The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-07-10
THE GATE CITY.
MONDAY MORNING, !. JULY1o ]



Nv Dear Sir When received your invii-
taticn4o gpeak ct Faneuil Hall hally hoped
to be Ssesent, bat an imperative business en-
gagement for that day detains me. This
would be q source Of more regret il had not
recently publicly expressed my opinion upon
the subject of reconstruction before the Union
League at New York and at the monument
dedication at Lowell on the 18th inst.
| see nothing to change in the views there
expressed, although much might be added.
The fault or misfortune of the present action
seems to be that we are going too fast. The
materials are too discordant the uprooting
of oil social and political relations ct the
South too violent, too thorough, and too re-
cent, to leave firm foundation on which to
reconstruct the framework of government.
Calm reflection, wise counsel, aided by time,
should leave opportunity for the troubled So
cial elements to settle and adjust themselves
to each other before we attempt to rebuild. !,
Strong hates and misconceptions of political
rights taught to people through more than
o generation, finally to be deeply dyed in
rivers of blood, cannot on the instant be
changed into love and loyalty by the turn of
resolution or by the paragraph Of an edict.
Time ample must be given for the soothing
and cementing effects of good sense, self-in-
a sense of duty to society and loyalty to coun-
try-so do their work.
If were present, therefore, could only
advise that the Government should be per-
suaded to make sshaste slowly in the process
of reconstruction. The building will be all
the 6rmer for the delay. Meanwhile the mill.
tary power can assure the people Of the South
tranquil quiet until they have Gained them.
selves into frame of mind disposed and fitted
to self The late elections in
Virginia teach this lesson. Above all would
ask that no class of true, loyal Union mer
should put themselves hastily in opposition tc
the Administration upon these questions
however strong may be their personal convic
tons.
most firmly believe that President John
son will do in this matter what is right ant
best. l know that he will do all that patriot
aided by the best light he has, may do
Himself risen by his own exertions from tn,
people to the highest place in his State, il
spite of all the opposition and rivalry of tn,
aristocratic power of slavery, not by accident
but by the slow degrees of successive endea
vors; in State, too, where there we're N,
dearth of strong men; with loyalty to tn
Union which show out with brightness tina
made him the man of men South, and shame,
thousands North-the President surely cal
be trusted, at least for the time being, to ex
pertinent upon reducing to order a state @
society of whom he must personally know a
much as any man living, without provokin
the opposition of the earnest and true men
who, in the end, it is to be hoped, will agre
with him or he with them, for I understan
the Presidents policy as yet is to be only ex
perimental
For the rest, when do rebuild, prefer t
make the edfce of straight black walnu
rather than of grained white oak. espe
cially if the sticks of the latter are so crooke
that they will not lie STILL
Upon another point involved il the recon
struction of the Southern States. think his
tory gives us example which points tn
path of duty as well as policy. After tn
revolution, in one State the bulk Of the proper
fy OF the tories and enemies of the countr
was conhscated to the use of the loyal, an,
the owners went out. In another State tn
torres were received into fellowship, and thei
property largely given back to them. Tn
result has been that the country has had tw
States with dissimilar institutions. Massachu
sets and South Carolina Which do YOU pre
Ter as pattern for the regenerate South P
without conhscation, South Carolina :. wit
conhscatlon, Massachusetts,.
With regret that | cannot be with Won.
am, yours truly, BENJAMIN f. BurLrR.