New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-07
THE cOVTH ON ITS FEET.

The South was so long conquered province,
ruled by the Attorney Generals quill and held
IN place with tho bayOnets of the army, that
il * hard to realize that it is free at last. For
the first time since that great galaxy of States
attempted to draw ont from the Republic, the
south has a representation in one branch OF
the Government founded upon its intelligence
and not upon its ignorance, honestly chosen
and not elected in fraud and injustice. The
gavel that fell yesterday at noon in Washing
ton called again into being what was for three
quarters of century the dominating influence
in the Union. The South is itself again.
But it is not the old self. Its power has
been sadly shorn by its own suicidal act. Up
to 1850 the South proudly wore two-thirds at
least of the highest honors of the Republic
OF Southern Presidents there were 90 years ;
of Northern, "a; of Southern Judges of the
Supreme Court there were IS; of Northern
IL; of Southern Presidents pro tenn. OF the
Senate there were -; of Northern, IL; OF
Southern Speakers of the House, %; Of
Northern, II; of Southern Attorney
Generals there were ID; OF Northern, ..
The South furnished S6 foreign ministers, the
North 81. The same proportion held III the
higher positions in the army and navy; the
North furnished most of the men who did
the fighting and the dying, while the South
was given great majority of the more impor-
tant officers The South lad two-thirds of the
clerks employed under the Government, though
having only one-third Of the white population
of the Union. A single citation of the ex-
penditures Of the Government during the time
the North was province of tho South will
Il. Al. I..rrlA and hanl
tho honors. During the last year of
the old Union, 1850, the expenses of
mail transportation in the Free states
were $4,000 900; the receipts $4,000
900; in the Slave States the expenses were
$ll 100000, the receipts $S,000,000. So
that the deficit in the one dcvOured the surplus
in the other. This curious dispropOri0n
seemed 10 hold throughout the South running
the Government and the North paying the
cost Two-thirds of the Supreme Court Judges
came from the South, though four-tiths OF the
business of the courts arose in the North.
Three fOurthS Of the business Of our diplomatic
representatives came from the North, yet two
thirds of the foreign ministers, and nearly all
the most important Of them, were from the
south 1hrce-iOurtls of the revenues
OF the Government were collected from
the North. But these mere statistics
of government Ito not convey an ade-
auate idea of the overwhelming political
influence of the South. Ii was this influence
that compelled twenty years extension of
the slave trade; that eXactcd a three-ftths
representation for slaves, but refused to allow
them to vote; that demanded the enactment
of the Fugitive Slave law, and In its greed for
greater dominion appropriated Louisiana
Florida, and Texas to the extension and
strengthening of the slave power. BY one of
the strange turns of fortune. Alexander H.
Stephens the very man who exhibited these
facts to his State ~ reasons why it was better
of in the Union than outside, witnesses, as q
member of the present Congress. the partial
reparation Of the ruin which he tried in vain
to prevent.
Not one of the States which rebelled has to-
day representative in tho Cabinet or the
Supreme Court or a Foreign Minister of any
importance, and no one Of them is likely to
put forward claim to the Presidency or
Vice Presidency for many years to come. or
until tho whole county shall become satisfied