The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-07-07
The Chattanooga Reception.


1t is a striking proof of the accom-
plished reconciliation of the North and
South that. the proposed Chattanooga
reception to the Army of the Cumber-
land should be accepted by the country
as matter of course. 1t is announced
that the ex-Confederate soldiers living
in. that vicinity have formed an organi-
zation for the purpose of making a
demonstration Of welcome on the part
of the whole body of fex-Confederates of
the South. 1t is the first meeting of
the Army of the Cumberland in the
South since the war, and it is designed
that tho reception shall be notable
tribute of friendliness from the con-
quered armies 10 one of the armies
which conquered, and on the very scene
of its triumphs. All the prominent sur
yiving ex-Confederatc Generals will be
invited, and it is believed that many
will be present. The attendance of
several thousand ex- Confederate soldiers
and many regiments of the Southern
militia is also said to be assured. When
it is remembered that this demonstra-
ton will take place in a little less than
eighteen years after the siege of Chatta-
nooga and the battles of Lookout Noun
tain and Missionary Ridge, such scene
of reconciliation on the battlefield itself
will be a spectacle upon which the his
torian will linger, and which may well
excite the admiration of men in other
lands accustomed to see the fierce
hatreds of civil wars prolonged for gem
erations and even for centuries. iiiaa
But in itself there is nothing of nov
city in this celebration, and the coun-
try will receive the announcement with
out surprise. There have been many
cordial gatherings before now of ex-
Union and ex-Confederate soldiers,
though none, perhaps, which the sur
rounding circumstances made so pictur-
esquely appropriately as this. 1t will
not be new thing to see soldiers who
were once in arms against each other
now clasping hands and fighting their
battles over aga n in real friendliness.
Remarkable as the Chattanooga reunion
will be, when it is remembered how
short time has elapsed since the events
it will commemorate, it becomes still
more SO when we recognize the fact that
the country, having grown used long
ago to such scenes, will witness this
with pleasure but without wonder. No
one will feel called upon to declare that
the era of reconciliation has arrived,
because we all know that the era of
reconciliation began long ago, and that
The Chattanooga reception will be mere
ly proof that it is already well ad-
vanced. -,. II
1t is customary for class of lachry-
nose philosophers to lift up their voices
at such times, and protest against the
wickedness of politicians who, as they
say, infiame the people of the North
against the South, and seek, for base
purposes, to keep alive the passions OF
the late war. They point to such
gatherings to show that the people are
one at heart, and comment at length
upon the wickedness of the men who,
according to them, deceive and inflame
the most intelligent and coolest people
on the face of the earth into q new
hatred of their brothers of the South.
The assumption which is the basis of
their argument is unsound. Every can
did observer will say that there is not
to be found anywhere in the North 4
hatred of the Southern people, either
among the masses of the Republican
party or among its leaders. On the
contrary, the Republican party has al
ways shown readiness to treat the
Southern people with fairness and
friendliness, and to grant a practical
reconciliation just as rapidly as the
Southern people themselves exhibited a
desire for it. Republicans could not in
their desire for National reunion sur
render principles which a bloody and
fearful war had ,been fought to estab-
lish. So long as the Southern people,
by murders. midnight whippings and
intimidation deprived the negro of his
vote the Republican party was
| - of
public morality to resent and resist
such course of oppression. The Dem
oerats, both of the South and North.
denied that such acts were committed
at all, and complained of the injustice
of the accusation. Now that they have
passed out of fashion, because it has
teen found easier to control elections
by fraud than by force, the fact that
bulldoZing was prevalent in the South
is freely admitted by the Democrats
themselves, after having been proved
over and over again by volume on volume
of testimony Would any of those who
now accuse Republicans of fostering
sectional hatred have had the party take
any other course in this matterp Again
when the tissue ballot policy was
adopted the Republican party denounc-
ed it. Again came denials and piteous
declarations that the Southern people
could never have chance at the hands
of the North. Again the Republican
party is vindicated by the admissions of
Democrats everywhere throughout the
South that tissue-ballot frauds are
common. Would the accusers of the
Republican party have had it pursue
any other course in this matter? We
think not. Its work in this direction is
not finished yet. But the Republican
party is now, and always will be, the
party of reconciliation, except when
reconciliation" means q betrayal of
principle.-M Y. Tribune.