The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-11
THE NEW YORK PRESS.
kDIToRIAA OPINIONS OF THE LEADING
JOURNALS UPON CURRENT TOPICS.
COMPILED Iv1nY DAY FOR EVENING rEIroRAPn.
The True Basis.
From fhs Tribune,

From the Tribune.
The Times says with reference to the axiom
that Governments derive their Just power from
the consent OF the governed that
"Ibe Tribune wonders why we do not attempt TO
show that its position is wrong"
% mol What we CHALLENGED you to do was to
"Aitempt to show either that our Revolutionary
fathers were wrong, or tnat we have misappre-
hendtd and misapDlred their doctrines"
We are open to convection. Where is the
argument calculated to produce itH Were our
fathers right or wrong in proclaiming and stalk
ing their all on the proposition that Govern.
ments derive their Just powers from the consent
OF the governodp If that was true In '76, then
it has not been made false by the cannon of
Grant or the sabre OF Sheridan.
The Iln1es says:-
"it was not the Southern people but all the peo-
pie OF tue whole country, whose vote was to
0Ccide whether the Union lould be bro zen up or
not. " hy does ths Tribune exclude the North and
vest from AZ voice or vote upon point so vital to
their Wciiaref"
AnSuer.-P Perhaps you are right: but yours is
not the doctrine Oi the Declaration of Iniepend-
enCe. Did our fathers propose TO submit the
question of American Independence TO Il vote of
toe entiie Bli-lsh cmpirey We know they diG
not They insisted that three millions of free
men, inhatiting less than half million square
niles OF British territory, had a right to decide
this question for Themselves. Why is not the
doctrine good for ten m lions, covering at least
twice as large an areaY But let us not he diverted
II ON the previous question, What is the doc
rine, on this point, OF the Declaration OF Ameri-
can lndependeICeW
We know at least, how it was formerly under
stood. Our political history is full OF uncon.
tested as ssertiOns of the right in quest on, like
that OF Abraham Lincoln in his speech IN Con-
gress OF January H. lS4S. as iollows:-
ANY people, anywhere, be Rg inclined, and bav-
ing the power, have The right tn rise up and shake
| of the eAlsunS government, and tOIm u new one
| that sult> them better IDiS is most uaD O.
most sacred ngut-a right which, we hope and be-
fined to cases i'll which The tohote people of exist
ing government may choose to exercise It. 1Hy
| portion Of such people that can mag reyout nlze,
and make the own OF so much OF tine territory
they nhabt. More than this: majority OF any
portion OF such people may revoluuOnize, putting
down a minOrNy mtermlnged with or near about
| II EN-, who may oppose their movements. Such
| minority was precisely the case of the rores of
| own Revolution. II Is quality of revolutions not
10 oy otd tneS or old ta'oS but to break up OoIh
and make new ones"
| The Times thinks the South would have Sc
| ceded II 1t had supposed the North would have
allowed TO do so. We hold exactly the reverse.
| The "harp of a thousand strings PLAYED on by
| the dsunion Conspratcrs was coercion
| Northern threats to subugate and hold the
South in Vassalage. Had it been clearly pro-
claimed ana understood that the Norlh left the
| South AZ perect liberty to 90 or stay, the dis
unlonists would have been paralyzed.
But speculation is idle. The Secessionists
| UeTe beaten III the votes of the southern whites
| at the elections called by their leaders in the
| winter OF lS6O-6l. The votes are on record,
though the consprators shirked popular elec.
| tions wherever they could. 1t is demonstrated
| that majority OF the Southern whites were
against disunlon down to the "hring of the
| Southern heart' by the bombardmenU Of Fort
| Sumter.
by thus initiating war, the conspirators
| secured what they had never before had-pOpu.
| lar support. Under the cry OF Defend your
homes and families ~ "LincCln has Invaded the
| SOuth-he is waging unprOvoked war upon us !"
tlnk ny1r nod ,.ttH chnH oil ari
sistance TO their schemes. From that hour, the
oyelthrown OF slavery, the recognitlln N of the
| blacks as members OF the body Eoltic, became
national necesslty-as it still is. On the great
| principle affirmed by our fathers, the right of
| the Union il the South depends on her four
| millions OF loyal blacks without whom that
| section l. preDonderantly implacably Rebel.
As Canning "Called into existence new world
70 redress The balance of the old" SO it became
| necessary 10 the republic to recognize and
champion the manhood OF her black freedmen.
| Their perfect entranchIsement is aS vital 10 the
Union as to themselves. Without this, the South
is source not OF national strength, but of
national weakness
We cannot give space to an exposure of the
Times deXtcrOus Juggling as to our "urglng"
Mr.. Lincoln to offer terms of peace; nor is that
material. We deal rather with what is living
and essential. Ii says:-
"The Tribune now denounces as Copperheads and
TRAITORS all who advocate the right of the Southern
States TO representation in Congress, unless they
Will first consent to surrender wholly the represen
tatlon oi their coeTed population"
No sir Just the contrary is the truth. We
desire the Southern States to surrender nothing,
but TO accept representation, instant and ample,
Tor all their people. But again:-
at vilifes and denounces all who now urge the
| admission of loyal men INTO CongresS-aI who
tOr restoring al the states in the Union on terms
| OF quail riehs and dignity, and without imposing
degrading conditions"
! ALI the truth in these assertions is embodied
| in the fact that we demand equal rights for
| those who sought and fought TO uphold the
| overthrow and destroy 1t. The Republic COM
| pletely Triumphant over armed treason, Is asked
| to say that her sons by whose bay onets she was
| saved, shall not be put under the feet of the
traitors they oyercame. Can We in honor ask