Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-09-18
The M%gaanianity of the War
Terms for the South.

The people of the South are often told
by Radical journals of the 'magn,min ty'
with which the South was treated by the
North after being conquered. The best
way to ascertain It'll by comparison, and the
best comparison may be found iii the fol
lowing article from the n. Y. Herald:
We consider emancipation now, because
it is a question more directly concerned
with the troubles in the South, and because
il is more completely an illustration of our
argument in favor of this proposed con-
vention We imposed emancipation as a
fine upon the South-a fine that may be
rudely estimated in money value at from
two to four thousand millions of dollars or
from two to four times as much as that
imposed upon France by Germany. This
was only one of the fires thus imposed, a
fragment of what the South was compelled
to nav. There was the loss of thousands
of lives. the destruction of trade for four
wears. the suspension of the cotton crop
involving a loss of hundreds of millions,
and of rice and sugar and tobacco, involv-
inc other millions the extinction OF the
Confederate debt, Of the local war debts,
of the whole volume OF Confederate cur
rency, of the obligations given by the
Richmo nd government for supplies. the
Southern railway system, the devastation
of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Ten
nessee and Missssippi-all these We're SO
many phases of the indemnity imposed by us
upon the South When to them we add
tile emancipation Of the slaves and the
humiliation of the enormous wealth they
represented, the result is that we not only
conquered the Confederacy. but entalled
virtual ruin upon it's citizens. Our theory
seemed to be that SO long AS we did not
execute the rebels in arms they could not
complain. AS an act OF craftsmanship we
now see that it would have been better
to have satisfied the spirit of vengeance
by hanging every leading man in the on
federacy, if we could also have shown mag
nan;mity and generosity to its people.
The world stood aghast at the indemnity
imposed upon France by Germany. That
Indemnity was one thousand millions Of
dollars. But suppose that the Germans
had bleckaded French ports and suspended
all trade for four years; had conflscated
or destroyed the wine crop fer the same
time, and not wine alone, but all other
cyops: had virtually uprooted the whole
railway system' had ravaged the country
from Lille to Marselle, and BayOnne; had
compelled the reputation OF all of the
loans raised by the Tours government
and not simply this, but all other loans,
and the vast volume of the Rank of France
currency, what would the world have
said When, in addition to this, was
added an actual fine of from two to four
thousand millions of dollars, we can read
ily imagine the horror stricken protests OF
Russia AMI England nay, even of the
Germans themselves. Yet this is practi=
cally what we have imposed upon the
South, and we wonder that. with such
a burden, there should not be prompt and
prosperous reconstruction. We enamel
hated the slaves as an act of Justice; but
the Justice is only i'll the punishment OF the
rebels. We forget the fact that slavery
was as much our institution as the Soutll's;
that we recognized, cherished and prolited
by it that its sin is ours, and II we take
glory in abolition we should take some in
Tho responsibility Of the commission: Our
centennial orators will say with pride that
free America abolished slavery. But they
viii only speak the truth when they also
saw that we abolished it at the expense OF
the conquered commemorative of the
south: that so long as it was an advantage
to us we cherished it; when it became
simply an advantage to the South we des-
troyed it. 1t was not then an act OF hui
mainly and justice. but ameasure OF crue
wal.