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

was New England, with her warm, Intense
faith in democracy; her unrelenfing hatred
Of slavery, her broad philanthropy, her
impatient desire to reform and -sgenerate
the world. and especially the South. On
tie other there was the South resenting her
interference resisting her teachings, be-
Eeving IN slavery. because slavery was Of
divine right and guaranteed by the
Constitution. The one came from
the Puritan fathers. The other boosted
of the best blood Of the cavaliers. They
were gentlemen with broad eesmenes and
crests and coats Of arms, ana an ancestry
going back to the conquests of Cressy and
Agincourt. In the North the struggle was
for the maintenance Of the Union in the
South It was for what they called freedom,
which was in reality only another name
for the preservation of slavery. In main
tanning the Union slavery was destroyed IS
war measure. In France the war was q
war Of conquest; in Prussia, nomi-
nAllY at least ii was Wer for self
preservation, to prevent the dismem-
bsrment Of her territory to save her
from becoming the vassal Of Napoleon.
The German battalions conquered and made
France pay the expense Of the war. The
North conquered the South and slavery was
lost; but unlike Germany, who carted of
to the Prussian mints the billiards Of francs
she had exacted as a ransom, leaving only
sorrow and distress and suffering behind,
to the ruined people the task Of rebuilding
what had been destroyed, the North offered
the South her genius, her industry, her cap
ital, her marvellous enterprise She would
till the Southern lands; make Lowell and
q Lynn Of every Southern city and hamlet.
And the Yankee schoolmistress and me-
chanic and merchant went down /;
an army of industry meeting the
legions returning to Washington
TO that last review, with peace offerings
and love and friendship to convert the
fortresses into factories and the intrench-
ments into marts Of trade and industry
They went not as conquerors, but as
brothers, TO buy and sell and trade and
teach; to rebuild what Sheridan and Sher-
man, what Early and Ewell and Hampton
and Hill had shattered and destroyed.
How unlike the conquering German return
ing from France with his wagons Of Napo-
Icons to be coined into Prussian eagles.
But how were they metz The merchant
was asked as one Of the conditions Of trade
what ticket he voted, and if he answered
that he had voted for Lincoln and against
Mcclellan his wares remained un-
purchased; the mechanic starved unless he
denounced the cause IN which he had
fought, and the schoolmistress was warned
that she should not teach the former slave,
and shot to death If she persisted. The
Herald may call all this only the revival Of
the anger and passions of the war: bat it d
the truth, and no other fruit could spring
from such seed except what we see in the
South to-day. We conquered the South,
but we did not convince her that we were
night and she was wrong. If q national
convention Of peace and reconstruction
win help her to learn the lesson, by al
means let it be held; il win do no
harm and may do good. But let Us
not 60 into it with the idea that
the South has been trested as the Huns
treated ancient Rome, as the Casars their
defeated foemen-for that would be "a hlsi-
hcation Of history, and in the end only add
to the heartburning and the strife and ami
mostly Of the time. Let rs enter into it
with the understanding that perhaps neither
side is wholly right nor wholly wrong; that
there are duties to DO performed by the one
party and the other, 70 the end that peace
may prevail and the Union be made secure
forever. ~