National Republican., 1883-10-01
"Tbc National Republican" and I5S-Con-
fcderntcs.

position IL has maintained That political Hssucia-
ton ought to depend upon present ngrecnentS
rather thay upon past differences / wds as
founded and disturbed at seeing IN your ssuc of
the eleventh Of last April an editorial in direct
conflict with all your previous utturnnocs or tllis
point. II was an article complaining of good
words spoken Of Gen. Albert sidney Johnston ON
the occasion Of the uncovcrng Of II statue erected
Ia Gen. Johnston IN New Orleans. In that urtcle
occurred the following language:
Johnston was rebel and a dangerous one, n
traitor uud q bad one. 10 ycncrato his memory Is
to prolong his treason down to date aud crimnatn
with him all those who do II, and who are none
the less contomplibly dlsloyal to their country,
rccau'c like him. they are III no danger Of paying
for their disloyalty with their lives"
THIS article was never followed, MS IL had mover
bccn preceded, by any one similar IN tone, temper
or opinion. ON the contrary, THE REruRMCAS
has continued 10 advocate tho 0bllieraiion
Of all rcscntmcnls growing ont of the
war ana 10 rchuko Mt all times such
sentiments Rs are above quoted from its
own columns when uttered by others. Never
thcless, hcrc in Virginia tho bourbon orators arc
now holding that single article IN in their
speeches as disclosure Of your real sent 'mcuts,
and arc condcmning DIR Headers for having ut Que
time indorScd your paper. ] have been asked
about Il many times, and while am willing for
mysclfto A?ccpt your general treatment of us pS
contradiction ofthc very offensive Gud inoXcusa-
bic Language quoted should like 10 know how
you can reconcile its publication with your pre-.
ylous and subsequent course.
EX-CoSFEDEEATE READJusrER
Nothing could afford us more pleasure than
to answer our correspondents question. The
article of which he complains was published
inadvertently, and not only did not cmanate
ii i,,,t - L., a;
conflict with their feelings and opinions. The
mistake was ono that could occur in any
newspaper Office, and in view of the positive
and well known opinions of this paper it was
one that did not seem to call for correction.
But bourbon paper having made allusion to
it twice, and endeavored to make 1t the cause
of misunderstanding between THE REPUBLI-
CAN and its southern friends, VIC published
on the seventeenth of April, six days after its
appearance, an editorial on the general sub
icct, from which the following is an extract: :
THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN understands the Gle
ment in human nature which will cause the
memory of Ice aud Sidney Johnston and Stone
wall Jackson to he honored by the coniederates
ana their desugndants ~ the last syllable of re.
corded time. These men were not among the au-
thors of the rebellion, although they were its
greatest soldiers. The failure of the southern
confe1eracy naturally caused partial reaction
against those who hnd been the leaders of seccs-
sion; but even as to them the main body of the
southern people will not join In censuro of them.
The American people who agree that the nation
is indissoluble. and entitled to the allegiance of
every citizen, the constitution or any law or ordi-
nance of any sta to to the contrary notwihstand-
Ing, can afford to allow absolute freedom of opn-
ion to the civil war and all the causes that lei
to it. The hope of y southern contederdcy
was, as Gen. Malone said in the senate in
lsAl "Iost In the ashes Of civil war" 1t can re-
turn no more to plague us. The north can.
not change its opinion as to the past any more
than can the south All that either can do is to
admit that the other side believed itself right, and
as the Ilindoo proves his faith by prostraliug him
self before the car of Juggernaut and being
clushed so men must be admitted TO have been
honest in the profession of opinions for which
they were willing to go to war. We believe the
whole south that 1t made Il terrible mistake.
But we do not believe it essential to the general
welfare that its people should make ahypOcritical
pretense that their enthusiasm was simulated, or
that they did not admire their generals, who have
challenged the admiration OF all the rest of the
world. The perpetnaton of the union, the aboli-
tion of slavery, and equality of rights for all.
these are our trophies of the civil war. TO these
let us add the grand achievement of willingly
sharing their benefits with the vanqushod, and
of bauishing all resentment toward those who
were once enemies, but who are now happily our
countrymen again. Let us have peace
Upon this we arc willing to stand AS to
treason and traitors, these arc epithets with
which we fave years since ceased to deal.
When they were in use toward southerners
there were epthets equally as harsh applied
to northerners. Neither section can claim
any advantage over the other in the matter
of hard words. 1t is treason " to levy war
upon the United States, and ono of the dcfini-
tions of the word "traitor" is ono who COM
mits treason. But the magnitude of the ro-
bellion, its maintenance for five years of n
dc fdcto government embracing eleven states,
and the time which has elapsed since
its overthrow make it childish and
puerile now to apply such terms to tho
people Of those states in an opprobrious
sense, or in any other than technically
legal one. These arc our views and any ut
terance TO the contrary of them in these col
umns would do as much violence to the opin-
ions we labor to advance as they could possi-
bly, do to those of the patriotic ex-confcdcrates
tho south, and cspecia lily in the State of Yir-
ginia