Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-05-10
AMERICAN TOPICS ABROAD.
An English View OF Radical Policy-A
lesson from British History.
From The London Times, April q. /

u AOhL ionuOu llncSt hpI1l II,
If the Americans would but look steadily into the
m'rror OF British history they might discover much
to instruct them in the present copjuncure of their
affairs We in this old country have passed through
Just such crisis as that to which they have nrw
been brought; we took our course; it proved the
wrong course and We paid heavy penalty for the
are prepared to shake hands, but the Northerners
Will not have it, They are resolved to keep their
late enemies out Of the pale of the Constitution; to
disarm them by the inhction of civil disabilities TO
punish them for their recent magnancy by political
0utlawrg to restrain them by penal statutes: to in
troduce among them obnoxious principles supported
ny force and thus in the heart ofthc South to estab
lsh Northern aScendancy. Uf course hcy do not p,-
Je's TO De dong att hts m Deypet'tg They intend
Soon as SOfheTTers and Democrats haze been made
good NoHheS"era Gd Raic1ls to reaoue the political
letters by the ambition of tests and by measures of
now in collision with tae President and no English
man will have any difficulty in recognizing the par
allei. WeS see exactly what America is about. Hgs
There is. doubt, much to be said for the policy
OF the American radicnls They speak power
f1ly IN their own defence. We them doing.
when they ailege that tho people lately in arms
against the Government, always estranged from the
North by incompaIibiity of disposition and now ex
asporated by defeat and ruin are not to be trusted
with large and perhaps commanding share of power
IN representative Congress, they are advancing a
specouS II not reasonable, argument. In fact, the
argument is reasonable but it is not so reasonable as
the opposite We had reason at the time and as
tnngs went Tor all our penal legslatiou 1T only
In later days that we discovered the of poll
cy- Wefound that exclusion and prescription did
UOI convert conquered reDelS into good subjects
that the ideas which desired to eace rather grew
and throve under persecution" We completed and
intensified the very alienation of which We COM
planned. We found ourselves with source of poti-
cal danger where there should have been a source of
political strength, and were compelled to witness
the difficulty" of one portion of the Empire recog-
nlzed with eagernesS the opportunity of the
other. The condition of Ireland was always thrown
IN our teeth as the nsurmountable reproach of our
legislation, our Constitution and Government.
Even when we had done best toredresS the error
we could not escape Its consequences. DisaifectOn
and hostility still fingered after their causes had
been removed and at length, years after policy of
hoerallty and concliatiOn had been inaugurated we
have the Fenian conspiracy to remind US of bygone
blunderS.
The Americans may well take lesson from all
this They have not as much justification for error
aS we had for they live in more enlightened times.
we really believed that the Pope was n formidab
enemy. aRd that nothing but Protestant ascendancy
could protect US in Ireland. But the American peU-
pie ought not TO be under such impressions at the
present day. Granted that the Southern people are
but hafreconcilea to their defeat how is the desired
cancellation to be more completely accomplished?
bo the Rdd'cats realty beJie0e that their coWntfymea
37hom they distrust probably disg6ected ooud
be better "tccted or more trtsoothv after gears Of
oaa,o'y aad proscription2 If the Democratic South
is governed GU the principles of the Radical North
by intrusive officers and exceptional tribunals
resting on the basis Of military force is it likely to
ment? Is It not rather manifest to all who can read
the future by the light OF hs past that the policy
establish 1otH lerpetaate disgtecioa and create be-
tioeei t'0o great sectcnS Of tie Union gulf hich It
let! tdfe gears OF better policy to close
The expostulations of the Northerners Mt this con-
Juncture are not unnatural; the contrary they
have been heard in all countries all such occa
sions: After our own civil it was bitterly said
that oblivion and amnesty" meant amnesty for
the Kings enemies and "oblI ION" Tor his friends
complained loudly of the support extended to the
principles and enactments o: the revolution But
all wise statesmen have recognized the necessity of
defe:ring to the demand of the conjecture If two
parties arc TO be made again, 1t can only be by
such deterence to the weaker party will always
appear offensive to the strong.