The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-11-08
AN ABLE ARTICLE,

AN 0Dh5 AfEI1CAE.
The Problem orRe-Construction.
GoVerning Party OF the Future.--The
ElectfonsOfIS66, and the I.eason they
Observation-Disclosures that will not
Pass lightly out OF mind.
The safety and final riehtness of re-
construction lies all in one thing. 1t
must be at the hands ofthe Union pnrtV.
The principles by which the policy Of
the milton has been guided for the last
t1Ve years must continue substantially
70 guide 1t for years to come. If TINT
is so, everything will go well. Political
men South, and ultimately the whole
South with them, will follow in the
wake of power. So they are doing now.
So they will continue to do, even after n
present exceptional state of things has
passed away; ifpower is still kept in the
hands of those who haye thus far vieId-
ed 1t. The influence of national author
1ty is immense. Nothing can stand
permanently against it, except. first,
some hrm moral sentiment, or, second,
some deeply planted social institution,
Win basis in property. The latter of
these no longer exists; the former must
speedily array itself on the side of a re-
1 st9Dlished Union, along with liberty
ana equal law. The first and main thing
men 1s to keep national power in the
hnndS Of men who have proved Them
selves taithfCl to the nation.
How is it to be done2 For the next
three years tits done already. Thepower
IS IN safe hands now. Some fears have
been had as to this. But we have no
foreboding that these fears are to be
realized. We have had before now, to
be sure, Tyler and n Fillmore. But
Andrew Johnson is not the style of n
man to continue thnt succession. He
IS MS likely to stand firm Mt least US the
majority ofhis party are to stand by
MN. The supreme executive authority,
therefore, we take to be all right MS IL Is,
Anew Congress is, however, to be chosen
next year. And local elections are all
along being held. Much Importance
attaches to these, both for their weight
in themselves and for their effect on po-
itlcal contests in the future. On whnt
principles, therefore, are these elections
OF the next two or three years to bo
conducted3 Upon these two:
First, The South is to be well used:
Southerners, black or white, must not
be left to look to northern democrats
for good treatment. The black ones will
not. The white ones should not. The
Union party itself must be generous to
them, up to the very, utmost limits of
reason and safety. So they, or many of
them Mt least, will be our allies, and
not tho allies fthe democracy. ICmust
not be thought for II moment that that
great section of our country must be, OF
need to be, given over into democratic
fellowship. We must hold n great
strength there with us. Good feeling
must be cultivated and generosity
shown, This can all be safely done,
Secondly, The democrats be we'll
whipped; that is, its late half lisloynl
leaders are not to get into power or
WELD much chlocalinfluence at the North,
They must not be suffered to come into
a conditionto be able to make offers,
with much promise of fulfillment, to
any disattected men as parties at the
South. 1t must be distinctly seen that
the northern democracy, as known of
old time, before and during the war, has
gone under and is never again coming
up. This made sure, all other dangers
may be whistled at. Thisi good enough
for them. IF any men. ever deserved tof
be covered with infamy and kept for
ever from stations of influence, these
are the men. We mean the leaders of
that party and the directors for the last
five years of its policy. From Begin
ming to end, they have run that party
as closely in the interest of the rebellion
os they dared to. They have opposed
every capital. measure of the govern
ment for the suppression of the revolt.
They have seized every occasion to
depress the public spirit and to shake
that resolution of the popular mind by
which our government and ndournationals
ltty itself were maintained and suppor-
ted. They have been utterly nnpatrio-
tic and selfish. They have been as
cowardly too as they were eunprincipled.
When the war frightened little then
only We're they ready to be slightly
hopeful and helpful. When all was
dark for the republic, then were they
most faetious and reasonable. These
things unit them for preferment.
Such recollections are not to pass
lightly out of mind. There is sobEiety
and permanence about them. 1t Is
not fit that these dastartlly men should
be soon forgotten, or their shame COW
cred. They have earned their irignominy,
and it Is theirs. The crime they comit-
they are to have is not to be, We decla-
red the quality of their baseness while
1t was being enacted; we reaffirln it now.
When the conditions of the struggle we
went through are thought OF; when the
age ofthe world and the general enliglit-
enment of mankind are remembered;
when the momentons issues involved
are considered; when the mighty power
ofthe motives that should have impelled
every man to loyalty is brought to
mind, when all these things are suitl-
bly, regarded, it will cOnspfucously ap-
pear tnat the lniamy OF our democratic
leaders, one year ago assembled at
Chicago, in the time, as they hoped, of
their country's incurahle disaster, and
as set forth in their own statement'of
principles and purpose, is without
parallel in the annals of the life of man,
It IS the foremost blic, political shame
thus far consumnateds since the planting
of mankind on earth. History will so
write It down for all the time that Is
coming, 1t Is no light politica indiscre-
ton or misdemeanor to pass quickly
from mind. 1t Is a ivfleness to be held
long In memory and reprobation.
1t makes no difference now that with
the return of peace and the triumphing
in despite Of them of the policy they
steadily assailed, they should profess to
be patriotic. This wns to be looked for.
They are consistent with themselves in
It; for they never had any other princi-
pie than to care fist for themselves.
They may make what professions now
they please: It is nothing to the purpose;
we do. not care if they do. They have
been the enemies of the nation and OF
mankind, and allies of the devil, 10,
these many years. That Is what we
know. of thems 1t Is this part we are
thinking of They are not men to be
honOfed so long as that can be renem-
bered. In common times political diff
ferences, once gone bys rest. Here was
nothing commons it was anunmatched
H.. Aas5v.