Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-06-09
THE NEW DEPARTURE.

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no one will dare gainsay the fact that we
have had many and sore trials. Here
| indeed, it is true that every heart hath
bitterness. and literally true that every
| heart knoweth it's own bitterness. In the
world of the affections we'll in the
business ard in the political world We have
been tutored in the school of adversely.
The lessons set for US there have been
lessons hard TO learn and hard 10 profit by
Vanity of vanities-all is vanity. But the
evils of the past will not have BEEN utterly
devoid of good ii they have taught Us how
to mitigate or to meet the evils Of the
future. We do rot propose :his morning
to dwell upon the bitterness Of our ex-
perience Let the dead past bury ite
dead. We propose, rather, to ascertain
what the experience really has been and
what are its teachings, and it may be done
in few words.
Laying down our arms after long de--
olating war, there sprung up in US an hon
est desire by an industrious cultivation of
the arts Of peace to repair our shattered
fortunes. to make cur fair land smile onca
more with plenty and material prosperity,
and in due time TO restore our sundered re-
Iations with the Federal Government upon
honorable and equal terms. We have
done much, perhaps all that could have
been done. We have made progress both
material and political. Indeed, these have
advanced with such equal step, that we
have come to believe there is an intimate
come ction between them, and from this
time forward, to look for material advance
ment only as the twin sister Of political
freedom. We feel assured that our South
ern people are not like driven cattle, to bear
patiently yoke tina gals their DC cksf for the
poor privilege of filing their bellies with
hay and husks at noon and even-tide.
The consciousness Of vasailage, Of de-
graduation must mako work too lrksome to
q proud people 10 be proftably persisted
in. The greatest benefactor, then, to the
South, will be he who shall first remove
this sense Of degradation, who shall fret
strike down this impediment to profita-
BILE, uninterrupted labor by restoring us to
our equal rights and equal privileges IS
citizens of G. common country.
In the past, disdaining to accept as a
boon what we claimed as right, We of
the South have sought to work out our
own salvation. In every instance, how
ever, in which We have attempted to ac-
complsh anything beyond our own terri
torial limits, disaster has come upon us and
our allies. The grand Union Convention
which met in Philadelphia, when Massa-
chusetts and South Carolina entered arm
in arm, was not mora barren in results than
the New York Convention that nominated
Seymour and Blair.
Upon our own soil our success has been
as marked as has been our defelt beyon1
il.
It is not to be denied, however, that we
have friends at the North, honest, earnest.
Jealous friends, ready to work for US, and
what is more to the point, there is class
OF men there daily growing in numbers
and importance, who feel that their inter
est is bound up in ours for the reason that
they begin to see that the destruction
of personal liberty, and of the right of
local self-government OF the South is the
North.
It seems, then, that the cause of pers oual
liberty, the cause of local self-government,
and this, in other words, is the ca1ge Of
the South, is daily gaining strength in all
parts of our common country.
That it's adherents at the North, when
nghting alone, can win victories, has been |
attested in almost every State beyond |
Mason and Dixon's line. That It's adhe- |
rents in the South when fighting alone can
win victories, is also beyond dispute. Yet,
singular to say, when these two parties are
fused into one, instead of winning vic.o-
ries they invariably meet with defeat.
Such has been the bitter experience Of |
the past Realizing this state Of things, |
and in view Of the Presidential campaign.
our friends at the North have taken what,
in the political parlanca OF tbs day, is
termed ''new departure" Mr.. VALLAN,
D1GHAM, of Ohio, inaugurated the move
ment in the Dayton Resolutions. and the
Ohio and Kentucky Conven-
lions have endorsed it, and dou btless, in the
other Northern States, as opportunity
offers our friends will fell into line.
What does this new departure mean p
Il means simply this Oar friends at the
North, the friends of Constitutional Coy '
are preparing and organizing
Tor the next Presidential campaign SO that
when the fight comes they will have 10 use
ess membranes. All the sick aud wound {
I'd are to be sent to the rear. In plain En- '
3lish, in order to secure success in the f4-
;ure tits necessary that the crimes and OPP i
oressions of the past shall be compounded {
md condoned. As these wrongs were COM '
nitted against the South, it would be con. c
rary to human nature to expect Northern S
men, even though they be Democrats, not I
o forgive and forget them. 1t is easy for O
nen to forgive injuries done to their 8