fierce passion Of
radicalism Is giving way 10 the broader
national policy of magnanimity. And in
Missouri Il may be said with sure prophecy
that the day 0fdisGranchiscment Is nearly
over.
Missouri suffered previously from the
civil war, and in no State were leuds be-
tween ncighlIOs hotter. The NEGRO
question" came up there at the very out
set Of the war, when, nearly nine years
agO, Fremont had command In ST. Louis.
We well remember, too, how even in these
carly days, the loyal men pledged u "ter.
riblG reckoning To those who had left
the State 10 Join the Confederate armies,
and how this pledge was renewed at each
rnid of Price and his men. Wholesale
acknowledgements, cOniiScatlOns, test Oaths,
and all the apparatus Of political revenge,
have indeed for a long time been In favor.
But what we are glndtO see Is that now,
"lctting bygOncS bC byg0nCS," the dOmin'
ant party in Missouri has quilted lis pnr-
pose of revenge, and ranges itself side by
side with the dominant party Of the na-
itOn, in the policy Of magnanimity.
The truth in the matter is simple one
ALL the guarantees that can be got arc
contained in the Congressional plan Of n.
construction and the Fourteenth and Fiji
teentli Amendments And aS for Mis-
souri, Governor McClurg's own message
tells It's that "tlrrc is no county in the
State where organized resistance TO the
law exists, and where the Sheriff cannot
prOcurr POKE To aid in the enforcement
Of the laws" Even In the seven counties
where the false registration Of 1858 caused
the vote to bc thrown out, new rcgstrn.
tiOns and new elections have been held
with the most perfect order.
What more could he asked? On the
other hand, as the St. Louis Denodrdt
well explains, mere party discretion, us
well Us absolute Justice, demands that the
present Legislature shall put itself on the
record in proposing the ballot alike 10 the
excluded white and To the black. Next
year, by the provision Of limitation in the
Constitution, the DISTINGUISHING provision
may upon the vote nr bare majority In
the Lcgislaturr) become imperative; and
hy TINT time the Fifteenth Amendment
may have done for Missouri regarding the
negro what she has not yet done for her.
self