Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-06-03
North and South.

In . recent editorial under tho above
caption Horpers Weekly comments ON the
reconciliation sentiments contained in the
speech Of Gen. Bartlett at the Lexington
centennial, and on the conciliatory and
friendly sentiments advanced in subsA.
quent speeches by Gen. Bradley r. jobs
son at Richmond, Va, and Gen. Evans in
Georgia. The editorial concludes as fol-
lows:
But, on the other hand, it is not to be
denied that the conciliatory sentiments
which Cons. 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 the war closed. First, the
positive action taken in those States under
tho hopes aroused by the lnalign acct
dent Of Andrew Johnson's Presidency;
then the abstinence from political al
fairs or the indifference to them; then
the apparent acquiescence in the ku
kluI and the White League--these, as
illustrations, oil showed a feeling which
was far from conciliatory, and which nee
cssarily gave the South no other polit-
cal sympathizers in the North than the
Copperheads Of the war, q 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
y the many unquestionable wrongs done
" tho new citizens in tho Southern States
AS they now approve the generous words
Of Gen. Bartlett, had they shown 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
rnado by Wade Hampton at the time Of
the nomination of Seymour in 1868, and
the tone Of tho 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 u moment
in sustaining the former.
"Thc Republican policy, which is de-
nounced by the late Confcderates-as for
instance, in Fitz Hugh Lees letter to Gen.
Bartlett, approving his speech--as ven
geance, 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 tho fraternal
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-
Citation? 1t is q question that we shall
all have to answer practically in 1876, and
to answer by deciding upon = simple al
tentative, as in 1868. II the ex-Confed-
ct,yn t1,,t Len, -,
the Republicans the intelligence and in.
dustry and character of this part of the
country mean to declare for a policy of
vengeance and to postpone reconciliation,
they are profoundly mistaken AS the
patriotic intelligence of the North knew,
during the war, that the party of the Cop
perheads was not the party of q real peace,
so it instinctively knows now that
the same party is not one Of a 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 Aew
Union. Those cx-Confederate soldiers
who are rs sagacious as they are honestly
DESTROYS 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, It's very
existence is its difficulty. Honest seekers
OF reform might join new organization,
but they contemptuously reject for such a
purpose the old organization of slavery to
which the Southern utterers of the dirty
froth,' and all the old Northern Copper
heads, and all the secret foes of tho Union
and of equal rights still closely cling. 1t
is not such party which, in the closing
words of Gen. Bsrtletts speech at Lexing-
ton. can secure for every incn of this