, 1866-09-21
rhe Question of the Hour.

constitutional relations between its several
parts be restored and confirmed This is
the question of the hour, and on its proper
solution depends the future veal or woe of
the country. To this end two great schemes
of adjustment have been presented, between
which the people must choose, The plan
proposed by Congress proceeds upon the as
sumption that the States late in rebellion
must submit to degrading and humiliating
terms, and perpetuate the memory Of this
degradation by inscribing It in indelible rec
ord on the pages of the Constitution of the
| United States. 1t is true that the terms are
less degrading than proposed by Thaddeus
Stevens, who demanded an entire confscation
Of rebel property, the reduction of the entire
white race of the South to abject poverty,
and having brought all these evils upon the
objects of his wrath, then uttered the prayer
"that they might all be consigned to the
Penitentiary of He'll" !" Another division of
the radical faction, including Sumner and
Boutwell,, propose to elevate the Southern
blacks by giving them the ballot. If there
is anything generous or noble in this propor
sition, the credit is exclusively due the hand.
ful Of zealots who favor it, and not to Con-
gress, which has shown no disposition to en-
| franchise the blacks, but satisfies itself with
fruitless efforts to disfranchise the whites.
Vengeance and not justice is the leading i'm
pulse that characterizes the Congressional
plan of adjustment Destitute of every nos
bic and generous characteristic, it is despised
aud rejected by the ultra radicals of the
school Of Wendell Phillips, who see in it
nothing for the cause of human rights, but
scheme which possibly may save a party
from destruction. The scheme itself, while
it is cruel and vengeful toward the white
race Of the South, leaves the black man to
his fate. In opposition to the Congressional
plan, which confers no boon upon the blacks,
and only degrades the whites, we have the
Presidents policy of reconstruction, which
is based upon the Constitution OF the United
| States. This is safe and sure foundation
upon which to build. In adopting the Con-
stitutiOn as a guide there is no possibility of
error. We all desire to perpetuato our fed
eral system of government--the wisest sys>
TEN ever devised by the wisdom of man, and
the only system by which continental re.
public is possible. A centralized despotism
is one of the greatest evils that could befall
the country, and hence it is that the people
look with jealous eyes upon the disposition
SO strongly manifested of late to absorb all
the powers of the State governments in Com
gress. A high authority has well said, that
the necessities of the war led many wise and
thinking men to tolerate this for a time-but
as the necessity has ceased we desire to return
to the spirit Of our institutions and to legis,
late in accordance with the genius of our
government. The great question which now
absorbs the minds Of our people is not one
Of mere detais-whether single State or
any number Of States shall, this year or next,
be represented in Congress This is matter
of Importance; but that is not all. 1t in
Vol7es the existence of our federal system,
and it also involves the harmonious and fra
ternal relations of the people of all the States
during our entire existence as a nation. Shall
we be hereafter truly one people? Shall our
Union be union in heart and in feeling, or
in name ouly Shall mutual regard and
respect bind us together in perpetual amity,
or shall force compel union which hatred
may only wait an opportunity to destroy
These are questions which no wise man can
fail to consider. And since the discovered
States are, sooner or later, to be in all rel
spects reunited-since we are to be one peo.
pie, what folly, what madness is it for the
stronger portion to impose degrading terms
upon the weaker Is it thus that true fraS
ternal unity is to be restored and perpetual
tied Z The statesman has something better
now to do than to keep alive the memory of
past errors or crimes. There is enough in
the past to regret and to condemn. Let it
have some better use than to perpetuate ha,
tied between the North and the South. Its
teachings may be so improved as to give US
purer government, more fraternal Union !;
or they may be perverted to the base and
wicked end of instilling in the hearts of the
people of the different sections of our country
bitter and eternal animosity. Viewed in this
light, the mode and manner of reconstruction
may have bearings on our future as nation
Of immeasurable importance. In adopting
or rejecting either plan proposed, we are to
adopt or reject harmony, cOrdiality, frater
nifty, true and hearty Union founded on
mutual regard and respect, and bound togeth-
er By the golden chains of mutual advantage