The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-09-17

Poor Mr.. Hunter.
1t is almost twelve years since Hon. R. NJ
T. Hunter, Virgnian of the old aristocratic
school stalked out of the Senate, where he
had solemnly sworn to support the constitu-
ton of the United States, and made his way
forthwith into the Confederate Senate and an
active participation in the war for the over
throw of the Union. Before the close of that
contest he became the Confederate Secretary
of State. Since 1865 hardly anything has
been heard of Mr.. Hunter till last week when
at the earnest solicitation of the friends Of
Mr.. Greeley, this eminently high-toned old
gentleman was pleased to come to New York
and instruct the people Of that city in their
duty as patriots and lovers of their kind
Looking into the World we find that most
moderate of Democratic Journals commend
ing the speech in am unusually ELUSIVE vein.
"Mr. Hunter, ''says the World, sis a sincere,
high-toned, clear-headed man; patriotic dur
ing the war according to his conception Of pa
triotism. 1t adds:
No Southern man of so much ability as Mr.
Hunter has addressed Northern audience
since the Presidential canvass of 1860 We cor
daily welcome him to participation in our po-
ltical discussions; and we think no nearer or
reader of his speech can avoid feeling deep
sense of the inpoLicy and uiberality of erclu1in1
such men from all Federal and State Offices In
the new and peculiar condition of the Southern
communities, they ought to be represented at
Washington by men of consummate capacity,
and their State governments should be com pos
ed OF men strong in character, influence, and
local public confidence.
We must here protest against such an OBJ
vious paradox-such fatal confusion of ideas
of right and wrong-as is involved in apply
ing the phrase patriotic during the war; to
men who evinced their patriotism ct that.
time only by the exercise of their utmost en-
deavors to destroy the government to which
they owed allegiance. We, in common with
most Republicans, are willing, nay, eager, to
forget the past and forgive the Confederates,
but we can never sympathize with this Dem
ocratic tendency to exalt treason, place it
among the virtues and obliterAte all distinc-
ton between that most detestable crime and
the exalted virtue of patriotism. To do so is
to overlook entirely the solemn moral of the
war, to ignore its impressive lessons and to
lose entirely the benefits which they might
confer. Indeed, the stability of the Repub-
lie could be brough into no more imminent
peril then by thus confounding right and
wrong aud browning its eneme. with the lau-
rels that belong only to its bravest defenders
"If the butterfly courted the bee
The owl the porcupine,
Ii churches were built in the sea-
And three times were nine;
If the pony rode his master;
III the buttercups ate the cows;
If the cat had the dire disaster
To be worried sir, by the mouse;
If mamma, sir, sold the baby
To a gypsy for half crown,
Ii gentleman, sir, were lady
then the Democratic papers could be excused
for confounding right with wrong, for
'SThe world would be upside down."
But Notwithstanding this preliminary
shock to the moral sense, the reader will
turn to Mr.. II unters speech with eager Gu
riosity to see how this well preserved fossil of
an era that is happily past looks upon the
world and the events of to-day. To his sur
prise he will find Mr.. Hunter completely un-
reconstructed. This rebel whom the World
so heartily welcomes and so warmly endorses
and applauds, frankly declares that he has
changed none of his opinions. He says with
the utmost righteousness that he and his |
Southern compatriots take Mr.. Greeley be-
cause he is the best man for their interests
whom they hope to elect, and that it is of no
use to make issues nop on aphich they are
sure to be defeated. Under Mr.. Greeley he
says that they expect ''the restoration of 10
cal self government" Throughout his re-
marks Mr.. Hunter complains bitterly of the
unforgiving spirit of the North and of the |
federal government in the local affairs of the
Southern States. And finally this venerable
representative of narrowing aristocracy
addresses to his Northern friends ga solemn
warming that the course of the present adj
is fass carrying us toward an i'm
perial form of government.
In these few words we have given a fair
analysis of Mr.. Hunters speech, which was
intended to reassure the North as to the feel
ings and purposes of the old Southern leaders.
But it will hardly have that effect. Think of
the coolness of his position. A man on
whom the faint of treason still rests, and who
proclaims in effect that HE HAS NOT
CHANGED HIS OPINIONS about the right. of
secession, about the confederacy whose
corner stone was slavery, and about the
Injustice of the war for the Union, of the
Iboition of slavcry, of the reconstruction meas
Tres and of all those constitutional amend
nents and laws which establish civil and po-
itical equality-this man is welcomed by the
Democracy to the North as teacher of polit-
cal truth! He receives the tenderest sym
1athy when he complains of federal tyranny"
which is exhibited only in those laws which
Ire designed solely to prevent the oppression [
md practical reinstatement of the freedmen S
y the class Of which the Virginian states 7
nan is representatiye-n the Ku-Klur 7
aw, which Horace Greeley wanted ssmada s
and in the federal election law
rhch the Tribune wanted extended TO everv
amlet in the country. He is listened to
nth respect by Democratic audience when
e, the man who added perjury to the crime c
f treason and who, by hi. own confession, ,
as repented of neither warns all men to be- c
'dre of Ulysses S. Grant and his associates L
the Government who, he fears, are doing q
r suffering something that will bring evil or a
eproach upon the country In other words, U
ne most afficient defender of his country's '
Integrity is denounced and held I'D as an OBJ C
,ct OF hatred and suspicion by an impenitent b
.ebell !
But this speech of Mr.. Hunters will not h. Fl
1thout Its use. The Northern people have o
'rgiyen with all their hearts, and have 20. =,