The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-12-14
Oh Wipe it Ont" of Course.

DSH LII, vi OeOlSld, pISClSely Wnd
is necessary to be done in order Il
put the Southern section of this coun
try in good humor, and inaugural,
the real era of reconciliation an(
peace. The people of the North hav,
heretofore made various tentative eff
forts in that direction, but with NJ
great success. AT times they hayt
been encouraged to hope that the an
lmOSitleS and reSentmehtS of the
war had been finally buried and tht
much talked of era had set in; bul
something has invariably happened
to stir up all the old bitterness in the
\ hearts Of our Southern. .hrethren unii
the task seemed almost hopeless and
the era deceptive will wisp
which was ever little beyond, and
never quite attainable. We had a
vague notion at the close OF the wal
that the amnesty which was offered
them would disarm Just a little theiI
resent towards US. 1t did not seem
to. Other people might perhaps have
been Modified. if not conciliated, by
the magnanimity of Government
which not only fOrgaYe the crime OF
treason and rebellion, but actually
restored to traitors and rebels the
rights they had forfeited, and made
them again equal partic;pators in the
privileges which they had contempt
uouSly abandoned. Not so our
Southern friends. They took back
even these gifts sulIenly. When they
complained that the military garri-
! sons which the receding waves of
war left at Southern posts were not
Withdrawn, and that Republican
Administrations, following not only
Democratic precedents, but the in.
stinct of self-preservation, appointed
its own partisanS, instead of oppo.
nents, to Federal offices, the present
Administration hastened to with.
draw the troops and offer further adj
vances toward concliation by re-
moving Republicans from Office, and
making such appointments as were
recommended by Rebel Brigadiers
in the House and Senate. 1t was
thought this might win them. 1t did
win them to "a more bitter and reIent-
less hostility. Never mind what was.
done last summer. That was for
charity's sake, without policy or pol
itics in it. No one expected any re-
turn for it, although a few rhetorical
coXcombs made it the occasion for
saying some pretty things and at
tracing attention TO themselves.
But out Of all these efforts to get on
good terms with the men who few
years ago were straining every nerve
to cut our thrOats and scuttle our
Government-and who desisted only
because we put them doWn-there
has come absolutely nothing but
more em5ittered spirit. We have
not only failed to conciliate our deep
~ offended brethren by these advan-
ces, but we have so increased their
sensitiveness that at the present mo-
ment no Northern man can express
an opinion upon the political and So
ciai condition of the South without
arousing at once all along the line the
cry that he is waving the "bl0ody
shirt" and trying to revive the ami
mOsities of the war. 1t is not sur
prising that in this state of things
we had almost begun to despair of
seeing the real genuine era of recon-
ever ushered in. But Sena- /
tor Ben Hill, Of Georgia. has nspir-
ed us with new hopes. He gives us
what we think must be the final
Being asked his opinion
about the state of affairs at the
South, where it is popularity believed
that several queer if not crooked
things happened in the late elections,
he remarked at once that "the talk
about Southern political affairs which
had been so loud and continuous
the North during the
last two or three months, is an out
rage OF really criminal proportions"
Observe the fine instinct with which
he locates outrages. The outrage does
not consist in the outrages, but in
the talk about the outrages; and that
Is "an outrage Of really criminal
Whit he means, we
presume, is that the Southern people
are sensitive souls, and when they
have deemed it necessary to bulldoze
ana shoot down colored voters they
don't want to have questions asked
about it; it reViYes the animosities
Of the war, and is "an outrage of
really criminal proportions. Speak
Ing OF affairs in his own State of
Georgia, the Senator said Repubi.
canism had no show for success there:
that the State was solidly Democratic
for all time to come. "Our peOpleD
ne says. would rather be placed in
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