The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-07 00:00:00

had been 'much debated, had been approved in the
Radical caucus, and its object was to do away with
South'e'.n State Governments and to establish testi-
toria't governments in their place, The Democrats
of o purse opposed it strongly, and they were joined
in tLeir opposition by a few Republicans. As time
went on, however, the ranks of the objectors in-
creased very ranch in number, until some
of the prominent Radicals rose in Congress
and openly denounced the measure, one as
" revolutionary," another as " unconstitutional,"
a third, Mr. BINGHAM, of Ohio, as " atrocious."
'The lawyers, of course, were strongly opposed to it,
as altogether against the constitution ; and two
able speeches made against it apparently gave it the
coup de grace. Mr. RAYMOND, of New York, spoke
it is said, on both sides, but his speech made a great
impression on the House against the Bill. Mr.
BINGH :131, who, as we have said, called it atrocious,
was equally impressive, and the result was that
THADDEUS STEVENS arrived at the conclusion that
discretion was the better part of val Our, and that he
would do more wisely to withdraw his Bill
altogether than to force it through the House
only to succumb to the PRESIDENT'S inevitable veto,
which he would not be able to override. It is a
matter for congratulation that so obnoxious a mea-
sure is disposed of, even though some persons
explain its failure by saying it did not go far enough.
Mr. STEVENS proposed retaining the Southern
governments for local purposes, whereas other
Radicalswant to do away with them altogether. The
bill certainly deserved the epithet of revolutionary,
and if carried into law would probably have precipi-
tated matters in the South to a crisis.
The other great struggle in Congress was on the
Bill which proposes to exclude any attorney or
counsellor who has shown any sympathy for the
rebellion from practising in the courts of the
United States ; in other words, it aims at prevent-
ing any Southern lawyer from practising his pro-
fession, and thus will add to the wide-spread
misery and desolation already existing in the South.
The direct object of the Bill was to do away
with the effect of the recent decision in
the Supreme Court, and, in fact, the Bill was
regarded as the first step towards undermining its
authority. It has, after a momentous struggle,
passed through the Lower House, but its progress
was so extraordinary that the apparent triumph
has been very damaging to the Radicals. It was
brought before the House, and the Radicals openly
announced their intention to force it through all its
stages that same afternoon, allowing of course no
discussion whatever. This was too much for the
Democrats to submit to, accustomed as they have
been of late to the despotism of Messrs. STEVENS
and Co. They begged for an hour's discussion, but
which, in this freest assembly in the world,
which we are told represents so faithfully
the opinions and intelligence of all classes, was
mockingly refused them. Upon this began the
extraordinary struggle. The Democrats taking ad-
vantage of the powers of the House interposed every
possible delay, and had the roll of the House called
no less than 25 times. This process, technically called
the " yeas and nays," consists in reading over the
names of the members and each one answering to
his name. It takes nearly half an hour, so that
some idea of the labour involved in twenty-five
repetitions of it may be imagined. It is necessary
for a fifth of the House to restrain the motion when
the roll is called, and the Democrats, who barely
exceeded the requisite number, kept every man
valiantly in his place till the victory was won.
The Radicals, who, we need not say, arelargely
preponderant in the House, were able to relieve
guard, but the Democrats dared not be a minute
off duty. At last they carried their point, and
after 20 hours' consecutive sitting, at 8 o'clock in
the morning the Radicals gave way, and the hour's
discussion demanded was allowed, the Bill being
postponed for another day.
The scene itself, as described to us by eye-wit-
nesses, was one scarcely creditable to the dignity
of a Legislative Assembly, but the resistance
made by the Democrats can hardly be regretted,
since it serves two purposes. It may teach the
Radicals a useful lesson, and it may show how utterly
impotent and despotic is the spirit which animates
these professed friends of freedom and equality.
Meanwhile, though all these rival schemes of re-
construction are being brought forward in vain, the
necessity for reconstruction on a broad and national
basis becomes more and more apparent. We are
glad to find that in spite of the political chaos
Americans of all parties have united in establishing
a Southern Relief Commission, whose object is to
distribute supplies among the destitute, without re-
spect of race or opinion. At the monster meeting
held at the Cooper Institute, Now York, with this
object, several powerful addresses were made, and
such speakers as Mr. WARD BEECHER, HORACE
GREELEY, and Dr. BRIGHT, brought forward most
moving evidence of the dire distress now existing
Southwards. The great drought from which
the Southern States have recently suffered
has added to the desolation, and Mr. GREELEY,
who said that at best only half a crop had been
made, described a terrible picture—industry para-
lysed, the fields untilled, the people starving. Is
it such a state of things that the Radicals of the
North deliberately wish to perpetuate, or can they,
after such full and incontrovertible evidence, plead

ignorance as their excuse ?

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARJS, Wednesday Evening.

The Moniteur announces that the Emperor pre-
sided on Monday at a general meeting of the
Council of State, summoned to discuss the project
relative to the reorganisation of the army.
From Munich it is stated that the Prince de
Hohenlohe Schillingfurst, President of the Council,
and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bavaria, left on
the 4th for Stuttgard, to take part in the delibera-
tions relative to the reorganisation of the military
forces of Southern Germany. He is accompanied
by Baron de Prankh, Minister of War, and Count
de Tauffkerchen, who fills an important office at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The news from Florence is that the bureaux of
the Chamber of Deputies of Italy have concluded
their discussion of the project of law relative to
the liberty of the Church in the State and the
liquidation of the property of the Church, and
have unanimously decided against the adoption of
the project.
There was another Cabinet Council yesterday
at the Tuileries, at which the Empress was pre-
sent.

The Queen's Speech was received in Paris last.
evening through the medium of the Havas Bul-
lier Telegraph, always more or less inaccurate,
which is probably the reason why none of the Paris
morning papers have any observations upon it.
They wait till they receive the accurate English
report from the Sun and other evening papers.
Tre Tribunal of Geneva has given its decision
upon the question so important for literature which
was lately raised between the Societd des Gens de
Lettres and the journal La Nation Suisse, which
illegally republished a work of M. Henri Augu.
After hearing M. Paul Feval, president of the So-
ciety of Literary Men of Paris, and the reply of M.
Subit, the Court decided in favour of the society,
thus maintaining the principle of literary property
in foreign countries.
. . _

Laatnight the ternrest way very violent, and to,