Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-06-23


grown sons into subsection, they felt tina
they could afford to be liberal and fOrgiving
and hold out the hand to the sulky member
of the family, saying, 'come now we hav
had q hard fight and bitter quarrel, we dom
propose to keepir up,let's 20 back to old prin
ciples, bind up our wounds, 60 TO work, pull
together as we never were able to pull to
gether before, and make our family the grand
est and strongest one on the face OF the globe
We commenced in the right way. The ole
man threw away his club at once. More thar
a million of soldiers quietly slid from the mus
ter rolls of Our army and passed into the ranks
of civil life The world looked on in amaze
ment. The governments of the globe more
especially those constituted on different
principle from Our own stood aghast at the
prospect of what was going, to hap
no other soldiers to fight;
They forgot one very important
fact. They forgot that our army was the people
and the 3ople were tired OF fighting and glad
| to get back to the bosom OF their families,
their domestic tiresides, their homes and their
work.
| My friends, this is another proud boast we
have to make and to reflect upon. There is no
| other nation upon the face Of this globe that
could accomplish such feat! Our army dis.
| ap; ared like mist before the rising srl,
leaving behind little cloud in the shape OF an
army not bigger than a mans hand. There
| were no disturbances, no riots, no high-handed
despotic measure, no tumults OF any kind.
The great giant went to sleep as peacefully and
quietly as an innocent babe.
Was it then e'l triumph and glory, unfair
nished by any el Is? Alas, for the weakness
of human nature and the defects OF man s in
Situations this can not be said Human nature
is so weak and human INSTITUTIONS so de-
fective, that all great triumphs seem neccs-
sarily to carry with them some great evils.
All great wars, more especially all great civil
wars, history teaches, are demorallzng and
dangerously threatening to liberty.
Whilst, therefore, we, as sole 'ers, were con-
graduating ourselves upon having successfully
terminated thei war and saved the life of the
nation, the vultures, always upon the lookout
other directions to satisfy their greedy appe-
titles. They flocked in crowds to the democrat
lied, disorganized society OF the 'uthern
states, and, taking advantage of the conflicting
elements which prevailed there, pro-
ceedei to fatten VI IN the plumber
of an already impoverished people.
Almost all the legislation proposed was de-
vised without, in many cases, even. a poor
show at cOncealment for the purpose of get
ting possession of this plumber. The faith OF
states was pledged to an Unlimited extent,
bonds sold for a fraction of their value,
and the proceeds devoted, not to the interests
of the sorely oppressed people, but to fill the
pockets of the unprincipled c3magos les the
object of whose presence in the South YVES
public plumber AS soon as this object was
attained they disappeared from the scene, and
the temporary nature of their presence caused
them to be designated as carpet baggers. This
wholesale plumber went on until nearly every
Southern state was in a condition of bank
ruptcy.
Against this state OF things the people OF
the South revolted, not in open war for thfy
had had enough of that, but with such weap-
ons as they thought they could safely use.
You would have revolted under the same
state of affairs. know l would. For Amer
leans never were fond of too much govern
ment, and free people will never consent to
be defrauded and imposed upon by their rulers
If they can by any possibility prevent it.
Mind you it is not intended to assert that all
the evils of reconstruction could have been
avoided, but think many of them might and
should have been. Had our institutions been
of different character, and our ideas OF lib
erty of a different kind, the solution of the
great question presented to the government of
the United States would have been much cas-
Ter. Had there been any intention On tho
partof the people. of the United States to
govern the :outhern statessas conquered PROV
X
as England governs Ireland, it would have
been simple matter to have taken possession
of those states with our vast armies, and con-
trolled them with the strong hand of dispotic
military power. But the people of the United
States were tired of war, and they had besides
strong conviction that in country and
with a government like ours, if liberty was to
be denied to one portion of the people the
liberty of the whole was seriously endangered
The realization of this fact it was which made
the problem of reconstruction so difficult a
one. That it was demoralZng one is testi-
fed by the records left in every Southern
state and for that matter in many Northern
ones.
Did our statesmen rise to the grandeur of
the occasion? Alas, the only statesman in a
prominent controlling position in the country.
fell martyr to it's cause just at the close of
the war, and just at the time when his eyes
began to dimly perceive by the defeat of the
rebel armies in the field, the possibility of
realizing his fondcst hope-the restoration of
the integrity of his whole country. Mir. Lin
coin was ALWAYS q statesman in the truest and
best sense of the term, and our civil war but
served to develope the strongest points in his
great craftsmanship and to demonstrate what
q wonderful love he had for his whole coun-
try. II is stated on what is said to be reliable
authority that at one time when the cause of
the Union trembled in the balance, he
made overtures to certain leaders
in the Democratic party that if he
could be assured of the united sup
port of the opposition in avigorous prosecu.
ton of the war to successful close, he would
willingly throw his influence into the scale In
favor of electing the leader who effected it to
thes position of president in his place.
Whether this story is true or not we can
readily believe it of one who was capable OF
prOclaiming that grand, noble GOd-like senti-
ment, "With malice towards none, with
charity for al'.' Mr.. Lincoln's grand, ma
jestic love of his whole country and of all
his countrymSn will go down to pOsterity in
the hearts of men, and will soften even those
of such as were disposed to look with bitter
ness upon some of his public acts.
Can you place your finger upon the name
of a single other prominent man in office at
the close Of the war who ever approached the
craftsmanship of Mr.. Lincoln? Not q solitary
one! We had plenty of generals, sometimes
too many, but no statesmen. During the war
the whole country was devoted to war, and
our people ran to soldiers as weeds run to
seed. Statesmen were not developed by the
war. Hence at the close of the war soldiers
were drug and statesmen lacking.
Those who were predicting disorders at the
close of the war, and looked to our army for
evidences of them, were not as wise as the
philosopher who in order to be the first to
announce the approach of the rising sun
turned his back to the east that he might
catch sight of the rays when they first lit up
the western hill-tope.
Had these prophets of evils to come turned
their backs upon the army and looked into
the ranks of civil life it is possible they might
have discovered signs of that dem oralizatiOn
| which has pervaded all ranks to an alarming
extent since the close of the war. They might
| have perceived there an army of office-scekers
far exceeding in numbers those which flocked
to the field in the defence OF our imperiled
| flag, struggling more iercely for the first
rank than ever shirks struggled for the rear
of line of battle in action. They would have
perceived in this struggle for place and spells
that those were the most eager and persistent
who had the least claims; and these unfor-
tunately, were generally the most successful.
| Old soldiers would have laughed TO scorn the
x,,lo folloyrad axardirsr the spoils Of office