The Republican journal., 1872-04-18
Seven Years of FOLLY.


Seven Years of Folly.
1t is Just seven years says the Lancaster
lntelligencer, since Lee surrendered to
Grant at Appomattox Court House, and
all must remember the thrill Of Joy with
which the news was received. AS the
bells rang out their peals of iubilaton
million, shouted in 'ecstacY of delight,
Thank God the cruel war is over" Gen
eral Grant had not thought of being made
President when he accorded generous
terms to the wretched and broken-down
remnant OF the rebel army with which he
had bravelv battled for years, and there
We're few who in the hour of universal
Joy did not feel kindly toward the people
Of the South, in spite of the cost which
their rebellion had entailed. Abraham
Lincoln gave expression TO the most kind
" sentiments, and his last public utter
ances were tull of charity and forgiveness
ence to the conquered South was so plain
that no statesman could be mistaken |,
was not until fear had arisen that the
success Of the Republican party might be
I endangered by q complete restoration o
the Southern States to their proper place
in the Union. that there was departure
from the wise and merciful policy which
had been announced by Mr. Lincoln
Months after Mr.. Lincoln's death Genera
Grant paid an official visit to the South
from which he returned with the announce
ment that the conciliatory measures o
President Johnson were producing good
fruit that the people accepted the situa
ton, and that no standing army was
needed to preserve order.
1t would be difficult TO estimate how
much the vindictiye policy which after
ward prevailed and which has been per
sisted in for seven years has cost this ma
ton. Ia 1860, the property Of the | / Sc.
ceding States. exclusive OF slaves, was
valued at 2.72S, S25 O06 At the end OF
the war their losses and liabilities, exclu-
sive Of slaves, and exclusive OF the rebe
debt was estimated at 1872 600, 800
nearly one half the assessed value OF
their property at the beginning Of the
war. This. however, was only the State
loss. Secretary Belknap fixes the rebel
debt on the LIST Of April, 1865. at % $40
299, 923. This estimate would make the
total loss Of the rebellious States by the
war 8, 262 303 544 This sum it VIII be
all Southern property in 1860, exclusive OF
slaves. Never in the history of the world
was there such a wholesale destruction OF
property, never we've people so com
pletely reduced from atfiuence to poverty
by few years OF warfare.
The loss thus entailed was loss not to
the people Of the South alone, but 10 the
nation OF which the seeding States con-
stjtuted component part. The slightest
amount OF financial wisdom ought to have
taught our rulers that there was only one
judicions course OF policy to be pursued
stead Of placing bonds upon the limbs OF
a PROSTATE people it was alike our duty
and our interest to raise them up, and to
help them along the pathway of peaceful
industry.
Did we do that ? Let the facts which
have transpired within seven years past
answer. Moved by mercenarv motives,
actuated by desire to insure the main
tenance OF party supremacy, Congress
imposed the most odious and oppressive
system Of government upon the impover-
ished people of the South All who were
fit for public employment were rigidly
debarred from holding office and were
given up to the licentious rule of ignorant
negroes, who We're manipulated for the
profit of a horde of worthless and impe-
cuniOus carpet-baggers. Instead of being
ergies the people of the South were op,
pressed by new and heavier burthens,
Barbarian blacks held high revel in legis-
latlve halls which they decorate with gor-
geous splendor, and the debts of the
Southern States were increased IN the
most frightful proportions. In 1866 the
Il of A iot x
the care of negroes who voted as the car
pet-baggers dictated, it has been increas-
ed to 1924, 900 900. The debt of North
Carolina has been swelled from 4,OOO,-
900 to 935, 100000; and SO it has been in
every one of the seeding States except
Virginia and Tennessee, where, there be-
ing fewer negros, the whites managed to
throw off the yoke.
What benefit have the people of the
North derived from the operations of the
filthy political harpies who have gone
South to plumber defenceless people !?
Have we been enriched by their unlawful
gains? Not so. On the contrary every
new burthen laid upon the backs of the
Southern people has been that much ad-
ditional weight upon the shoulders of the
tax-ridden masses of the North. Every
dollar of the millions wasted and destroy
ed by the carpet-baggers and their negro
allies has been that much deducted direct
ly from the national wealth. Nor does
the sum of the loss stop with that. The
re'ardation of the South in recuperation,
the palsy of enterprise, the hinderances
placed in the way OF improvement, the
checks to industry--all these things must
be taken into account when an estimate is
made of the losses which have been en-