The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-05-20
TIE SOUTH.

one OF the most common CnufSe
against the people of the South by tlos,
of the North is that they are devoid 0
energy and cnterprise-or "push," t.
use Il ttvorite expression of that sec
ton. The Richmond Christian Advo
cate has an able article on this subject
which is full of pith and point, and the
assertions made sustained by tho facts
of history. AS the Advocate says, that
South is Sucercd ut for Il minimum of
energy and for stackness in contincnty
yet these unarmcd agricutturists, with
ports blockaded, fought rich, manu-
featuring, commercial people of five
times the population (it for war, and
the world rs Il recruiting fictd) for four
years. From thearchives at Washing
ton it appears that four times as many
men were enlisted by the Federal gov
ernment rs by the Confederate. In
the last campaign, from the report of
the Secretary OF War, Mr.. Stanton,
there were fourteen Federal soldiers to
every Confederate in the field. These
| fourteen men had all the resources of
physical power, railroad, mechanical
| inventions, arms, commissariat, but
! were glad enough when their one man,
hungry, ragged and out ofqmmunitfon,
fighting against the clements, conclud-
ed to surrender.
The South has been charged with
scuntiness of fortitude. Let us turn
| back a leaf. When the conquerors at
war had taken away the weapons Of
the Southern soldiers, and bound them
by an oath to follow peace, then the
suuaws-thc politicians stunning the
fight, but ever ready to torture prison.
| ers-werc turned loose upon the South.
How they invented new instruments
ts,f eO.v 1ri i1N~n
whole fabric Of social and political life,
how the African from tho mud of the
cotton field was ordered to put his foot
on the neck of scholars and statesmen,
how Judas at homcand Barabbas from
abroad Joined hands ard became the
fiuuciaries of the public purse and the
protectors OF private rights, how the
| fair works of civilization in the South
seemed to sink, while tho coze and
monsters Of the deep rose over it-arc
not all these things written in the
shameful chronicle of that period?
A Sioux chief captured by Il hercdi-
tary enemy and tied to 4 stake never
stood with more stoical courage while
the slow fire peeled the flesh from his
bones. The South endured till Greeley
was shocked, and rebuked the brutal
wretches for their cannibal instincts.
We hear a sneer from the regions
north ward (and sometimes faint echo
Of it near honey, at the want of enter
| prise in the South. Let us como to
facts. What was the condition of the
South at the close of the war? Nothing
survived in the way of property that
was not indestructiblc or unconvcrtblc.
The loss in personal and real property
Qcaving out the slavcs) was two billion,
just twice the indemnity France paid
to Germany. This loss was wothirds
Of all the property in the South. In
addition to this loss, the expenses of
the war on the Confederate side (Which
was included in and represented by the
Confederate bonds and treasury notcs)
amounting to Il hundred million, was,
as it were paid at once by the coniisca-
ton and forced Reputation Of these
securities and currency. In addition
to these two vast sums, the South was
sadd'cH with its part of tho two and Il
half billions of the United States war
debt. And over and above these huge
debts and losses was piled fourteen
millions of private obligations based
upon slave propcrtyand worthless. In
i word, the accommodations of two ccn-
| turicS of industry and economy were
swept away in II day. The loss of so
much reserved wealth drags any pco-
pc 10 inc rear IN rINlIiIatiOn in the
modern struggle for prominence
among nations. And worse. The seed
corn had been eaten, the OK had fed
the hungry soldier and tho plow fallen
under him in the fight. Mills and the
instruments of hushandry were burned
by the enemy.
! Few have ever forgotten the ruin
wrought on Prussia by the enemies of
Frederick. Macaulay paints it as the
most worful picture of the modern
times, yet Frederick lost only one hun
drcd and seventeen thousand out of n
population of four and half million.
The boys, and srandfathcrs, and tho
cripplcs, were left TO redeem land
overwhelmed with industrial, political
and financial dcsOlation.
What other race on tho face of the
earth could have risen? Tho Grccl,
never rose to manhood after the Roma,
conquest. 1t was living Greece nf
more.
In n single decade the South bullt
again her burnt altara, lustratcd hc
temples Of justice, put to flight tn.
political briganhs, turned the balance
Of trade Of the country by the export o
her products. and so made tppaI III,