Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-11
RUIN AND RESTORATION.

RUIN AND RESTORATION.
We find in the Southern Magazine, of
Baltimore, the first of a series of arti-
cles entitled Ruin and reconstruc-
tion," being a record of a couple of
tours through the South in 1868 and
1873, by Edwin DeLeon. The writer
presents full estimates of the losses
which the South,rn States have sus-
tanned at the hands of Radicaism
since 1861. The direct and indirect de-
struction of property in the South has
been enormous and no man appreciates
Its extent or feels its injustice more
keenly than the author of those arti-
cles; and yet he is free to utter words
OF hope and cheer. In his predatory
remarks he says: 81 may be accused
OF being an optimist in some Of my
predictions and opinions; but prefer
even that character to its opposite, the
pessinlist, who Will persist in hanging his
unstrung harp ON the withered willows
of yesterday, and equally hopeless and
helpless, neglects and ignores both the
present and future IN bemoaning the
dead and irrevocable past. The ruin
wrought by the war and its consequen-
ces our people know and have felt In
its full proportions; but of the recuper-
alton and reconstruction which are rap
idly remedying its evils they have
formed no adequate conception-so
silent and so secret have been the work
ings of this peaceful revolution. Few
have suspected or watched the rise and
swell of the great industrial movement
agricultural, mechanical and manu-
facturing-which like tidal wave is
sweeping over the entire limits of the
Confederate States, restoring their
Masterpieces to fertility and their de-
vastated cities to prosperity once more.
Yet that such tide has risen, more
fertilizing than the overflow of old Nile,
is truth. Let any unprecedented man
visit and examinethe prospects and pro-
gress Of the SouthernStates,c contrasting
them with the condition five years ago,
and the conviction must force itself on
his mind, that the real restoration of
those States is now fixed fact Like
the giant Antaeus, in the grand old pa
gan fable, who in his wrestle with Her
cules rose only the stronger after every
fall from touching his mother earth, so
the South may yet rise all the more
powerful from her wrestle with the
North"
This is peculiarly encouraging; and,
as there is no important reason to ques-
ton It's truth, it should give strength
to the public spirit and patriotic enter
prise Of the people. The thought that
we may not live to see our common
wealths restored to their former great
ness should not enfeeble the en-
ergy of progression. The chief
glory and greatest charm of nations
life IS enjoyed in the act Of progression
rather than in the result; and it mat
tiers not whether nation be enjoying
an early or later period of its ad-
vancement, the excellence of its life is
the same. If we have been set back
and encountered with Il stagnant in
cubus through the injustice and intoler-
ance Of a strange people, this fact
should not prevent us from struggling
upward; for unlike other great people
that have been overpowered and crush
ed by superior numbers, we still have
the means Of reproducing our wealth
which viii guarantee our liberty. Our
political freedom and equality is to-day
far from being restored to US. But we
now stand the only people in the
world, except the English, to
demand constitutional liberty.
In France and Spain It Is IN
known; and IN the majority of the
American States It is held in disrepute.
Shall we, who are thus pre-eminent in
the world of political ethics, despond
or cease to assert the beauty and ex-
cellence of those principles which
alone achieved and maintained, for a
time, that pure and simple liberty
which was the happiness of America
and the admiration Of the world? Let
us hold to our inherited philosophy of
liberty, and when time and circum- !
stance shah drag the new world to the |
borders Of anarchy and the verge of |
slavery, our principles Will be valued |
and breathed again into the body poll |
tic. They Will then be dear to the OPP
pressed Of our race and We shall have a |
historic glory as people. |
Does not history already praise |
the estabhshers Of constitutional Eber-
ty in this country and their principles
which We cherish? Meanwhile our
great active duty in the South is to
create material wealth-to accumulate |
the means of happiness. For this, We
need enterprise and courage. No self
sacrifice IS wanted; let the people re-
main at their homes in the South and
work diligently and economically for
themselves. The aggregate wealth of
the States viii thus increase, and we
can once more establish a common glory
which viii satisfy the proudest patri-
otto desires.
MICAWBER'S LOGIC.
The cxigencies of self-styled ''inde-