The New York herald., 1865-04-14

In thu war Of the Roman factions which fol-
lowed the death of Julius Caesar Herod took
the sile of the unfortunate Brutus and Cnssius.
Marc Antony, then falling into the possession Of
Judea, called Herod to an account, and asked
him what he had to say In his defence. Herod
replied. "Only this: if have been troublesome
as your enemy, may not be useful as your
friendw Marc Antony took the hint, and
Herod continued useful as servant of Rome
to the day Of his death. The same idea, we
infer, Influenced the President in those rccent
consultations at Richmond, to which we may
trace the experiment Of this extraordinary call
for the meeting of the rebel Legislature of
Virginia. He wants to make those men useful
as friends of the Union who havc been 80
energetic and troublesome as its enemies.
We see, too, in this proceeding that Abraham
Lincoln Is not committed to any particular
theory of reconstruction. He has tried different
experiments in each of the States of Tennessee,
Arkansas and Louisiana; and, so far, the
Louisiana system he seems to think the best
This system may thus be summed up First,
under General Danks, as Military Governor, .
State convention was provided for and elected,
which adopted . constitution declaring slavery
abolished, and provided for the election Of
what we may call civil Governor, Legisla-
ture and members Of Congress under this new
regime. Next the liberated blacks, by General
Banks, Military Governor, were put under Q
sort of an apprenticeship system as laborers on
the plantations, at certain fixed rates Of wages |;
and next they were made subject to tho draft,
but not allowed to vote. Hence the wrath Of
the abolition radicals, and hence the wise OBJ
servation of tho President in his late speech
that the egg must be hatched before you can
get the chicken. In other words as Rome was
not built in o day, we must exercise some
patience in the Transformation Of Pompey from
his low condition as slave TO The high condi-
ton of full blown free born American
citizen.
Thus, from his earnest defence OF the Loui-
siana free negro system of discipline adopted
by General Banks, we may assume that the
President does not recognize the expediency Of
rushing the black slave before breakfast, with
all the disabilities of slavery still upon him, to
his own absolute guidance as a freeman, in
cludng the right to vote. We conclude, accord
ngly, that in the reconstruction of the rebellOus
States henceforward, beginning with Virginia,
Mr.. Lincoln, while adhering to the abolition of
slavery, will allow considerable margin of
discretion in regard to the political status of the
black population and the new labor system
which devolves upon the slave States. In brief,
from the developments before US, we doubt not
that President Lincoln's policy of reconstruo-
/. ton will be wise polcy-a liberal, easy,
comprehensive and conservative policy-rest-
ing upon the abolition Of slavery.
--------------------- 1850. -
GRANTS TERMs.--A correspondent Of the 1ri-
b,sw says that "the terms upon which Lee was
permitted to surrender the fragments Of the
rebel army under his command are regarded
with disgust and unqualified indignation by
large numbers Of the most sensible, loyal and
| influential citizens in this region" This cor
respondent represents the opinions Of few
people who refused to volunteer, and who ex-
cused themselves upon the plea of weak eyes,
weak knees or weak backs when they were
drafted. To call them either " sensible, loyal,
or influential" is absurd. They are willing to
have our brave soldiers killed unnecessarily;
but they are not willing to 60 to tho war them
selves. They profess to have moro patriotism
than the Lieutenant General; but they are care
full never to show their faith by their works.,
THE RELATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH THE
SOUTHERN PsoP1E.-It Is argued on the question
of reconstruction that If the Southern States
are now in the Union, and are not conquered
territory, then the general government "has no
right to place itself in direct relation with the
people Of those States, or to interfere in any
manner with the internal governments Of those
States" This is very poor argument against
tho existence Of the States, and is not true.
The government has q right to "place itself in
relation with the people of the States" for it is
authorized to suppress insurrection," and that
is an action upon the people without the me-
dunn of the State governments; and it may be
fairly questioned whether that authority does
not carry with it the authority to do whatever
else such suppression may make necessary that
the government may carry out another consti-
tutional provision-namely, that it should
guarantee to the States republican form of
government"
The GUERnLAs-A SHORT SETTLEMENT