New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1866-01-18
NEW RECONsTRUCTION ARCU.
MENT.

Neglect OF general causes Is common mis-
take in political discussions. A writer in The
North American Rerier for January has seen
this defect, and undertakes to point out the
Climatic Influences as bearing upon Seces-
sion and Reconstruction" The celebrated De-
velopment Hypothesis of Darwin is herein made
to do good service by an application OF its prin-
ciples to the problem of Re-Cnion VIC are all
irving to solve For, obviously, the first thing
we need to be sure of is, What broke up the
Union that is to be reconstructed
The causes commonly assigned are insuft-
cient, or, at any rate, imperiectly stated.
Slavery, we say, was the root Of secession; but
why WAS il The northern colonies held slaves;
WHY did the North abolish the institution, but
the South retain it Whence came the ariso-
cratic form of society at the South, and the doc
trine of State Rights The answer our reviewer
would give to all these questions is, Climate.
II is climate which devoted the South to agrl'
culture. and to that form of it which employed
Slavery. and out Of which grew the planter class,
and at the same time the poor whites. This ex-
elusive devotion to this form OF agriculture. If
further responsible for the adherence OF the
South to the doctrines of Free Trade.
If the Rebellion grew, then, not out OF Slav-
cry alone, but out Of all these causes which
themselves sprGng from one antecedent and
still existing cause, the destruction OF Slavery
and the suppression of the Rebellion do not con-
stitute perfect guarantee for future peace.
The South maintained its peculiar institution
against the opinion Of tho civilized world; it
NAV renew il under another form and another
name if like causes are still operative, and are
not counteracted by Others The first remedy
suggested is the general establishment OF man.
ufactures, which are democratic in their infu-
ence, and would avert the tendency of ques-
tons concerning Free Trade and Protection TO
become sectional.
The second remedy is Equal Suffrage, to break
down the control of an aristocracy, lifting
up the Poor White as well as the Negro, and
releasing both from the tyranny of caste. In
a country" says the author, "whose natural
tendency to aristocracy is such as has been
pointed ont, what danger may not be appre-
hended from the presence of Parah caste
whose debasement and incapacity for self.pro-
lection invites to their subjectionl In the
North, there in always q division into classes,
rich and poor, learned and ignorant, high and
low; but they are never permanent. They are
like the sea and the clouds; the drop which
stagnates among the weeds to-day. tomorrow
may reflect the hues of the rainbow. The
constant interchange of position, preventing
settled castles and class spirit, is one safety.
But where in a state, especially one of aristo-
cratic tendencies, there is class dis
tinction drawn, permanent and Interchangeable
because based upon Natures brand setting off
race prescribed, ignorant, and necessitous,
there a weight is thrown into the scale on the
side of aristocracy which it seems impossible to
counterbalance." fit can be counterbalanced,
it is only by a reconstruction Of society in fact
as well as in name.
The argument for negro suffrage is thus
drawn from the aristocratic tendencies of the
South, and the ballot demanded as a means OF
permanently controlling those tendencies, and
of building up in place Of them a solid and
genuine democracy. The article proceeds to
show in forcbe way that the remedy, if it is
ever to be efiicacious, must be applied at once.
Delay it, permit this aristocracy to resume its
power, and it will never lay it down till an
other war compes another surrender.