Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-06-04
North and South.

In a recent editorial under the above
caption Harper's Weekly comments on the
reconciliation sentiments contained in the
speech of Gen. Bartlett at the Lexington
centennial, and on the concilatory and
! friendly sentiments advanced in subse.
quent speeches by Gen. Bradley 7. John
son at Richmond, Va, and Gen. Evans in
Georgia. The editorial concludes as fol
| lows;
"But, on the other hand, 1t is not to be
denied that the concilatory sentiments
which Gems. Evans and johnson now ex-
press in the name of their late comrades in
arms have not controlled the political ac.
| ton of the white leaders in the Southern
| States since tho war closed. First, the
! positive action taken in those States under
the hopes aroused by the malign acei-
dent of Andrew Johnsons Presidency;
then the abstinence from political af-
! fairs or the indifference TO them; then
the apparent acquiescenCe in the Ku-
Klux and the White Lcaguc-these, as
illustrations, all showed feeling which
was far from conciliatory, and which nee
essarily gave & the South no other politi-
cal synpathizers in the North than the
! Copperhcads of the war, a body of men
most Justly and universally distrusted, and
who have hitherto controlled the Demo-
cratic party. Had Gems. johnson and
Evans and hundreds of their associates
| opposed as openly and frankly and strong
ly the many unquestonable wrongs done
to the new citizens in the Southern States
as they now approve the generous words
of Gen. Bartlett, had they shown q hearty
desire-and it was not difficult to show It
of cordial cooperation with honest and
patriotic Republicans in the Northern
States, they would have found quick and
satisfactory response. But the speeches
made by Wade Hampton at the time of
the nomination of Seymour in 1868, and
the tone of the Democratic National Con-
vention, in which the Southern States took
part, forbade patriotic men, when the sim
pie alternative was the Republican or
| Democratic party, to hesitate for a moment
in sustaining the former.
! The Republican policy, which is de-
nounced by the late Confcdorates-as, for
instance, in Fitz Hugh Lees letter to Gen.
| Bartlett approving his speech-as ven
| gcance, was, in fact, not vengeance at all,
but policy which the conduct Of the
| Southern leaders imposed upon the ma.
| jority. And while we and, we venture to
say, the great mass Of Republicans SYM
| pathize to the utmost with the iraternal
spirit and aspiration of the speeches of
the soldiers upon both sides to which we
have alluded, the practical question is, in
what way can we all make those good
wishes effective and promote that recon-
ciliationY 1t is question that we shall
all have to answer practically in 1876, and
to answer by deciding upon simple al
tentative, as in 1868. If the eX-Confed-
crate soldiers suppose that in sustaining
the Republicans the intelligence and in
dustry and character of this part of the
country mean to declare for policy of
vengeance and to postpone reconciliation,
| they are profoundly mistaken. AS tho
patriotic intelligence of the North knew,
during the war, that the party of the Cop
pcrheads was not the party of a real peace,
so it instnctyely knows now that
the same party is not one of real
reconciliation. 1t is the party of the
cause that lost, not of that which won (;
and its success would be disastrous
| surrender of the principles and policy
which must mold and guide the new
! Union. Those cX-Confederate soldiers
who are as sagacious as they are honestly
dcsirous of lasting peace and fraternity
will understand that the friends Of the
successful cause, and not its enemies, are
| its natural and proper guardians. The
| Democratic party was the party of slave
ry, and, that having disappeared, the party
has no further reason for existence. When
ever it calls itself the party of reform and
progress and liberty and justice, its very
existence is its difficulty Honest seekers
of reform might join new organization
but they contemptuously reject for such n
purpose the old organization of slavery, to
which the Southern uttcrers of the dirty
froth,' and all the old Northern Copper
heads, and all the secret foes of the Union
and Of equal rights still closely cling it
is not such aparty which, in the closing
words of Gen. Bartlett's speech at LeXng-
ton, can secure for every inch of this
| great country /" sub HJertdte Q,fetem." ,"