Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-10-19
BoURBoNIsM ALIVE AND pF1ANr.

|
and that they may now be as full,
trusted with all the interests of th
Government as the loyal men of tn
North who have ever been its friends
Would that an impartial inquiry, seek
ing only TO find the truth, might sus-
tain this assumption but familia
acquaintance, based upon persona
experience and observation, with thu
temper of the old slaveholding ele
ment of the South and its expecta
tons staked upon Democratic ascen
dency, shows that no more danger
Gus and fatal delusion could be enter
| tanned.
'Tis true, slavery and secession, the
primal cause of Southern alienation
are dead and buried, bnt it Is equally
true that their authors and advocates
and terrible consequences, still sur
vive. The Hills, Gordons, and La
mars who led the Confederates into
rebellion with enthusiastic ardor con
tinue to be their chosen leaders, and
are supported with the zeal and de-
votion of former days. The loss Of
thousands of their bravest sons and
millions of treasure, with ruined
homes and universal impoverishment
and sorrow inflicted upon them, has
not taken a scintilla of their conf
dence from the authors of their mis-
fortunes and why? Simply the
reason that they still believe the "Lost
Cause" to have been just and right
eous, and hold it in affectionate re-
membrance as the palladium of their
lost liberties.
The politician who seeks their IA
vor and has exhausted every other
expedient without success, can APP
peal to this fond sentiment with un-
erring assurance. 1t is the sentiment
of the hustings, the church and the
school, and unitss society in it's tender
ties as the only remaining emblem of
common sufferings in common
cause. Every idea of human liberty,
every principle by which they would
govern the State and the Nation,
every sense of justice toward their
fellow men, every conception of their
duty as citizens, and every hope they
have Tor themselves or for the nation,
is limited by the traditions, teachings,
and prejudices of the past; and to dis
sent from these and adopt the more
enlightened aud progressive views of
the North meets with visitation of
nj
ton that the most courageous men
will shrink from encounterlng.
Kin nndreed' 70 tthIsg feefdg,y A Az u
to its intensity, is deep sense of
the imagined injuries inflicted by
the North. The war is looked upon
as savage vandalism, which dis
poiled their property, murdered their
sons, and suppressed their dearest
rights wholly without cause-a cru
sade of oppression and robbery that
perpetrated the most atrOcious
wrongs upon an unoffending, inno-
cent and blameless people; and this
belief in tho great wrongs OF the
North, and their own unmerited suf-
fering, is as strong to-day as it was
ten years ago, and stubbornly refuses
to be reconciled except upon it's own
terms.
HOW THE SITUATION is ACCEPTED.
If the modifying Influence of time
has perceptibly improved this well
known temper it is difficult to dis
cover the character or extent of the
change. In every instance where
new conditions have been prescribed
they have been accepted only In
empty form and no further than the
force of necessity required, and the
best is regarded only as an unmixed
evil and is pointed to as evidence of
continued Northern innovation and
oppression.
The thirteenth, fourteenth, and
fifteenth amendments to the Consti-
tuition were accepted only in this
spirit, and are endured under a
standing protest and menace which
holds them in utter disregard an d
contempt. As was said by the Mo-
bile Register, (Democratic,) in its
issue of the 14th of June last, "tbose
amendments to the Constitution
stand a reproach to the honor and
discretion of the country"
Bat boneath this superficial recog-
milton of right principles the cherish
ed sentiments of lifetime of hostil-
ity to free institutions and national
u premacy, and the grievances OF
war. lie undiminished, and are but
awaiting the opportunity to assert
themselves without compromise In
the administration of the Govern
meut. With this unconquerable spirit
defiant as eve.' in the Southern De
mocracy, it is not difficult to fore
shadow their inexorabIe policy
Maddened by defeat, desperate OF
impoverishment, relentless in hostil-
ity, barren in principle, beggard 10
honesty, faithless in promise, and
ravenous for the spoils of office, their
accession to power would signal ar
era of national prostitution, spolia'
ton, and revenge unexampled in The
history of free governments. Trai
tors would succeed patriots in public
places the policy of the Confederacy
supplant the policy of the nation
and retaliation upon the North fol
It's imagined wrongs, and paymen
of the South for its losses, becomes
the ontrolling objects of their policy
This species of plumber would be JUS
tilted as q measure of peace, recon
Citation. and justice, and the reor
ganization of the Government under
the Confederate theory be demanded
to restore to the South the constitu
tional rights and liberties wreuchee
from her by relentless enemy
Thus the victory of the nation II
the war would be turned into trI'
umph of treason In peace, and tral'
tors be enabled to accomplish within
the Union what they failed to with
out. and reward themselves from th'
national treasury for the losses en-
| tailed by their defeat.