The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LO D N SATURDAY E VENIN G, NOVEMBER, 23, 1867.

differen t position as regards actual guilt from his
fellow p. risoners ; he is indeed culpable for having
joined in an enterprise which threatened the lives of
those eng aged in the discharge of their duties, but
such an t ,ffence may be disconnected from that of
wilfully attempting to destroy life by the use of
deadly .weapons.
At adly rate, a very fair opportunity has
thus prescnited itself for the prerogative of
the Crow n to be exercised, and we are glad that it
has thun been taken advantage of. Such an
illustration of mercy ought to satisfy all the
scruples that have existed as to the undue severity

practised. by the authorities, and to show that no
notice was taken of the outrage to good taste and
good feeling committed in the endeavour to force
a deputaCon on the Home Secretary. At the same
time it is scarcely necessary to say that it would
have been quite out of character for her MAJESTY
to have received the deputation which was deputed
to wait on her yesterday at Windsor. In a cautious
but firm manner the members of the deputation were
informed that it was imposible for their request to
be granted. It is to be hoped that any further out-
breaks and disturbances may be prevented, or
speedily put a stop to by the good sense of the rest
of the community ; and, sad as the whole of this
Manchester affair has been, there is good reason to
trust the combined justice and mercy that have been
shown to the offenders may produce good effects,
and put a decisive stop to the disgraceful conspiracy
which has too long disturbed the peace of the com-
munity and caused serious anxiety to the lovers of
order. All possible lenity was shown last year .to
the Fenian offenders, but unhappily the hopes
thence entertained were doomed to disappointment,
and no real blame can be attached to those who
now vindicate the offended majesty of justice in
the only direct manner possible.

The difficulties which the Radicals have brought
upon themselves and their countrymen by their
rash and hasty policy with regard to the Negroes
are increasing rather than diminishing. It was not
to be expected that so inflammable a people would
submit- with patience and equanimity to the alter-
nations of hope and disappointment which the
Radical policy has subjected them to. The divi-
sion of the planters' estates among their former
slaves has always been a favourite scheme of the
ultra-politicians, and at every opportunity it has
been talked about among the Southern popu-
lation. The consequence is that what was
only a theory to the orators has become
a reality to their audiences, who are eager
to see the immediate fulfilment of their ex-
pectations. The news brought by the
Prussia, from New York on the 13th, reports that
the negroes throughout Virginia are drilling, and
refuse to work unless they are offered a share of the
crops. They threaten a forcible seizure of the
lands, and further items of news from Virginia
confirm the impression of local disturbance.
Lindsey, the negro delegate to the Virginia Conven-
tion, has been arrested at Richmond by the military,
for an incendiary speech. At Strasburg the ex-
bureau officer was mobbed by the negroes, who
afterwards resisted the attempts of the civil
officers to arrest them. Judge PARKER, of Winchester,
has been arrested for withholding legal justice from
loyal men—a suspicious phrase ! HuNNicuTT, it is
said, will be indicted for inciting to revolt. The
central authority has evidently arrived at the con-
clusion that it is time to take vigorous steps to re-
store order. General GRANT has ordered the dis-
bandment of all military organisations, black and
white, in the district of Columbia. The PRESI-
DENT, in directing this course, says :—" I ..0
advised that there are within the district of
Columbia a number of armed organisations, formed
without the authority of law, and for purposes
which hare not been communicated to the
Government." Further on ho says that they are
at the present time "unnecessary for the preserva-
tion of order or the protection of the civil authority;"
and he, therefore, directs the General to take official
steps for promptly disbanding and suppressing all
such illegal organisations.'! The propriety of such
a decided measure will be readily perceived after
reading a few of the detailed accounts of the local
proceedings. Armed bands of negroes are drilling
in most of the Southern States, and churches and
barns resound at night with the tread of their march
and the rattle of their muskets. Travellers at night
through lonely roads are often bidden to " halt !"
by a negrosentinel. In Louisiana a planter hired some
freedmen to work on his cotton lauds, promising
them one-third of the crop as payment. When the
time came to collect the crop the negroes took half.
The planter objected, and was attacked. He de-
fended himself with firearms, and the military came
to his assistance, but the blacks attacked the mili-
tary, and had to be repulsed with loss of life.
The turn which American politics have taken
since the elections will, we may hope, exercise
a salutary influence in the repression of negro as-
sumption. There can be no doubt that this has
weighed with the Northern people in giving their
votes. Negro equality has never been popular in
the North. The Radical party might cheer its
advocates on the platform, but so soon as their
theories are put into practice their ardour cools. The
common sense of the country is against such a dan-
gerous experiment, and the American people prize
their civilisation too highly to be willing to throw it
back several paces. Not one Northern State has
accepted negro suffrage. In Kansas there was a
large majority against it, though Kansas is filled with
Republicans. In New York State the Democratic
majority was 4,500 ; in New York city it reached
the immense number of 61,175. The States where
the Radicals have. carried the day, and the people
have shown any sympathy for the tyrannical and
extravagant policy of Congress, have been the ex-
ception, and even in those the former majorities of
' the extreme party have been marvellously dimi-
nished. President JOHNSON has, after all, proved
himself to be wiser than his counsellors
in relying upon the good sense and good
feeling of the majority of his countrymen, to
defeat the machinations of those who for their own
ends have laboured to rekindle the flames of civil
war, to keep up mutual bitterness and strife, and
suspicion, to oppress the fallen and punish the
suffering, and in every possible manner to retard
the progress of the nation towards union and peace,
and internal prosperity. The effect of their mis-
chievous legislation upon trade and commerce
has been only too severely felt. Seven
years of disunion and disorganisation, of
military government and perpetual inter-
national disturbance, must affect the wealthiest
and strongest nation. There is no doubt that if the
Confederacy had been really established, and the
Southern States had accomplished their fatal sever-
ance from the North, the North would now be more
flourishing. The South, as the Radicals have kept
it, is no source of wealth to the nation. It is a
heavy expense, and its unsettled condition para-

lyses enterprise and damps energy. The
Radicals have damaged the national credit
—have interfered with every attempt to reor-
ganise the finances—have made civil liberty
a byeword, and political freedom a nonentity in the

States. By their insolent and violent opposition
to the PRUIDENT they have kept up a couetau

agitation in the North itself, and by their continual
reiterated threats of impeachment have laboured to
bring the chief power of the State into contempt.
It was not to be expected that a great people would
much longer tolerate such interested agitators or be
misled by their professions. An almost unlimited
lease of power has been given them, and the use which
they have made of it has been to disorganise the
North and to crush the South ; to impoverish still
further the embarrassed finances of the country ; to
bring the public credit into disfavour with foreign
nations, and to leave the whole people in a state of
irritation, discontent, and suspicion.