The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-06-15

his policy against the admission OF negroes to
the right of suffrage. We may safely conclude,
too, as the issue Of this proclamation was the
development Of . long Cabinet conference,
that this policy has been thoroughly considered
by the President and bis official advisers, and
has been deliberately adopted as the wisess, II
not the only, course left for the administration.
n we admit that the Southern black popula-
ton have won the right Of suffrage, from that
loyal Southern balance Of power which they
have 90 faithfully exercised against the rebel
lion, there Is still the stubborn fact before us
that the new Southern political and social sys-
tens demanded by the overthrow Of slavery can
not be established by Executive proclamatons
or provisional State establishments. The con-
currence of Congress is needed to confirm and
legalise all these provisional proceedings.
The President in the absence of Congress, evil
IDENTITY believes thatin following in the footsteps
of Abraham Lincoln be Is pursuing a line Of
policy which will surely be approved by the
country and by Congress. But Is Mr.. johnson fol-
lowing the landmarks of his lamentcd predeces-
sor in excluding the Southern blacks from the
ballot box in this work Of Reconstruction? He is.
The last public speech of Mr.. Lincoln, we be-
lieve, was that delivered to visiting body OF
rejoicing citizens In front Of the White House,
on his return from Richmond, Of which speech
the leading feature was defence Of his Louisi-
ana plan of reconstruction-a plan which en-
braces the regulation of free negro labor. and
limits the right of suffrage TO white citizens.
President Johnson, therefore, in this business is
pursuing the policy Of President Lincon--a
policy which since his death has become sacred
in the public judgment
But the abolition radicals themselves have
given us striking example of the same limita-
tons Of the elective franchise in the case Of
Missouri. In the new Missouri State constitu-
tion-and good one II is, too, in many
respects--all men are declared equal before the
law; but tho ballot box, for all that, is limited
to white men. This is the work of radical
abolition State convention; and, from present
appearances, it has been ratified by that radical
abolition popular majority created by the
affiliations of the Missouri democracy with the
atrocities of the rebellion. How, then, con-
sidering all the difficulties that surround this
proposition of plunging at once into negro
suffrage, could President johnson be ex-
pected to adopt It, when the most radical of
our abolition radicals, brought to the test, have
thought it wisest to wait yet little longer?
That the Southern blacks will In due season be
invested with the right Of outrage under
proper restrictions we do not doubt; but we
ore equally certain that the job Of one, or two
or three things at time, In restoring order out
of chaos, is the best that can be done, and
that the most essential things, looking to the
necessities of the Southern people and the
public safety, must first be attended to.
This question of negro suffrage is too large,
too momentous and too delicate TO be hurried
through without elaboration, discussion or
preparation for the change. President John
son so accepts it, and, at the same time, the
more urgent questions Of providing the ways
and means, as for as possible, whereby the South
ern people--without Subsistence and in danger
of starving-may supply themselves, whites and
blacks, under the protection of the government;
and whereby they may reorganize their State
institutions to the new order of things result
ing from the overthrow of their Southern con-
federacy and its corner stone, African slavery.
This is Southern work enough for the pres
ent in the judgment of Pesident John
son, and we think 30 too, leaving
the constitutional difficulties involved in
negro suffrage, as a purely executive mea-
sure, entirely out of the question. We dare
say, too, that when his measures Of reconstruo-
ton shall be brought before Congress they will
be endorsed by the two houses, or that they
will form the groundwork Of practical gene
raj law on the subject Meantime this question
of negro suffrage, in the hands of Chief Justice
Chase and his radical followers, Ii becoming
Presidential hobby horse, and unless met by
more considerate party movement II may
produce much mischief between the two races
in the South. In this view we look to tho
patriotic and intelligent masses Of our loyal
citizen soldiers and sailors to come to the
rescue, in q new, liberal and yet conservative
national party movement They know, from
experience, the services Of the Southern blacks
In the war, their capacities for the right Of
suffrage, and how far it may be granted to the
blacks consistent with the great objects of har-
monizing both races in the South.
In behalf, therefore, of the administration
and of The Southern whites and blacks, law
and order in the South. and Of general peace
and harmony in this work Of re-establishing the
Southern States under the sovereign authority
of the Union, we call upon our citizen soldiers
and sailors returned from the war to take the
field in the organization Of a new national
party, in order to aid the present administra-
ton in all good works, and to provide for the
next on solid and durable foundation.
JOHN Mitchell AT THE END OF Hrs TEruER.-
II was becoming question Of pretty general
discussion how long the impudent and boosted
x-ou.co- or Tobv, Mitchell fror, Tho rohol p;cb