Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-13
"TIIR POLICI' OF HaTB."

It is sometimes charged that the Repub-
lcan party is a sectional ono, and, as an
organization, opposed to the people OF the
South and their best interests. The record
shows that exactly the opposite OF this
charge is true. The policy Of the Republi-
can party is the recorded acts or history of
the Government for the past twelve years I;
more than a decade in our history. What
does this record say? Let us go back to the
close of the war and the surrender of Lees
army at Appomattox Court house. What
were the conditions of that surrender?
Was there ever greater magnanimity
shcwn to gallant but conquered foe than
was shown by General Grant to the fallen
hero of the Confederate army? No humil
| iatng conditions were exacted no leaders
were held as hostages for the good behav-
ior of those who had for four years been
trained in the camp and drilled in the use
of the rifle and the bayonet. On the con-
trary, the rank and file of this great army,
which for four years had been desperately
contending against the army of the Repub
lie, were released without conditions and
allowed to 90 to their homes, carrying with
them their arms, and in many cases their
horses and wagons and other property, the
latter to assist them in restocking their
ruined and neglected farms, and the for
mer to defend themselves against those
lawless bands which always infest disor-
ganized community. Was there anything
proscriptve or revengeful in this great act
Of the present Chief Magistrate, sustained
as it was by the people of the Republic?
Was it not of itself the greatest act of am
nesty recorded in history?
Upon the close of the rebellion one of the
first acts of a Republican Congress was to
re-establish the post offices and long neg
lected mail routes of the Southern States.
Before the war the expense of carrying the
mails in the Southern States was a great
burden upon the people of the North for
while the mail service in the Northern
States paid its own way there was always u
deficiency of several millions of dollars per
annum for performing the same service in
the South. With desolated and impover-
ished country, with no means of providing
even the actual necessities of life, how
could the people of the South expect to
other sections of the country, except by
the assistance and at the expense of their
Republican friends of the North Here
again was the magnanimity of the Repub-
lican party shown. Old mail routes were
re-estabished, and hundreds of new ones
made, and to-day the mail facilities of
every Southern State are one-third greater
than before the war.
n great hue and cry was made against
the Freedmen's Bureau while il was in ex-
istence, but will any one dare say to-day
that ii did not accomplish much good, that
ii did not prevent untold misery, and even
starvation, among the blacks and the
poorer white people of the South? 1t was a
most beneficent institution, and scattered
its bounties with liberal hand among the
poor and needy of the Southern States. 1t
provided the means of subsistence until
the farmers and planters of the South had
time TO reorganize and reconstruct their
establishments and afford employment TO
to those who had formerly looked to them
for direction and assistance. Through it
the former master was concilated with the
now freed man, and learned for the first
time that free was more profitable than
slave labor.
Mr.. Greeley's new allies do not regard
another achievement of the Republican
party with aught but loathing and hatred.
We mean its record in favor of free and
ample education. Before rebellion began
and closed, common school system was a
Yankee invention, heartily despised by the
ruling class of the South. Rev. DR.. Curry,
of Richmond, Va, says, in a public adj
dress, that-"Prior to the war no general
system of common schools existed in all
lhe States. Alabama had system grad
ually periecting and growing into COM
pleteness. Various towns and cities had
free schools in more or less successful op-
Grafton. Academies and colleges for boys
and girls were abundant, and of a high
order. Every State, except Texas, Arkan-
sas, and Florida, had what was called
university, well equipped, well patronzed,
and tolerably endowed"
This is Southern testimony, and it illus
trates how incomplete were oven the apollo.
gies he cites. OF course, nothing is said of
the spoliation of school lands of Arkansas,
or the mlsappropriation of the school funds |
of Mississippi by Democratic Office holders |
and politicians, or Of the fact that in a ma
jority of the Southern States at least one
half of the adult white population were
wholly illiterae, while the colored people |
were prohibited by law from obtaining in |
struction. During the rebellion all at
tempts at systematic public instruction
ceased, and it is a matter of record that the
fa1n nj on 4
funds, &C., to war purposes
What is the Republican record in this re-
spect? Just as far as our armies advanced, |
and often accompanying them, the organ
lied benevolence of the North brought the |
teacher, and the free school sprang into ex- |
istence, first for the contraband and then |
for The "refugee." 1t seems impossible to |
obtain anything like full statement ofthe |
amounts expended in this voluntary work,
but the Commissioner of Education, Hon.
John Eaton, Jr,, makes the following prac-
teal exhibit in his last report.
"By the American Missionary Associa-
ton, as reported by w. Il. Whiting Esq,
treasurer for missions and schools, for a |
period OF ten years from October |, 1861, |
sl,663,756,99. BY the Freedmens Bureau,
as reported by General o. o. Howard.
Commissioner, from May 20, 1865, to the
present time, in cash, 50, III, ,235, ,O4: in OIL er
than cash, ST. 55l, ,27G, total, S. 262, ,5ll, ,26.
BY the General Assembly of the Piesby- |
terian Church, during five years ending
May l, 1871. s22O,704. BY the Freedmen's |
Aid Society at Cincinnati, before this So
ciety was merged in the American Mission
airy Association, Loyi Coffin general agent,
slSi, ,Si0,53, besides a large amount not in
cash. In the District OF Columbia $50, 900 |
are reported as expended by the Baptist
denomination"
These several sums make an aggregate
OF N,2l7,3l2,7S. In all probability sl2,OOO,-