The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-07-10
TIME AND REASON.

That great leveller and panacea,
"Time," has done much already in
healing the wounds and oblterating
the scars of the past, as it has in reno
wing the fogs of prejudice and the
skillfullv woven wells of misrepresen-
tation which have obscure1 the mo-
tives and intentions of great, good and
brave men. Truth is endowed with
Immortality and can never die; it is
an intcger of creation itself and con-
Meeting link between time aud etern'-
ty. 1t may be Swallowed and hidden
for time by the opacity OF human
| Judgment, but it must and will appear
again clear as the MONDAY sun. No
deeper national scars; no severer
wounds were ever given than those
which resulted from the war between
the North and South, and yet We have
continued evidences that the healing
process is going on, though the slower
process which arises from the convic-
ton of error may drag apace. Even
this latter process, however, is encour-
aging in its progress, and it is by no
means an Utopian hope that the day
will come when the North will see
clearly the enormity of the error com
mitted which married their victory and
which continue to the present day to
preclude a perfect Union and a solidi-
fed national sentiment
We are led to these utterances by
the perusal of an article published in
the Chicago Inter- Ocean, over the sig
8 nature of "Bystander," who is no 9th
: er than that radical of radicals anc
South defamer, Albion w. Tourgee
whose views are republished below
~ Not that Tourgee is leader o
'' thought or sentiment, nor that his ut
)! terances will have a feathers weigh
~ in shaping the destinies Of this RepuI
lie any more than those of Shepher
or any other extremist, but as indica
!, tive of the power of truth, to penetrat
~ the densest prejudice and cratic OF
>, liquity Judge Tourgee in speakin
" of Jefferson Davis, that grand mont
= mental embodiment Of a grander thong
. lost cause, says:
80 Yet with all this, some things must
20, fairness be said of the aged chief OF tt
T., Confederacy He has been consistent all
.! resOlute in the maintenance OF his view
ID of government Some years ago the "B
II stander" took the pains to collect and ca
81" late all the votes and speeches OF MIR. u
lns Wis as Il member of both Houses OF tt
- National Congress. 1t was a useless lab
d. except from the fact that he desired
ra- fill out and complete his own mental pi
ture of one Of the most notable men OF
~" lay-a man who has occupied al anon
EST ons position in the worlds history. As
result he does not hesitate to say that
making such a study and at the sal
av- time reviving in his memory the SCH
ments of that time when the temp
ner brooded over our land, cannot help a te
nm. ing of respect for the evident SINGER
and ability Of the man who was afterWa
In to stand on so strange pinnacle. FIR
APPS his belief III the conssl.a'la s u
Illus The Justice of the Confederate cause,
,ro. has never for an instant wavered from
earliest speech in the House of Repres
ater tatives to his latest letter, in which
no confidently appeals to the future for Y
dication of his views and conduct
be What he then believed he still beliey
old One cannot question bis sincerity"
,ls We attribute nothing to the mcdi
ions through Which such just and elcqn
,,z sentiments flowed, for it was "Tru
), n speaking facts and Justice doing h
or at the shrine where integrity {
90 -. consciousness have always DIV
hon. When truth and reason burst fc
,ow. through the clouds and darkness VII
- have enshrouded the brain and hi
or,; of Albion W. Tourgee, who has b
or,a wont to dip his pen in gall, what r
s,s- we not expect from the effect of t
and reason ~ Natchez (Miss.) We
,,o ly Democrat.