Year: 1866

Texas. which at the time the restoration Of
peace and civil authority was proclaimed in
the other Southern States, had notlyet reor-
gsniZed her State government, has recently
done so, adopting the amendment to the Con-
stitution OF the United States abolishing sia-
very, and a new State constitution recognizing
the changes resulting from the war, and her
State officers have been inaugurated under
it. In consequence Of this action the Presi-
dent has issued the reclamation we publish
elsewhere in our paper, dec laring Off cially for
the M ST time since the rebellion that .. the in
surrection is at an end, and peace, order, tran
guilty and civil authority now exist in and
throughout the whole of the United States of
America


The proclamation comes al a most auspicious
Time, following close upon the good news that
the fears entertained of a renewal of the war
in Europe in consequence of the demands of
Napoleon were groundiess; that astute ruler
having. with CHARACTERISTIC shrewdness. re-
treated from the position he had assumed while
he could do so with safety and honor. With
peace at home and abroad, there is no reason
why our country should not rapidly recover
from the effects OF the late civil war, and
attain a degree OF prosperity hitherto unex-
ampled. even here. Thus must follow if the
people. instead Of lending themselves to poll
ticians, who live by fomenting sectional strife,
will bend their energies 10 the coed work of
erasing the marks Of civil war, and restoring
harmony and good feeling.


There are some who cannot or will not take
this '.rose- color view, and who deny the exist.
ence OF peace and tranquility, because they do
not wish for il, and who point to occasional
manifestations Of disorderly proceedings by
few OF the lowest and most ignorant of the
ont he
not yet over. We would ask these doubters
whether the state Of affairs in the South at the
present time is not much better than they ven-
tured to hope for sixteen months ago? Wheth.
er II was not predicted and believed that the
war was 10 DC kept up and the whole South
10 be overrun with guerrillas after the armies
IN the field Were disbanded? Whether these
predictions have not been falsified, and the
great mass of the soldiers of the rebellion
engaged in peaceable pursuits! And
whether there is not much less disorder
ana violence In the Southern States than anv
student of human nature would have belle we'd
possible after war of such magnitude. in
which the worst passions Were let looseF Why
DO not those journals, which, to perpetuate the
bitterness between the sections mage the most
of occasional ebullitions of passion in certain
parts OF the South, sometimes give the other
SIDE OF the picture, and notice the facts. that
every day negro meetings are being held in the
Southern States without disturbance; that pa-
pers in the interest of the colored people are
regularly published In the former hot-beds of
secession, and that thousands of Northern men
and Southern Unionists are working side by
side with late rebel soldiers 20 bring the late
rebeiiious States to the position they NAV
hope to attain with free laborl Give the peo-
pie all the facts, and then let them Judge
whether there is peace and tranquility or not