The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLICS JOURNALS•

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TIMES.—The long struggle between the President
and the Republican party in the United States may
be looked upon as constitutionally terminated by
the elections which have just taken place. These
elections seem to show that the new Congress will,
by a large majority, insist on the constitutional
amendment which the Republican party has advo-
cated, or, at least, on that part of it which relates to
the-representation and suffrage. President Johnson
will find himself next December faced by a Legisla-
ture which, though only representing a part of the
Union, represents that part which population, wealth,
and the result of a successful war have made irre-
sistible. In this Legislature he will not be able to
count on a third of the members. In the Senate his
policy numbers only some 15 supporters to 37 of the
opposite party ; in the House of Representatives the
two-thirds majority will be easily obtained by his
opponents. In face, then, of Congress, as it now
stands, he is in Legislative matters powerless. • Con-
gress can pass any measure it pleases, in spite of his
veto, and though his constitutional authority is still
very great, though he commands army and navy, still
makes and unmakes officials, still to a large extent
directs the government in the conquered States, it
is. evident that he cannot carry out any national
policy of his own. There will be men in Congress'
who will not even shrink from impeaching him, for
the political passions of Americans run fiercer and
stronger than under our temperate -constitutional
climate. Congress would, indeed, probably shrink
for a time from such a course, but no one can say
that it might not.be brought to it at last under what
it might consider extreme provocation. Such a feud
between the Executive and the Legislative powers of
the country would, however, be the greatest of mis-
fortunes, and it is evident from the tone of the Ame-
rican press that in such a case something more than
a mere legal or constitutional conflict might be ex-
pected. It is the interest and duty of all parties
now to bring this hard-fought campaign to a close.
The services which Mr. Johnson has rendered to
the country during his term of office have been of
the highest worth, and we believe that among what
may be called the moderate Radicals there is no dis-
position to question them. During the first months
of his unexpected Presidentship he simply carried
out the policy of his unfortunate predecessor. Mr.
Seward was the adviser, one might say the guide, of
Mr. Lincoln ; he knew what the late President's
purposes were, for he had to a great extent formed
them himself, and in filling the highest place in
both the present and the former Cabinet he showed
that the prevalent spirit in each was the same.
The power of the President has been used with the
greatest effect to lessen the inevitable bitterness of
conquest. Those who had fought so long and
fiercely laid down their arms with less humiliation
when they found that there was moderation and
manliness at Washington. We believe that the
benefits which the President and his chief
conferred on their country by their treatment adviser
of the
vanquished Confederates have been great
tsparty
beyond all
estimation, and that when the storms] of h
warfare are over all men will acku°
a time it hung in the balance. wlllvetedherogeirt.noFtoar
terrific proscription should rage lb-
hSouth. The
ad law• and
Chief of the Executive would haveit
hanged and con
precedent to justify him if he had
fiscated in all directions. European Governments,
even the most civilised, had never scrupled to punish
traitors with death and forfeiture ; the most humane
moralists had only demanded that the followers
should not share the fate of the ringleaders. As to
the lands and goods of rebels, Congress bad actually
declared them to be forfeited, and no sooner were the
Federal armies in occupation than some of the mili-
tary leaders showed that they were not inclined to

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leave the Act a dead letter. The Radical orators in
the North were crying out for blood. Another set,
with more interested motives were moving for the
plunder of the weal thy Confederates. President
Johnson, with a nobility and courage which will bring
him honour when his failings are forgotten, stood be-
tween the Southern people and a proscription which
might, perhaps, have once more driven them to arms
to wage a war, not for independence, but for revenge.
The zealots of the extreme party cried out as loudly
then as now, but the good sense of the nation soon
showed it that mercy and generosity were the best
of policies. Acts of retaliation were avoided which
would have filled every man, woman, and child in
the South with undying enmity against the Northern
people. The prospect at the present time, indeed,
is not very bright. We who know from the example
of Ireland how national or sectional hatreds are
handed down from father to son, and how difficult
it is to conciliate those whom our ancestors estranged
may be excused for believing that manyy-difficulties
may be in store for the United States. The Southern
people are sore at their humiliations, and it is bard
to suppose that a large part of them are not dis-
affected towards a rule which is exercised by the
party antagonistic to them. But so far as they have
been conciliated, so far as they are likely to bring
up their children as good citizens, attached to the
Union and its institutions, it will be the work of the
work of the men who have wielded the executive,
power of the United States since the war. Mr.
Johnson has, however, for the most part fulfilled his
task. Life and property in the South are safe, and,
except as regards the negroes, the right of self-
government is recognised. The present conflict is
mainly as to the representation in Congress, and on
this the verdict of the North, which is practically
the whole country, has been given against the Pre-
sident. We think he may now fairly yield, the
more as the chief question i 3 one of electoral reform,
which is especially within the jurisdiction of Con-
gress.. A part of the Constitutional Amendment
seems not unreasonable. The Radicals do not for
the present demand the institution of negro suffrage
throughout the Union, but they claim that where
negroes are excluded they shall no longer be counted
as part of the population. As our readers know, the
1 House of Representatives is constituted anew after
each census on the basis of population, Thus Ohio
has 19 members, Pennsylvania 24, New York 31.
