The Conditions of Conservative Success

This is still a time of major hostilities between the North and the South, and the South has to stay on guard to threats from the North. The reporter from the dispatch wishes ill-wills upon those of the north that threatened the liberties of Virginia and other southern states.

Commenting on a sensible article in the New Orleans Picayune concerning the condition of political affairs in this country, the Savannah Republican remarks: "In this connection it may not be amiss to by before our readers the testimony of one of the most sagacious leaders of the North, who has, under all circumstances, proved the fast friend of the southern States and people. We allude to Hon. Erastus Brooks, of New York. In a Conversation with that gentleman held in our office a day or two ago the prospect, of a Democratic triumph at the North being the subject of particular inquiry on our part, he assured us that it depended solely on one condition, viz: good order and respect for law in the South between now and the Presidential election. The Radicals are divided among themselves on nearly every public question. The party has been broken down with the weight of its own political enormities, and nothing can save it from utter destruction at the North but excesses and lawlessness at the South, which never fail to damage the Conservative cause by making it appear that the spirit of rebellion still exists amongst us, and, as a consequence, a necessity for a continuance of the stringent measures of the Radical party. The great body of the northern people desire peace and quiet, and Radical demagogues have persuaded them that harsh means are the only cure for such diseases of the body-politic. The "persecution of loyal citizens" is a favorite theme with these partisan rogues, and they never tail to magnify every outrage at the South an hundred fold in order to inflame the public mind against us and our friends at the North. We trust, therefore, that where so much is at stake every citizen of the South will feel himself called on to exercise the greatest circumspection and forbearance, even under circumstances calculated to provoke to wrath. Whenever there are combinations for purposes of violence or taking the law into their own hands,. let them be disbanded at once, no matter how great the apparent necessity for their existence. Far better tolerate a temporary evil, and at least leave it to the operation of the laws, than bring upon the country a fourfold calamity, and perhaps entail political slavery upon our children. Do this, and the ballot-box will prove a complete remedy for all the troubles of the South.

“The Conditions of Conservative Success,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed March 30, 2023, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/2031.