The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-10-10
rae CROWNING. YICrORY of PEACE.
The Great Pestilence Healing the Wounds
that War has Made.

that War has Made.
The mysterious ways of Providence,
about which poets have sung and preach
ers have preached, and at which all of
us have had reason at some time or other
to stand aghast, are exempli6ed in their
'Eore bene6cent,operatio by some ofthe
incidents of the season Of pestilence, now
on the wane. tItwonld be e1aggeration
to say that pestilence has healed the
wounds that war has made, but it is the
simple truth that it has done. more than
anything else towards the restoration of
peace to land that in fulfllment of
Daniel Webster's prophecy has been
"rent with civil feuds and dreuched with
,fraternal blood" War indeed compelled
the submission of rebellious States to the
authority of the general government, en-
forced its authority and secured the re-
spect therefor that always waits upon
superior power. But the wounds inhiet-
ed by the sword did not heal by first in
tention. Twelve long years passed be-
fore--under the benign and constitution
al administration of President Hayes, at
the demand of the people who were
weary of sectional pickering condi-
tions of the recovery of the patient were
presented. And now, in this fourteenth
year after the hopes of The Confederates
were buried in the trenches at Apo
mattox, there comes the cause and the
token Of complete reconciliation. The
yellow fever, which has brought sorrow
to SO many homes and made whole cities
desolate, has also touched the secret
springs of affection, and there pours forth
stream of beneticence that soothes if it
does not heal, that gladdens the heart of
the nation if it does not extinguish all
its sorrow. Truly this 10 the consumma-
ton, the browning victory of peace.
In the spontaneity Of charity, in the
eagerness to rush to tie relief of our
afflicted brethren in the South, we may
easily forget how great is the result thus
manifested. But it is worth thinking
about for moment. It is not 80 long
since we were at war with these people.
1t was life and death struggle Crush
ing disaster to our arms was the one OBJ
ject of their ambition; their humiliation
and destruction was the only hope of
preserving the life of the republic. The
cities of the South were quarantined
against US, not, as now, against each
other. Grant was tightening the coils
about Vicksburg; the Union gunboats
were showering shot and she'll upon the
defenses of Mobile; New Orleans was
under the heel of Butler; the whole
South was the legitimate prey of war /;
while Southern raiders rode rough-shod
over Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio.
There were dark rumors Of Southern
plots for the burning OF New York,
Chicago and Philadelphia, and SO deep
was distrust and so rife suspicion that re-
ports that one section was planning to
sow the seeds Of pestilence among the
people of the other were not without
their believers. Looking back, it seems
like page out of the history of the dark
ages. Butinow how different is the spec
,taclel The South is PROSTATE; the
North is in tears as for suffering sister.
There is nothing that we would not do to
relieve her distress. Flew York, with
the bounty of city of princes, raises
over 100000 for the Southern relief
fund, and is still untiring in the good
work. Philadelphia, where there was,
perhaps, the most conspicuous and un-
flinching opposition to the old South,
only asks how much is wanted, A hum
dred thousand dollars have gone south
ward, and, the dimes and dollars are still
falling into the boxes over which the yell
low flag is waving; if rs much more is
needed it will be forthcoming. Nor are
the large cities the only almoners of the
bounty of the nation. Every city, town
and hamlet; every lodge, society and
club; every church and theatre; every
shop, store and factory esteems il priv
ilegs to contribute for the furtherance OF
the good work, until for telling the vast
total the unit of millions is required.
The sturdiest in war have been most ac-
tive in the kind Offices of peace.
But it is rather of the effect upon the
South that we would dwell. We have
done no more than our duty, and vaunt-
ing our charity is vain glory indeed.
The relief of individual cases of suffering
and destitusion, the succor Of whole
cities, bereft of their means of making a
living, is a great work, but that is mat
ter Of course. The North has done no
more for the South in her extremity than
the South would do for the North if
affliction wese at our doors. The pleas
ing thing about it all is that the South
receives our aid in the spirit of fraternity
in which it is given. There is no abject
acknowledgment of charity, no ELUSIVE
expression of gratitude, but on every
hand manifestation of thorough appre-
citation of good will. Aid is accepted as
a new profer of esteem, as an earnest of
the complete restoration of amity. No
reader of Southern newspapers at this
time, whether they be the dingy half
sheets crowded with funeral notices that
come from Memphis, the New Orleans
dailies which have not suffered so severe
ly, or the journals from communities still
untouched by the plague, can fail to be
impressed with the spirit of affection to-
wards the North which now permeates
editorials, paragraphs and communica-
tions, and il more impressive than the
set language of resolutions or the curt
but kindly acknowledgment by telegraph.
Affliction has brought this people nearer
together. They realize as never before
that they are one people; welded anew
in the furnace of trial. The Union is a
verify that none shall henceforth ques-
ton. What God hath Joined together
let not man put asunder,-PhiladeLphia
Times.
C $780,