The Cecil Whig., 1875-03-06

who rushed into a rebellion to divide the
Union are now as aggressive and defiant as
they were when Fort Sumter was fired
upon. Unable to establish Confederate
Government, they seemed determined to
avenge themselves upon the freedmen, who,
but for the madness and folly of their mas
ters, would have still remained in bondage.
The "White Leagues" of Louisiana
were only too accurately described by Gen
eral Sheridan. Such organizations are not
needed to subserve the purposes of good
government. They are banded together to
hunt, hound, and. if needs be, murder the
negroes. Reconstruction, therefore, seems
as difficult and distant as it was at the
close of the war. Georgia, always less
ultra and more practical than South Caro-
lima or Alabama, has established law
and order. North Carolina, infamously
governed for two or three years, seems
now to be doing better. That United
States soldiers are required in some excited
sections to protect freedmen cannot be
doubted. The officers in command should
be men of intelligence and prudence, act
ing only when the duty is clearly impera-
tive. In Louisiana there has been nothing
but misrule, disorder, fraud, corruption,
anarchy and violence from the close of the
war 1t is difficult to ascertain which party
or what faction is the worst. Gen. Grant
was not, l fear, fortunate in his early ap-
pointments Of Federal officers; nor do l
believe the Kellogg Government worthy of
the sacrifices required to maintain it. The
Congressional Committee recently in New
Orleans may find remedy for the evils,
which have so long scourged that fertile
and rich but miserably distracted State.
THE OLD wHIG ELEMENT AT THE SOUTH.
l cherished the hope, when peace was
restored, that the old Wings of the South,
some of whom reluctantly consented to
Secession, and nearly all of whom were
forced into Rebellion, would form nucleus
for Reconstruction. There was numer-
Gus band of enlightened and patriotic
Wings who resisted Notification, and who
for ten or fifteen years afterwards, by
aggressions of Southern Democrats bridg-
ed over many dangers, and prevented a
catastrophe until ultra men and malign
councils North and South precipitated Sc
cession and Rebellion. The Union had no
truer, or bolder, or more devoted friends
through all it's political trials for s5 years
than the Wings of the South, whose repre-
sentative men were distinguished alike for
talents, integrity, and patriotism. Promi-
nent among these eloquent and earnest
friends of the Union were VIM. G. Preston
Williams, and Kenneth Raynor of North
Carolina; John Taliaferro, Alexander H.
Ii. Stuart, and John NJ. Bolts of Virginia;
VIM. c. Dawson, Thomas Butler King,
and James l.. Seward of Georgia; John
White and James T. Morehead of Ken
tucky; Meredith P. Gentry, Christopher
II. Williams, and Joseph L. Williams of
Tennessee. That Whig element bound
Tennessee and Kentucky to the Union,
and but for adverse influences would have
held North Carolina and Virginia; thus SO
narrowing the boundaries of rebellion as
to have greatly lessened it's horrors. 1 am
even yet unwilling to relinquish the hope
that the Wing spirit of the South will
reassert itself, and, uniting with congenial
Northern sympathies, work out wholesome
results.