Year: 1866

We were close observer of events in
1850, and it is our duty and habit still to
observe events closely. There was not as
much bitterness in this State in the Spring
and Summer of 1860, against the Union as
there is now. The tone of the newspapers
at this time hostile to the national govern
ment is pretty much what the tone of the
secession journals was in the latter part of
1860. We were told then that the Northern
people were mean Yankees, infdels, free
lovers, abolitionists, black republicans, vio-
lators of the Constitution, disunionists, who
only wanted an opportunity to trample us
in the dust; that Seward was hypocritical,
smooth-faced villain, and Linconl baboon
and devil; that to submit to them would
be to sound the lowest depths of degrada-
ton; that secession would be peaceable;
that one woman could whip five Yankees,
and one man could whip fifteen that if we
did not secede and set up for ourselves we
should be everlastingly disgraced; and that
the man who would not go with the South
ought to be first burnt in effigy and then
rnped and hung. Well, we tried it and got
badly whipped. The government was mer-
ciful These same leaders who talked thus
in 1860, appeared to submit in 1865. They
said God had done it, and with their mouths
in the dust they professed to be sorry for
what they had done. They took the oath,
saved their property, and appeared to be
thankful that their lives had been spared.
But behold the change! Now they say that
secession was right; that they were not sub
dued, but simply overpowered; that their
only regret is that they did not succeed; that
those Northern statesmen and Generals who
suppressed the rebellion are tyrants and op-
pressors; that they are better friends to the
Constitution as it is and the Union as it was
than they are; that two-thirds of the Con-
gress are disunionists, tyrants, usurpers, and
ought to be hurled from their seats; that
they do not intend to return to the Union
except in their own way; that the man who



that Union men in the South during the re-
bellion are unworthy of respect or conf
dence; that the best evidence of patriotism
and fitness for Office is, that man strove to
disrupt and destroy the Union; that the ac-
tion of the President in recognizing the
States was an usurpation, and is null and
void; that they do not care if they never get
back to the Union unless they can return on
their own terms; and that they prefer to
wait, with the hope that the President will
disperse the present Congress and establish
new one, or until the Northern people get
to fighting among themselves, and thus give
them an opportunity to make good their
independence.


The difference in tone between 1860 and
1866, is but slight. The same rebellious
spirit exists now that existed then. We do
not say why this is-perhaps we do not
know, but we merely state the fact, which
every one sees and feels to be true What is
to be the end of all this we cannot foresee.-
A friend, writing us from one of the Eastern
Counties, says:


"The people of ---, or majority of
them, seem determined to throw all the
stumbling blocks they can in the way of the
restoration of the Union. They are trying
to make secession popular again. They are
raising up their children to hate the government
then haze sworn to protect and detsnd."


Alas, this is too truel The magnanimity
and kindness of the President have been
thrown away. If he should change his coun-
tenance towards this people, and should talk
to them as he did in April and May, 1865,
tbey would curse him to his face They hate
him now in their hearts, and affect to be his
friends only because they hope he will breed
civil war at Washington and in the North,
and thus give them chance to secure their
independence, or at least crafty them with
the spectacle of bloody conflict among
those whom they deem their oppressors and
enemies. And can it be that more blood
must flow before the Union is restored2 For
bid it. merciful God Every thoughtful
citizen should discountenance excitement
and sectional feeling Every good man