Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-02-11
nouthern sMarrer.


oVuNMNhh WNBkpAe
TnH Charleston Is. C.l Ns,es says.
The sooner the people Of the United States come
10 the understanding TINT : southernet Il 20
American citizen BY his own night, and notify any.
body's grace, the quicker wiilthe country be uuv
II detracls nom the virtue Of magma
nimity to boast of IL, and II Is unpleasant
TO be forced to remind people OF The graft
tudo they owe but the constant roiteration
Of the above sentiment by the Southern
press and by Southern orators necessltatcs
the declaration that such utterances are
childish, puerile, and unworthy even Of a
very low order Of intelligence. There are
upward Of sixty members Of the House Of
Representatives who are not American
citizens by their own right, within the
scope and meaning Of tho Nelos article
They are citizens by the grace OF the men
they are abusing and the people they
slander. This fact is so plain rs to hard
ly require demonstration. As well might
a convict, pardoned from the penitentiary,
assert that he is a complete citizen |" by
his own right" and "not by anybody's
grace" rs for the editor of the NNos 10 do
so. Putting the mildest construction upon
The acts OF the Southern people, they re-
volted. A revolution that fails becomes a
rebellion, and there is one law for
rebels throughout the world. Their
lives and their property become tor.
felt. They can retain neither except by
the grace Of theconqueror. Does the Neios
pretend that the Government could not
have legally tried and executed Jefferson
Davisf And if it could have tried and
executed him, why not million of his
followers, who are pronounced by the
law equally guiltyf We do not speak OF
what would have been policy, or what
would have been humane, but OF what
would have been legal, and, in the eye OF
Of Tie law, just. " Radicals" ala NOT
make the Constitution, which defines
treason, nor the laws regulating Its pun
/ ishmeut. They were made by the North
and South, acting together. One Of the
| parties violated the provisions therein
contained, and by their own declarations
were liable 10 the punishment prescribed.
| They were not punished; they were re-
stored, pardoned; and yet the NeUs lmpu-
dently asserts that they are occupying
their present position by " their own
rights and "not by anybody's gracel'
/ Take the present case of jeff Davis. lie
is now disqualified from holding places OF
honor or profit under the Government be-
cause of the part he took in the rebellion
| If it is true that his fellow conspirators
are American citizens "by their own
right" what prevents him from exercis-
ing all those privileges of citizen which
are permitted to SO may of his brethren in
in guilty Now, suppose a general Am
nesty bill should pass, and that the dis.
abilities resting upon Davis should be
thereby removed? Should We have u
thrown in our faces by such papers as the
Ne,os that Mr.. Davis had the rightto sit in
Congress or the Presidential chair, and nc
thanks to anybody Surely, there is little
inducement TO exercise clemency, if thi:
is the spirit in which it is to b'
received. Tho Netos cannot escape by
alleging that it uses the word "cltizen' ir
its limited sense, merely. What plainly
means is, that the South is entitled to al
She privileges which it now enjoys by 1T
own right, and "not by the grace of any
body" Indeed, this is the way IL puts i
in another part Of the Article. AS VIC sale
in the beginning, we dislike to be con
stantly reminding these people OF the obi
cations they are under; but what othe
course is left when they 80 plainly forge
such obligations, and continually declare
that they are undor none whatever? Tit
trouble with the South is, that 1t forget
that il did not succeed in the late war. !
demands to be treated as if it were the
conqueror, and not the conquered; and
strange enough, the demand has peel
largely complied with Says the Neto
! again: i...-f.. .....
All the leeks that Southcrners intend to swallo'
were swallowed before last November. The SUI
Eplyis exhausted; the vegetable does not nouris
In this latitude. Southerncr H. as mnch
American citizen as Northerner Ia. The Sout
is in the Union, and intends TO stay in. and u
South means TO make u sound, tohoEesone, const
tMionat tnon Mstsad @ O. N. esnfra,1'a v,sr a'sp0
Even If all this is true, 1t is pretty bi
talk for people to indulge in who wer
whipped into submission. 1t Is not onl
big talk, but it is unbccoming, and smack
of the Bardolph and Pistol swagger, whic
grew threatening and terrible in propo
ton as the danger diminished. We daI
say that the warlike Pistol could hay
been induced to swallow another lee
quite easily ifthe same persuasion" ha
been used the second time, and the Ne,
should remember this
We sincerely deprecate all this recrim
nation, but the South seems determined
ignore the past in toto. 1t has the ba
taste to get'up, through its representative
in Congress, and reassert the same ol
heresics which it took four years of war
settle. 1t comes back clarifying the lea,
ers of the rebellion, celebrating its VII
tories, defending its outrages, and pra
ticing the same old system Of ostracis
toward Northern residents which pr
vailed before the war. We tell its repr
: sentatives now, that, although this spiI
ana their acts may be tolerated for awhil
spirit will yet be awakened that wi
a sweep them and their doctrines in
7 irrecoyerable disgrace. This nation wi
? never become the eulogist of treason. Di
|. loyalty will never become the peer Of p
triotism The men of the South wi
:, wish for historic glory must obtain it
\ what they do in the future, and not WI
= they have done in the past. Treas
= must be made odious, ana the men VI
= now stand up, defending and honorlng
= will only add to their own dishonor by
= tempting to vindicate, in words, what til
. failed to yindicate by their arms.-Int'
a Ocean.