National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-09-12

The victors simply asked the gallant com
manden and armies who had foughi
against them TO become again their brothers
to respect and honor the old flag, that was
the emblem Of their common nationality;
to come back to the Union they had
fought to break; TO rebind the ties they had
endesvored to sunder, and rebuild the edi-
Zee they had sought to deform and tear
down. The military chapter Of the rebel.
lion closed without on the part Of the
North the occurrence Of single act calcu-
lated to justify the accusation ofthe Hsrald,
that the North has treated the South as the
rude conquerors Of Rome treated the foe.
men they had vanquished. The soldier Of
to-day, beaten and bafHed, was asked to be-
come acitizen to-morrow-the citizen, not Of
8 province or Of satrapy, but the citizen
Of great nation-reinvested with all the
rights and privileges he had cast from him
no fines no penalties, no exiles-an equal
sharer in all that the cOnquerors had fought
10 maintain and preserve.
But it is in what may be called the legis-
lstive chapter Of the rebellion that we pre-
sumo the Herald sees the iron sway of an
Attila. 1t says eve imposed emancipation
''ss fine upon the South-a fine that may
''be rudely estimated in money value at
s'from two to four thousand millions of
dollars, or from two to four times as
'much as that imposed upon France by
''Germany;"s adding that people were
never punished as severely as in that act OF
emancipation the Southern people were
punished The emancipation Of four mil
lions of people bore heavily upon about
three hundred thousand gentlemen, the
number Of slave-owners in the South. 1t
was hard upon their return from the
marches, the sisges, the battles, and the
bitter suffering and hardship of four years
Of war 70 find their former chattels clothed
with the same political rights and priyi-
leges as they were; to be made to feel that
they had no longer the right to treat them
as sers and not IS human beings. The old
slave quarters were all deserted; the fields
were untitled; Cuffee in the cabin by the
roadside talking about wages and represen-
tation in the town council; asking for
schools and churches, and newspapers and
books; dreaming even then Of seats in the
State Legislatures and Congress. It was
sore and bitter morning when the soldier
planter came back to his old home, DESC
lated perhaps by the march and the battle,
and heard the whole story-how the old
servant when the Yankee flag came down
with Sherman's surging battalions, took
leave Of his mistress and the young master
with tears perhaps, because there were
good kind masters in the South, and 'fCuf-
fee was not ungTateful, and told them.
though they were dear to him, freedom
was still dearer than all, and in the future
he would be free. It was severe and Bit
ter moment and we entirely agree with
our contemporary that In one way or another
this act Of emancipation is at the root Of all
the trouble and heartburning in the South
to-day. But three hundred thousand slave
holders made war for slavery-three hun
dred thousand men. the genius, the valor,
the intelligence Of the South if you win;
intelligent and gifted and valiant because
slavery had given the opportunity-made
war upon the Union to maintain their as
tendency, They formed q governments
with slavery as its cornerstone, and men
like Mr.. Toombs Wanted they would call
the roll Of their slaves at the foot Of Bunker
BILL We have no desire to open up the
old question with all its passion and preiu-
dice and anger and luminosity. Undoubt-
edly It was q war measure; but 1t was
measure that was inevitable from the morn
ing the flag was fred upon at Sumter.
From that date it was only question Of
how it should be doAe-whether the South
should lay down its arms and accept as a
condition Of peace money value for its
slaves, or whether it should come as it did,
ameasure for the preservation of the Union.
Prom the very foundation of the Govern
ment it had been source Of trouble and
annoyance, its followers threatening, bully
ing. demanding fresh concessions, growing
stronger year by year, until at last it thought
itself powerful enough to overthrow the
Union, and made the attempt When the
war closed, the party that in the field had
beaten slavery had no alternative but to
make that victory secure in legislation.
Hence the constitutional amendments and
the reconstruction measures, and the en-
fCrcement acts, with all their good and evil,
their satisfactory and unsatisfactory conse-
quences. The Hsr6ld sees in them only
the spirit Of Genghis Khan. '.Neye- was
people treated so cruelty and so hArshly, it
tells US. The condition of the South to-day
is not what we could wish it to be; the
volume Of the statutes Of reconstruction Is
not as sweet and pleasant volume as
could be desired; but it is what It is be-
cause Of the South. Had the Attila spirit
prevailed in the North as sometimes it ap-
peared it would prevail. as it again and
again found expression on the lips Of men
like Mr.. Stevens, Of Pennsylvania, that
volume would to-day contain chaptercon,
f5cating the estates of every Southern
leader, giving forty acres of land and
mule to every negro. We do not think the
South ought to be happy and contented and
feel reconstructed because the grim ideas Of
the Great Commemorative was the incarna
ton Of the rancor and bitterness of the
time, who was to Radicalism what
Torquemada was to the Inquisition, what
Cromwell was to the Puritan party
were not embodied in legislation.
That they were not only shows thata really
moderate policy prevailed; that the North
ern legislators endesvored to be as just and
generous in peace as they were in war
The history Of the reconstruction Of every
Southern State shows that this idea was up
permost in the minds Of the leaders in Con-
gess Take the case Of Georgia. What
was the first act Of her first reconstructed
legislature7 To expel every man Of color
who held seat in it. What could be done
with such people3 Somewhere in the
Northern skies the Georgian statesmen and
politicians saw the faint light which to them
presaged the return Of the Democratic par
~ to power, and the first exercise Of their
authority was 70 trample upon the political
rights of the people upon whose human
rights they had tampled for 50 many gen;
eEations s It 70 be wondered at that the
party which bad sent Sherman marching
through Georgia, from Atlanta to the 81.