, 1877-02-04

|
er and the pipes laid The first set of worl
i'll should be in full operation by next winter.
Ill ! S.=....-A---
or SHALL WE LEARN A LEssoNq
in By the time the Presidential contest
" settled favorably to the Republican cand
s. date, We may hope) the country will be i
:. better condition to learn lesson respect
It ing the South than at any previous date
d Time Is necessarily an important element j,
n such O complicated problem as was LET
= upon our. hands by the Civil War. Passion
: must cool, facts must be clearly ascertained
I experiments must be tried, q certain amour
!, Of friction must be developed in connection
with new machinery, mistakes must be per:
, ceived and corrected, and human nature
] | must work itself out in such wise as his
tory shows that it ever does unde,
, certain conditions We had to deal with
the inaamed feeling caused by q
four. years desperate struggle between
the two halves Of the milton, in
which the one half was left disappointed,
ruined, and sulleu, by its military md politi-
cal overthrow, and the other half remained
victor, but suspicious and jealous, even in its
desire to be generous. We had also involved
I in the result great question Of philanthropy
and political economy connected with tho
abolition of slavery. What should be done
with four millions of degraded freedmen
compulsorily taken from the hands of their
1nnsters, who had been the late Rebels
What relation should they bear to the indi.
Vlduh State and to the United States?
This was further affected by a social
and race difliculty,-thea slaves being negroes,
| and, in several States, constituting
| majority Of the population. There was creat
danger that important measures would be
taken hastily and unwisely, under the inau-
ence Of resentment. Or of suspicious fear. or !
Of party ambition, or OF sentimental philan- |
thropy, or Of some other misleading infu~
ence, which would result in crulo statesman
ship. It is no confession OF unusual ieno- /
rance, or of faulty short-sightedness. to
admit that many b1unders were made, in
circumstances largely unprecedented. We
sec today all Europe perple1ed in counsels,
and bnfhed in action, over the 81 Eastern
Question y; and yet our Southern problem
required of our statesmen quite as high and
'NA*~@ 4A<aA4t10o tlo Viz 4ALt OF 1urE2V calls |
for in European dip1omatists.
Twelve years will have elapsed when the
new President seats himself in his chair Of
state since the close of the War, during
which time three national Presidential con-
tests hnve occurred, besides the numerous
local elections. The effect Of the social. in
dustria1, educational, religious, and political
nf1up1caE Jrhinh how | {
at1ve at the South has become known. The =
serious difficulties which have emerged are
patent not to us alone, but to all the world.
They have been sufficiently grave to make 9
very patriot anxious for the future of the II
country, and glad to escape by a special
device another armed "
onflict. In the discussion of facts and u
principles forced upon Congress, upon editors II
newspapers, and upon the people them a
elves, by the disputes which have arisen. p
ome things have become plain which to the cl
verago apprehension were previously OBJ az
cure. 1t is therefore not without reason IL
lat we suggest that the study Of even SO o1
REF period of history should impart val tn
able lesson. st
One thing to be learned is, that true - -
must rest on apractical, and not -
a sentimental, foundation Government
a very prosaic matter. It can have little tn ~
with schemes Of Utopian excellence which ~ ~
ke in all the elements but the one most i'm ~
nature It can hare nm ~ .,
IT'S and pTotsges. It can afford as little to ~ -
nifty resentments against entire classes ~ ~
WaTnr 1nSfrn p%1ry ft.cf 1 Aso
!. 1e cannot become a partisan in race ~.
alrles. It has the simple and practical "
notion OF preserving order, preventing
'lence, furnishing crime, encouraging in eAu
stry, and constraining all classes and con- - 44n
IONS OF men to live together peaceably un- ~ so'
common laws and institutions. From -. ~
it follows that We can wisely proceed a'a
ther to punish the once rebellious whites ua'
to reward the loyal blacks by any specia1 'ne
1erM legislation, but must leave them ~ '
a to reap all the benefits made possible ~
simply impartial constitutional provisions. ~ e,oi.
mother pnrt of the lesson is, that natural p'"'
is must be left to natural forces, and can- 70
be changed by artificial methods. It's 4nsu =
are that knowledge should be power. wv,
the educated classes should rule the I'M. nng'
Gated that the property of.a community o'"'
ald control its government. No system tue
AVIS, no combination Of numbers, no con- tu1
ent distribution Of military force. will unle
avail to reyersa the not;-c ~ The,
supsrior-xultured white roca - raa1 ~ prop
political affairs Of the community, as Anu
y as the pecuniary interests. The mo- oe's1
they determine to do this, the fact is m,
nately assured, by their education. beod,
voa1t1 ~ S, .n:3:4 eAPer'ence' d1scl- thing
known weaknesses Of the negroes. 4 tnat :
n in the last Harper's Magazine saws n 49,
-. nesfoes VINO were ulatin
- .o'3 o"n no lana OF any dent,
=. .es: .'o out ntt1e TO say IN count
=. 49, 11o "n4to 1a'nos1ty aaVlng de- Cover
:,,.. Ftel '4'uo" ceedir
1nly' an attempt to keep the admins Tbe J.
e power for time in the hands of the -ao.