New-York tribune., 1878-12-04
o4"WJpE OTL7 or COURSE.


OH "WIPE IT OUT," or COURSE.
We are glad to have discovered at ias'
through the remarks of Senator Ben Hin' Oh
Georgia, precisely what IL necessary TO DC
done in order to put the Southern section
of this country IN good hnmor, ana
,paucurate the real era of reconciliation
and peace. The people Of the Ncrth nave
heretofore made various tentative efforts IN
that direction, but with no great success AI
times they have been encouraged TO nope
that the animOsites and resentmcnts Ol the
war had been finally buried ana the
much talked of era had set IN;
but something has invariably happened to
stir ND all the old bitterness IN the
hearts of our Southern brethren, until the task
seemed almost hopeless and the era Il deceptive
will-o'-the-wisp, which was ever little beyond
and never quite attaiuabe. We had vague
notion at the close of the war that the amnesty
which WAS offered them would disarm just a
little their resentment toward us. III Uu
not seem to- Other people might perhaps
have been Modified, if not cOHclhattd' 10y
the magnanimity of Government when
not only forgave the crime OF treason
and rebellion, but actually restored 10
traitors and rebels the rights they
had forfeited, and made them again equal
pa1tlcipators in the privileges which they had
contemptuously abandoned. Not 50 our South
cm friends. They took back even these
gifts sullculy. When they complained that
the military garrisons which the rcccdlng
waves of war left at Southern posts
were not Withdrawn. and that Repub-
F,Y1.,-iptg no puly
Democratic precodcnts, but the instinct
of self-DrcscrvatIon, appointed It's own paTt-
sans, instead of opponents, to Fed
eral offices, the present Administration
hastencd to withdraw the troops and
offer further advances toward cOncillatl0n
by removing Republicans from Office and
making such appointments as were recon-
mended by Rebel Brigldicrs in the House
and Senate. 1t was thought this might win
them. Ii did win them to a more bitter and
relentless hostility. Never mind what was
done last Summer. That was for charty's
sake, without policy or politics IN IT..
No one expected any return for it, although
few rhetorical coXcombs made it the occasion
for saying some pretty things and attracting
attention TO themselves.
But out of all these efforts to get on
good terms with the men who a
few years ago were straining every
nerve to cut our throats and scuttle our Gov
enmcnt-and who desistcd only bee use we
put them down-there has come absolutely
nothing but u more cmbittered spirit
We have not only failed to cOncliate
our deeply offended brethren by these
advances, but we have so increased
their scnsitivcness that ut the present moment
no Northern man can express an opinion uDon
the political and social condition of the South
without arousing at once all along the line
the cry that he is waving the "bloOdy shirt
and trying to revive the animosities of the
war. 1t is not surprising that in this state of
things we had almost begun to despair OF see
ing the real genuine era of reconciliation ever
ushered in. But Senator Hill, of Georgia, has
in,pired us with new hopes. He gives us
what we think must be the final condition.
Being asked his opinion about the state
of affairs at the South, where it il
popularly 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 contin-
"uous throughout the North during the last two
cor three months, is an outrage OF really crIm-
"inal proportions" Observe tho 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 out
"rage of really criminal proportions" What
he means, we presume, Is that the Southern
people are sensitive souls, and when they have
deemed it necessary to bulldoze and shoot
down colored voters, they don't want to have
questions asked abour it 1t revives the animosi-
ties of the war, and is an outrage of really
"criminal proportions" Speaking OF affairs
IN his own State of Georgia, the Senator said
Republlcanism had no show for success
there; that the State was sOlidy Demo-
cratic for all time to come. " Our people,"
he SAYS, would rather be placed in their
"graves than again be subjected to or
"afiIiated with Radlcalsm i'll any shape"
He very much regretted this, because
sectionalsm in any form is deporablc
" thing - but he thought, "should the Re-
publican party be wiped out tomorrow, the
"peOple would divide on other than party
lines Immediately" This violent antip-
athy to the Republican party, he said, was
because ave hold it responsible for the
crushing and grinding policy inaugurated
toward us Immediately following the close
g. of the war" by which Our best and ablcst
"mcn were denied their political rights" etc.
1t is OF course too late now to correct that
fatal mistake. 1t seems not To have occurred
TO any one North or South that the proper
and statesmanfke thing for us to do in 1865,
at the close Of the war. was to take the "best
land abest mcn' of the South right out of the
Confederate Amy and Confederate Congress,
force upon them political rights" which were
never denied them, but which they con-
temptuOusly flung away-and set them at once