The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-01-11
THE SITUATION.

PIC his message Is almost universally en-
dorsed with warmth by all the leading journals
in both sections of the country, and persist
ent opposition to his measures in Congress will
soon become as odious as it is now unpopular
No latter-day supporters Of the policy of the
President having early yielded to Mr. Lincoln
and his war measures the same decided sup
port which we have given from the first to the
policy of restoration of our patriotic and firm
President, we hail the signs of the times with
sincere satisfaction. They prove that the pol
icy Of restoration will carry itself through in
ultimate triumph over all factionists, fanatics
and pettifoggers. The people are not going to
part with such material and substantive things
as are Union practically restored, cum
brous and expensive war-machinery rapidly
reducing, the abolition of slavery by the Con-
stitution already achieved, and a full repre-
sentation in Congress almost assured the peo-
pie are not going to throw away such precious
gifts as these, and to receive in exchange such
barren talk, such abstract and metaphysical
treatses as are offered by the devotees of pa ty,
in the shape of long-winded distractions about
the existence of States and the powers of the
President under the laws of pardon. and "chop
logic" that essays to divide hairs about the right
of the President to appoint Provisional Gov
errors, &C., &c.
The radical assault in Congress has fairly
begun, and we almost venture to predict that
| this fight will end like that of the celebrated
Fluellen, who unfortunately made his ditch on
the wrong side Of his military works. What
the people want is substance, and not windy
| chatter, however CLOSED over with sage and
patriotic externals. The people desire the
Union restored the civil law resumed slavery
abolished; the negro to be provided for in
work and kept South, where the mutual in
terests of himself and employer demand him :;
and the expenses of the nation limited to the
actual public necessity They want the new
and fresh loyalty that is born of the war for
| the nations fag-a dreadful war. which has
made us wiser and better people--they
| want this loyalty to take instant form and
pressure; they desire this to unite us as of yore
on the ne,o and stronger foundation afforded
by the policy of the President and the logic
of history. The masses wish compact sys-
| TEN of States under an uubroken Federal au-
| thority that shall say promptly to all the world
| of man: "Ths Republic lives, one and indiyis-
IDLE, and as such, it is immortal More than
ever before, and stronger than before, America
is the land of democratic lberty-the home of
the free and the brave-the asylum for all men
who flee from despotism to the protecting
shield Of the fair and invincible Goddess, the
queen of the Western Continent" The people
| desire to pity the erring and the suppart and
the fallen of the sisterhood /; they wish to re-
ceive the atonement that these offer up to the
majesty Of violated laws they are anxious to
| tie up the nations wounds, to unfetter internal
commerce completely, to unchain our tropical
productions, to convert desoate places into
| fruitful gardens, and whitening spots into the
| blossoms and fruition of smiling soil
| The masses are eager to restore the pres
| tige of America, broken and wavering, so that
it shall re-appear before the world of crowned
heads more respected in peace and feared in
war than ever-a prestige which, in itself, is
an ample guarantee against foreign entange-
ments and wiles which in itselfis the Mon
roe doctrine which in itself is as it were an
army that goes on to moral conquest in such
| invincible power as never to need a stroke of
arms which shall redden the soil with human
blood; American soldiers in the benefcent
| struggle of ideas which is yet to emancipate
| man from the chains of prerogative and to
make him master Of his birth-right and of his
II
things, in which are included the countless
and precious interests and blessings of domes-
tic life-all these must come with American
Union, union of love and not of mere inter-
est; Union of consent and homogepeousness,
| and not of force, nor that of interference of
| the bayonet to repeal Gods law of caste And
while these invaluable and priceless treasures
| flow from an American Union, all that is hor-
| rible in political decentralization, all that is
fearful and shocking in anarchy, all that is
| cherries and whitening IN despotism must
J follow from our national disintegraton.
To accomplish the union of the States has
| been the labor of the President by day and
| by night And now that he has nearly reach
ed his goal, shall he be told by Congress.
the powers he has exerted-shall he be told
Iby them 'This work shall rccede. 1t shall
be delayed. 1t shall be done over and in
another form by us, and at some future dav ?"
Aad this because our party did not do it, be-
cause Congress did not originate it, This be-
cause fanaticism desires negro suffrage to be
forced by Federal power on the Carolinas,
while it will not tolerate such usurpation
among themselves. This because pettifog-
gerry thinks itself capable Of mistifying the
anomalous national case with the tricks that
charlatans can exc out Of the noble legal pro-
fession
ga fool" says BURKE, 'like a child, can
often ask more questions than even inspira-
ton chooses to answer" And so, under our
complicated, yet simple system of States aud
Federal authority very perplexing, yet pitt
full, technical issues can be raised under the