The New York herald., 1866-06-16

seriously injured two Of them being expected to die
from the effects Of their fall.
Three men were killed near Memphs Tenn, on Thurs.
day. while engaged IN arresting gang Of outlaws.
singh individual attempted to the party and killed
two Of their captors, but was shot himself
The Republican Party and Its Imperial
Game OF Reconstruction.
That shrewd old political campaigner, Thad-
deus Stevens, said the other day, in the House,
in accepting his constitutional amendment as ra-
zeed and reconstructed by the Senate, that he
was constrained to take it as the best thing he
could ge:. 1t was unsatisfactory; it was too much
but he hoped for something better in the way
0f~enabling acts defining the precise terms
upon which the excluded States will be read
mitted into Congress.
What he means by Aenabling acts" is pretty
broadly expressed in his enabling bill, pro-
nessee In consideration Of what that State
has done in the way Of reconstruction Mr..
Stevens proposes to admit for The time being
her members elect to Congress; provided
that unless the said State Of Tennessee shall,
before the 1st day Of January next, either by
legislation or constitutional provision, en-
franchise all classes Of her citizens and extend
the right Of suffrage impartially to every class,
and Shall give to every person within her juris-
diction an equal standing in her courts Of
law and equity, both as suitors and witnesses,
and shall ratify the amendment to tho consti-
tuition, article fourteen, proposed by this Con-
gress, then the provisions Of this act, so far as
they relate to the State of Tennessee exclu-
siyely, shall cease and become null and void,
and the said State shall no longer be repre-
sentcd in Congress"
This is the ordeal Of reconstruction through
which the excluded Southern States, each for
itself, will be required to pass before they can
reach the reward of restoration. The constitu-
tional amendment adopted covers few broad
and general principles; but in these enabling
acts" the States concerned will have the pre-
else conditions upon which they will be read
mitted into the two houses Of Congress. They
will have to begin again at the beginning Of
reconstruction; they will have to ratfy this
aforesaid constitutional amendment; they will
have to remodel their State constitutions,
revise their local laws and put them in force
accordingly before they can be pronounced as
purged OF their sins Of rebellion and washed
clean enough to sit once more at the commu-
nion table of the faithful
The question then recurs, how long, upon
reasonable estimate, will IL take the States
concerned to pass through all these processes
Of penance and purifcatons Considering the
time and trouble required Of President John
con in his comparatively easy-to-takc prescrip-
tions Of reconstruction, we think It extremely
doubtful whether even Tennessee will be able
to touch bottom this side our next Presidential
election. The game OF the republican party in
Congress Is admirably contrivcd to secure them
in their ascendancy in the Northern States and
TO exclude the Southern States involved In the
late rebellion from any voice in the federal
elections Of 1868, either for Congress or the
Presidency. This is evidently the 90 me Of the
republican managers, and from all the signs OF
the times they will succeed In 1t.
But IL the excluded States can be kept out
till the end Of the year 1868, may they not be
still excluded for two or three, or ten or twenty
years longer, and governed according 10 the
old Roman provincial systems OF course. In
fact. II We get quietly through this next Presi-
DENTAL election with the exclusion OF the late
JEFF Davis States, there Ia no telling what may
be the next chapter Of reconstruction. II may
be the effete Roman republic, with its consuls,
lie generals, Its provincial establishments,
and its wrangling and fighting political
factions; or II may be something like
the empire Of Augustus again in full
blast, and embracing, this time, the British
possessions to the north Of us from Newfound-
land TO vancouver's Island, all the West Indies
and Mexico and the Central American States.
Within the last three years we have gone
through a revolution which even President
Lincoln five years ago supposed could hardly
be accomplished this side Of the year OF grace
1900. Who, then, can undertake to fix the
bounds to tho revolutionary changes we may
pass through within the next three years.
After ell, human nature is pretty much the
same In oil ages and the American republic
may possibly be on the verge Of the last re-
construction experiments Of the old Roman
republic. How can we pretend exemption
from the common vicissitudcs Of the republics
and empires that have gone before usg We
L. nce.~