The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1865-12-09
CHI A r l. e S II O N.
SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 0, 1865


1t will be seen that, before Congress met, q
Caucus had settled the immediate
course of action of THAT party in relation to
the subject. The resolution presented by the
committee, of which THADDEUs STEVENS was
chairman, does not indicate the ultimate poll
cy Of the Black Republicans, but is important
in showing two things-that, in their view,
the Southern States aro not members of the
Federal Union; and that their readmission, if
not denied, is to be delayed.
The election Of Mr.. CoLFAx, as Speaker,
betokens opposition to President
JoHNsoN's views, and no circumstances of en-
couragement appear but the fact, hardly wor-
thy Of notice, that Senators DeoLITrLE and
DIXON will oppose the resolution of STEVENS,
and the important one that the President has
not yielded his moderate views to the demands
ofthe Congressional majority. Moreover, we
are not to forget that the justice of our claim
to rcadmission is n strong ground for predi-
eating its ultimate success.
Two classes of objections can be urged
against the restoration to this State of its
rights under the Federal Constitution-the
one addressed to the insuficiency of tho de-
mands made upon it by President JOHNSON,
and the other to the manner in which those
demands have been responded to- To the for
mer belong tho manifcstoes of STEVENS and
LANE, whose violence and unrcasonablcness
will, We trust, destroy, in the minds of mode
rate Northern men, tho respect they might
ha 81.
anees of SO prominent and able leaders. Tho
task Of President JOHNSON, in prescribing the
conditions upon which the restoration of the
Southern States is to be effected, has been pe-
culiarly difficult. No Code of Revolutions
exist Law does not contemplate the posi-
bility of their occurrence, and History records
no precedent for the treatment of sovereign
and corporate traitors. President JOHNSON
has had the task of supplementing the Federal
system with q series of rules for the adjust
ment of difficulties, which that system did not
provide for. The result has been tho Gre
construction Policy" to which the merits of
good sense, and of being rs little exacting as
might be expected under the circumstances,
can be readily conceded. 1t is very simple
scheme, and It's distinctive feature consists in
restricting the conditions on which the read
mission to the Federal Union of the States of
the late Confederacy is to depend-to the
official expression by them of their loyalty to
the Constitution of the United States, and to
the proof of the sincerity of that loyalty by
certain prescribed concessions.
Tho coonnL on ,,,I,; a., o.:.oo =, -.
those conditions have been performed by tho
States of the late Confederacy? We under
take to answer for the State of South Caro-
lima, that they have been. She has performed
the penance prescribed by ritual whose au-
thority she has not questioned, and she now
claims the promised shrift. Late events rem
der it doubtful whether our hopes are to be
realized; but we nre of those who believe that
moderate views and the sense of justice will,
ere long, prevail, and secure the blessings of
self-goyernment. Malignant men there are,
however, whom we cannot satisfy-political
pathoiogists, keen to detect symptoms of dis
ease in our body polite; and by such the enact
ment of the Negro Code, and the election to
Congress of men prominent in support of the
lost cause, have been urged as evidences of
bad faith on the part of the State. Now, to
yield the right of enacting such Code would
be simply IN abdication by the State of its
sovereignty-the destruction of which is no
part of the Presidents scheme-and the Code
itselfis no revocation of the concessions made
in relation to slavery. Special legislation for
classes in community is M novelty, and
that now proposed for the negro is just to hi m
and absolutely necessary to the resuscitation
of production. AS regards the late election,
1t would be as useless to deny that mems
minds are influenced by the reco1lections of
the past four years, as it is captious and unjust
to make that fact q ground for .disfranchise-
ment. There is no Lethe but time to wash out
our memories; there is no contingency, short
of n miracle, that can make them dangerous
There is no attempt to reward services rem
dered against the Federal Government: but
those services, rs proofs of human character,
cannot be entirely ignored, and it may safely
be asserted that fidelity to past obligations is
the best guarantee for the performance of those
newly assumed. H..
The political action of this State has been