The Portland daily press., 1871-02-03
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1871.



During the last year OF the war it may be
remembered tina: there was popular song,
exceedingly plantive and sorrowul, the bur-
den of which was something like this:
o, l would the war were over; t
Would the cruel WORK were done,
All our country reunited.
And the mauy States i'll Que.
1t was only on Wednesday, the ISL lns's
that this passionate longing was fully gfatl-
fed. On that ~day the admission ct Joshua
Hill as limited States Senator from Georgia
COMPLETED the restoration of the seeding
States 10 representation in Congress, and for
the first time since the Oath day of December,
1860, every State is in the enjoyment of its
normal relations with the general govern
ment. On that sad December day, a little
more than ten years ago, Messrs. Mcqueen,
Bonham, Boyce and Ashmore, Representa-
lives in Congress from South Carolina, adj
dressed letter TO the Speaker of the House
announcing the secession of that State on the
goth of the same month, and Their own re-
tirement from the House. These four men
first broke the magic circle of the associated
sovereignties by their naughty withdrawal
of the Southern States. From that hour Sen
ators and Representatives Withdrew in flocks,
finging behind them as they went every ex-
preston of scorn and hatred that pride and
resentment could suggest. On tho ,ast day
OF the year Benjamin of Louisiana made a
disunion speech on Withdrawing from the
Senate which was greeted by the crowded
galleries with the first rebel yell ever heard
"a demonac cry heard a thousand times
afterwards on many bloody field. On the
21st of January, 1861, Jefferson Davis with
drew after few words of solemn and digni-
lied leave-taking. And so the drama went on
till. none of the Southern members were lett
except the impudent Wigfall of Texas, who
stald TO exult over the dying Republic, and
heap Insult upon the lifeess remains of DEM
ocratlc government. Finally, on the 10th of
June, Tennessee itself seeded, all the traitors
had left Washington, and our beloved country
was divided between the United States and
the Contederacy. iit#
After the war the subdued States came
slowly struggling back, in an order curiously
suggestive of that in which they went out,
South Carolina coming back with the same
precipitation that characterized her going.
One by one, with their pride humbled, their
best blood exhausted, their resources destroy
Ell and their honor furnished, they have come
back, and, by masnanimity never before par
alleled, they ale permitted to sit down once
more in the council chambers of the nation
they tried to destroy. Last of all, Georgia
comes in and brings to the sisters she has so
greatly wrOnsed, not even the Door repatriation
of peniteDce- comes, as she went, defiant, ar
rogant, hatsdisloya.
al! the seats in Congress are once more
filled. To those who remember the gloom
that oppressed us at times while the struggle
was still raging, this will seem sufficiently
extraordinary exhibition of the mercy and
bendficence of Heaven and there will be little
disposition to reflect upon the flaws that exist
in this wonderful reconstruction of nation
Its miracle that in a single decade such
Tremendous disiutegrating forces could have
their full effect, and could be followed by res
tor2tlon so complete as even that we now en-
JOY 1t is true that The old spirit of caste Is
still upsubdued, and that the people of the
restored States have not yet begun 10 learn
the lesson taught alike by Christianity and
philosophy, that the rights of all men ought
to be respected. Still from the South come
tales OF outrage, prescription and bloodshed.
But with the Union restored and our demo-
cratic institutions not only preserved but pur-
lied there is great room for the hope that
Southern society may be ultimately Iegcuer-
ated.