New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1878-10-26

[philaaelphia weekln Times..

The mysterious ways Of Providence,
about which poets have sung and preach
ers have preached, and Of which all of rs
have had reason at some time or other to
stand aghast, are exempliied in their more
benefcent operation by some Of the Incl
dents Of the season Of pestilence, now on
the wane. 1t would be exaggeration to
say that pestilenee 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 q
land that in the fulfllment of Daniel Web
ster's prophecy has been ''rent with civil
feuds and drenched with fraternal blood
War indeed compelled the submission Of
rebsllious States to the authority of the
general government, enforced its authority
and secured the respect therefor that al
ways waits upon superior power. But the
wounds inflicted by the sword did not heal
by first intention. Twelve long years
passed before, under the benign and con-
stitutional administration of President
Hayes, at the demand Of the people who
were weary of sectional pickering, the con-
ditions 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 Appomatox,
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 DESC
late, has also touched the secret springs
of affection and there pours forth stream
of bene6cence that soothes if il does not
heal, that gladdens the heart of the nation
if it does not extinguish all its sorrow.
Truly, this is the contamination, the
crowning victory of peace.
In the spontanelty of charity, in the
eagerne So to rush to the relief of our Attic
ted brethren in the South, we may easily
forget how great is the result thus mani
tested. Blu. it is worth thinking about for
q moment. 1t is not SO long since we
were at war with these people. 1t was a
life and death struggle. Crushing dis
| aster to our arms was the enc object Of
| their ambition; their humiliation and des-
| truction 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
| shell 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 South
ern plots for the burning of New York,
Chicago and Philadelphia, and so deep
was distrust and SO rife suspicion that one
section was planning to SOW the seeds OF
pestilence among the people Of the other
were not without their believers. Look
ing back, it seems like page out of the
history of the dark ages. But now how
different is the spectacle The South is
PROSTATE; the North is in tears as for a
suffering sister. There is nothing that we
would not do to relieve her distress, New
York, with the bounty of city of princes,
raises over three hundred thousand
dollars for the Southern relief fund,
and is still untiring in the good work.
Philadelphia, where there was, perhaps,
the most unfinching opposition to the
old South, only asks how much is wanted
A hundred thousand dollars have gone
Southwark and the dimes and dollars are
still falling into the boxes over which the
yellow flag is waving; if as much more il
needed it will be forthcoming. Nor arr
the large cities the only almoners of the
bounty of the nation. Every city, towr
and hamlet; every lodge, society, shop
store and factory esteems it privilege t.
|
work, until for telling the vast total tn
unit of millions is required. The stu1
diest in war have been most active in tn
kind offices of peace.
But it is rather the effect upon tn
South that we would dwell. We have don
no more than our duty and, Wanting on
charity is vain glory indeed. The relic
of individual cases of suffering and desti
tuiion, the succor of whole cities, berei
+ of their means of making living, is
great work, but that is matter of course
The North has done no more for the Sout
, | in her extremity than the South would
: for the North if affection were at OF
doors. The pleasing thing about it all
{ that the South receives our aid in Il
spirit of fraternity in which it is giveI
: There is no AFFECT acknowledgment (
e charity, no ELUSIVE expression of gratituc
/ but on every hand q manifestation {
/ thorough appreciation of good will Al
n is accepted as a new proffer Of esteem, {
. an earnest of the complete restoration
l. amity. No reader of Southern new
q papers at this time, whether they be Il
Q dingy half sheets crowded with funeri
q notices that come from Memphis, the Ne
: Orleans daiies which have not suffered {
: severely, or the journals from comm
q mites still untouched by the plague, CO
i fail to be impressed with the spirit
) affection towards the North which no
t permeates editorials, paragraphs and cor
munications, and is more impressive ths
the set language of resolutions or the Gu
= but kindly acknowledgment by telegrap
- Affection has brought this people near
= together. They realize as never befo
E that they are one people; welded anew
:, = the furnace Of trial. The Union is ven
y % that none shall henceforth questio
y What God hath joined together let n