In this enumeration the coloured population of the
South used to be counted as equivalent to three-
fifths of their number : thus 100 black men would
count as 60, and the State received representatives
on the whole number thus made up. But now the
Republicans demand that where negro suffrage is
not established only the white population shall
count—a change which would further diminish the
number of Southern members, already very small,
through the increased population of the Northern
States.' It is probable that after the present elec-
tions the Republican party will demand negro suf-
frage pure and simple as the condition of the admis-
sion of a State to Congress. But that is in the
future ; for the present the demand is that the
members shall be in proportion to the voting popu-
lation, and as the principle is in itself not unjust,
and as it is plainly upheld by the majority of the
people, we think the President will do wisely to
oppose it no longer. But the real sting of the Con-
stitutional Amendment lies not in the suffrage
clause, but in that which disqualifies for office all
who have had any share in the rebellion. It is evi-
dent that this is simply the abolition of self govern-
ment in the Southern States for a generation.
Every man of education and position in the whole
South took part in the rebellion, and to disqualify
these, from Gen. Lee down to the drummers of the
Confederate army, from Mr. Davis's Cabinet down
to the clerks in their offices, is simply to subject the
Southern people to the administration of strangers
or negroes, and to force them to send men to Con-
gress who will do anything but speak for them. If
this obnoxious and, as it seems to us, useless clause
were expunged, the Constitutional Amendment
might be accepted by the South without much ado.
We should be glad to hear that some such compro-
mise had been made. The policy of exclusion from
office and of governing a people by an insignificant
and hated minority has been tried in more than one
district of Europe, and. the.,end of it has always
been a misery and a curp, - Thu only raiciit in
America would be to envenom still further the
hearts of the late Confederates, and, as not even
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens and Mr. Wendell Phil-
lips propose to exterminate the whole Southern
people, it will be as well to leave them alone, and
let who will be Governor or Congress-man, Judge
or Mayor. But, whatever the resolution of Con-
gress, we sincerely hope that no worse conflict than
one of words and votes will follow at Washington.
an.
There are people who believe that the President
Congress are about to come to open war. TwhiellPirme:
sident will defy Congress, and Congressi
peach the President. Mr. Johnson wldeclarethaatt
Congress as it exists at present
not will
Congress
only repro.
all, that it is a mere since
of
itsown
member.
Bents 26 States, and prevents a portionnnses s oemwtakingwill
ae c o theirr d noy
seats
consider i n
the r respective
supreme
power of the Union as devolving on him, and either
Legislature, and carry on
disperse the truncated
e)n the other hand,
affairs without it, or introduce the Southern mem-
bers to their seats by force.
Congress will impeach the President, take the Exe-
cutive power into its hands, and as soon as possible
elect a new magistrate. That these things are not
expected to come to pass without an appeal to other
than moral force is evident from the speculations on
the respective dispositions of the regular army and
the Volunteers. Such are the speculations which
occupy men's minds at present. We are not inclined
to believe that things will be carried so far. Ame-
rican politicians are shrewd, and they know how to
bear a defeat as well as how to employ a victory.
The habit of yielding to the will of the majority
when it has once been determined is so ingrained in
their character that they are not likely to struggle
for a cause merely to show themselves consistent.
It is not improbable that the present storm will
rapidly and completely pass away like many others
which have threatened the peace of the Union.
ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES. Among the most
desirable objects to be carried out for placing
on the firmest footing the alliance between Eng-
land and America is the establishment of an
international copyright. The subject was ably
handled in a paper laid before the Social
Science Congress by Mr. ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
Although that great author's argument embraced
all nations, we confine ourselves to an Anglo-Ame-
rican view of this question. Indeed, so great is the
market opened to English writers in the United
States that could our American cousins be induced
to adopt an international copyright it would be a
matter of little concern whether other Governments
followed their example or not. America has often
and justly complained of the spirit with which many
English authors wrote on their country. We are
happy to say a change has gradually taken place,
which could not be more strikingly illustrated than
by a comparison between Mrs. TROLLOPE'S works
and those of her son. The difference between the
two countries accounts for the fact that in England
are the authors—in America the readers. In Enge:
land is to be found great realised capital, and closd
walks of industry. In America less created wealth,
and wide and open paths of all branches of commerce.
In England a family is brought up surrou by
are
all educational advantages, which when acquiredlAlTlCTiCa
difficult to turn to profitable account.
hen early em-
the demand for labour necessitates mne.rce.
the former
aid in productive work. In aword,.
ployment of the youth when he beconitier
iiducive to literary
country there is much leisure, co
e of those qualified
pursuits—in the latter, the
time
more profitable
to become authors is require qualified to
d the advantage
o Eng an
work. These facts give t . general spread of
distribution of
general
the
education in Americal,
of possessing authors,
relaxation required after the
means, and the general
country the great field of
daily toil, makes
.t.ias
attained a great eminence in
England
readers. America acknowledges her superiority
while t le
literature,
aitheors. There are many reasons for the
decided nation al preference for the works
of an international copyright, some of
establishment
by Mr. 'l'
.. ROI LOPE but •
which have been given ,in our
obfyls3llr? gaaindd
opinion the chief reason has been omitted. So long
as these essential differences exist, which must exist
till America becomes a densely peopled country, it
would be wise in the Americans to adopt English
authors as their own. An author, like a newspaper,
must write for his readers. If the market for the
sale of his book is mainly on the other side of the
Atlantic—American subjects, the traits and cha-
racteristics of the people, their thoughts, feelings,
and manners, the history, geography, and nature
o spaasrea
t paramount obuen t
aterra
of their country—will here assume among the author
class a
incognita
importance. A mweirthi cat
nwould e n
soon
The New England fireside, the home in theeE nbgrosand.
prairie, the social life of the Southern planter, and
the feeling that animated the Washington politician,
wOuld become here as familiar as Household Words.
A flood of light regarding American life would begin
to dawn upon England. What is now to the Eng-
lish an enigma, a mystery, something incomprehen-
oiblel would become clear as the noon-day. English