Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-12-01
The Next Congress.

dent JOHNSON, will be with the North to deter
mine. With the States of the North will RES
the profound responsibility and the result, tC
then for veal or for woe. In the calculations
to be made, in the pros and cons to be consid'
cred, in the sum Of the conclusions that Shal
be reached, in the vote that shall be recorded
the South will stand simply as negative guam
tity, but still as quantity, in view OF whie4
| every process in the problem must be Suoorui-
mated. 1t will be for the North, before the
/ tribunal of history aud the bar Of the world, 10
decide whether the South, through a rejection
| If their REPRESENTATIVES and denial of a par
ticipation in the Government, shall be RENTED
/ 10 a colonial and territorial condition, ana DC
delivered over to the fate Of jamaica nay I"
and Santa Cruz, and thus be lost to the future
/ of the nation. except as baReful influence
/ fraupht with social and political volcanoes ana
earthquakes; or whether, by their ackho"I-
edrement and the restoration OF their civil
rights through the recognition and admission
of their Representatives, they shall be, at
once. placed in situation TO recover their ag-
rieultural system, regenerate their social struc-
ture. and repress the elements that otherwise
must assure CONFUSION and disaster to the nc
nublic. Never were we more sincere than IN
urging attention to the subject from the highest
standpoint of national political philosophy
But the South, on their own account, are lament
ABLY Indifferent to the issue. They feel as II
the worst had already befallen them, and that
no greater i'll can be for them in store. With
their social system subverted, their political
structure destroyed, the memories they hal
lowed desecrated, and stripped Of their prop
erty possessions, they say to the North, appeal
NOT 10 us for your salvation, but proceed as
Won will in YOUR madness until the ruin IN
which YOU have involved us shall come to you
our continued oppression will be your proStra-
ton, our immolation your destruction, the de-
NAL and ignoring of our rights deliversyou up to
the spirit of AGRARIANIsN which yOuunchained
AGAINST US. 1t is not for us to decide your
fate, but this we know, with that measure you
mete out to US, the same shall be melted out to
YOU; consequently, the South awaits calmly,
and almost alphabetically, the final action of the
North, conscious of the passive power for good
or i'll to the nation, as events may determine,
that still abides with her destiny, and cannot
be abolished.
1t will scarcely be questioned that upon the
restoration of the civil governments and civil
liberties of the Southern States in the Union'
depends the revival and organization Of their
labor system and the restoration of their rich
products to the commerce and manufactures OF
the North, to the exchanges with Europe, and
TO the revenues Of the government. II the to-
hacco manufacturers of New York are pro
foundlv exercised over the fact that the tobac-
co culture has already fallen from " four hun
bred and twenty-nine millions tpoundS to one
hundred and fifty Millions" the cotton manu-
facturers Of Massachusetts,, as may be seen from
the recent proceedings of the Board Of Trade OF
Boston. are no less stirred in reference to the
culture of cotton. And well may the New
York NelrS, of the 2Sth inst, in commenting
upon the destruction, not only Of the negro Ia
Dor. but negroes of the South, eXclaims that
.. the time will come, nor is it far distant, when
50 the great crime committed by the abolition
9, lists will be made so manifest that they will
abe execrated by an enlightened world, and
.s the guilt Of the war will be made to rest on
.s the right shoulders at last"
Upon the surrender of the Southern armies
under LEE and JOHNSTON, when the news of the
event reached Europe, the London Times used
this remarkable language: ''If the war be-
.. tween the North and the South has been sim
.sply civil strife, founded in a sectional de-
sire for political aSceHdsncy, then this war is
6. happily over. But if the war itself be but
80 an indication Of political Revolution, then the
g. troubles of the country have just begun. -
And the London Post said, with still more
point, that, ''the victory Of the North and the
subiugation of the South is but triumph
cover the Republican principles of the Go
svernment and the liberties of the country"
We often think what a terrible awakening to
sanity it will be on the part Of the North when
they perceive that, from first to last in respect
to the great Republican idea of Government,
IS we'll as in respect to the superior advan-
tages of negro labor, in the line of the indus
trial system and riches Of the North, they
have been made the fools of Exeter Hall and
the tools of British article and policy. Strike
down in the United States the principles OF
civil liberty, as established by the Fathers OF
the Repubhc-and let it be remembered that a
principle is indiriSibls-and with mon
archv in the Canadas and in the Russian pos
sessions on the North, and with an Empire in
Mexico at the South, of North America, and
with still another Empire in Brazil, covering
the largest and fairest and most productive
portions Of South America, the true RepubI-
can idea of government in America, North
/ and South. so reflective Of good throughout
the world, will be blotted outtorever;the dream
of the Fathers of the Constitution of the United
States, in behalf of human rights, will pass
away forever, and Monarchial and imperial
Depotism will become re-established and re-
assured in sanctity throughout the civilized
world. at the same time that the re-awakened
commercial and manufacturing interests Of the
great powers of Europe will assume mastery
over those Of the United States, and, when the
hour comes, will ''laugh at their calamity"
Under these circumstances, we are gratifed
TO see that one of the leading journals Of the
North, the New York Herald, heretofore giver
10 the policy Of Ultra-Republicanism, unles.
we mistake, presents its readers with sugges
tions somewhat akin to those we have uttered
and sets forth the political elements in the mex
, House of Representatives, upon which tbs
contest between Military Despotism and Civi
, Liberty depends, and we take pleasure in lay
ing the article before our subscribers
1--WE have reached a critical period in our history
and upon Congress, in great measure rests the de
cisiOn whether the late Instruction is to be FOLLOWED
? BY another revolution and domestic anarchy, o
whether with the downfall Of the rebellion 70 com
uence an epoch Of greater prosperity and hrme
: union between all sections than heretofore. Tn
I Republican party proper have large majority il
both houses of Congress. ltwas this party that hat
, control Of the government and welded its pOwe
duEng the late war. They announced, both b.
resolutions in Congress and Executive proclama
tons that they prosecuting the war for the pre-
: nf fha N hain 10