Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-10-13


the elective franchise on the blacks The leaders
Of the Republican party--the men of ideas In it
like Ex-secretary Chase and Mr. Senator Sum-
ner--arc the eloquent and consistent advocates OF
such policy. Haiii1@. aat tt'a3Ds
The other form of restoration proceeds on
the assumption that whatever may be the
ultimate destiny of the black race on this CONT
nent, it is impossible to bring the Seeded States
back into the Union without the aid and co-opera-
ton Of lfge part Of the white population Of the
South. And such being the case, the supporters
Of this theory hold that policy Of Cancellation adj
dressed to the people Of the South is q necessary
complement to the policy Of war directed to the
overthrow Of the insurgent armies. Gen. Mcclellan
is to-day political representative Of this doctrine,
as he was its philosophical expounder whom, in his
celebrated and statesman-like letter from Harri-
sons Landing, he wrote as follows: saas.
sThis rebellion has assumed the character OF
such it should be regarded and it should DO conducted
upon the highest principles known to Christian cvlza
ton 1t should not be looking to the subugaton
of the people of any State in event IL should not DO
at all upon populations but against armed forces
and political organizations Neither con6scation Of pro-
perty political executions of persons territorial organize
ton OF States nor forcibe abolition of slavery should be
contemplated for moment In prosecuting thewar all pr
vae property and unarmed should be strictly pro
tected subject only to the necessity of military operations
All private property taken for military should be pad
or recepted for page and waste should be treated as
high crimes all unnecessary trespass sterny prompted
and offensive demeanor by the military towards citizens
promptly rebuked Military arrests should not be- toera
ted, except in places where active h0stes exist and
oaths not required by enacments constutionaly made
should be neither demanded received Military gov
eminent should be confined to the preservation OF public
order and the protection Of political rights"
The former Of these theories we believe to be
Improbable The latter offers not only the best,
but the only hope Of restoring the Union. And,
if this was the choice set before the people, We
could not hesitate in pronouncing our Judgment
as to which Of the two they should prefer. But
in point of fact the Administration has practically
made the choice still easier, by making the impolicy
Of its course equally plain to the logical adherents
Of both theories. For in its practical conduct
the Administration adopts neither, but while
giving in its adhesion to all the measures OF the
radical politicians recoils from their natural and
inevitable conclusions Mr. Lincoln's "plan Of re-
construction excludes the blacks of the South from
any share political power in his ouetenth States"
One-tenth of the whites Of the South in each State
holdsway over the remaining of the
whites and over all the blacks, who as laborng,
landless, and homeless class" are made subject
to such regulations as this one-tenth may impose
Was such an artificial aristocracy ever before
ated /! And what wonder that both "radicals" and
conservatives" are equdly disguised at this most
preposterous theory of anti-repubican government,
which is illogical in conception asst isimpossible
= IL Al &c kha ~ II.
the President proposes to adhere.
And now we ask the people, in full view Of the
events passing before their eyes in Missouri, in
Tennessee, in Louisiana, in Arkansas, in all the
territory over which our armies have passed, and
which they nominally hold in military possession,
what hopes of q restoration of the Union do the
signs of the time portend under the present direc-
ton of our affairs That direction is impressed
BY no consistent system of wellconsdered ideas in
the way either of constitutionalism or Of radical
ISM The President is not radical enough to test all
the virtues of radcasm and not conservative enough
to test ell the virtues of conservatism and hence
in the oscillation Of his mind between radical mea-
sures, which he must accept in order to please the
predominant portion Of his party, and the hating
expedients by which he strives to bring these mea
sures into accommodation with spurious form of
semi conservatism in his party, he holds the helm
with an unsteady hand, and lets the ship Of State
follow the drift of the wind and the waves instead
of pointing her course by vigilant and resoute
pilotage. 81 claim not to have controlled events"
he writes, /" but confess that events have control-
ed me-" Alas it needed no such confession to
convince the people of the melancholy truth. The
evidence Of it has been seen in the vacillations
and hesitatons of the last three years and half,
and the results of il are seen in a debt of two
thousand millions Of dollars incurred in war
which has called two millions Of men into the field
And if the object Of the war be restoration of the
Union, what measure of success has the Admins
t-ation achieved to which it can point to-day rs
sufficient return for such an expenditure Of life
and treasure? Not to q want of efficiency in our
armies, but to the want of consistent civil direc
ton adequate to the situation, is it mainly due that
the Administration has nothing better to show As
the fruits Of its labors and of the nations sacrifices
than one-tenth Of State established an Louisiana,
and one tenth e5 State established an Arkansas,
each resting on boyonets and havinga ciUa jurisdic
tion coaterminous oi the range Of oar cannon, aoile
5pshphackers proaol an the rear of on oar armies
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