The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-22


defeat in war; as an additional hum1lIa-
ton all the more calling because they ere
powerless to resist IL. II sharpens and inten-
SITES every blow they have already received,
and inGuses the poison of rancor and hatred
into the weapons of war aud the wounds they
have caused II breeds distrust when and
and educates the rising generation in the
memory and resentment Of hosulities which it Is
for the interest OF the nation and the world that
they should forget IL checks the development
of their material resources arrests their indus
frv. and deprves them of the ability, while 1t
begets an indispositon, to pay the taxes and
hear the burdens of the General Government. 1t
nurses the seeds OF DIVISION between the TWO
atren ptbens the hands of those who would make
two nations in feeling, in interest, In ambition,
and in fact, where the people would have but
one and in every way contributes powerfully
and dangerously to the ruin and degradation OF
the South, while il inspires and strengthens the
temper OF tyranny and arrogant domination,
which Is no less dangerous to liberty and to the
perpetuity of our republican Institutions, In tne
Northern States Such a state of things so full
of evil and of peril, should be ended at the ear
lest moment possible. coed n
II. We are anxious above all things to end It,
II seems to us not nearly So i@ppSTtant s,Ihef
large bOlc It shall be ended, as that 1t shall be
ended soon. Long delay involves more peril
than almost any method OF adjustment We
believed, and still believe, that II ought to have
been ended at the outset-that the restoration
of the Union should have been the immediate
result OF the overthrow of the Rebellion
against il. CONGRESS last December should
have taken up the work just where the Presi
dents action had left it, and should have
carried it forward, promptly and with yigor, to
full completion. That course would have
given us peace, order, content, the re-
sumption Of enterprise, a prompt reorganlza-
ton of industry, all needed legislative reforms,
and a political reorganization based on the
ideas established by the war, and In full and
permanent cooperation with the princi-
pies and measures of the National Union
party. We labored earnestly for that result.
We continued our efforts throughout the session,
against steadily increasing obstacles and dis
coHragements; and after the session closed we
still struggled, in the Philadelphia Convention
and IN these columns for the restoration of the
Union by the admission into Congress of loyal
men, from loyal States, found to have been
law for seats therein. Certainly, in ali this
there was no lack of "fdelityr-noI to the South,
Tor we were not seeklug the welfare Of any sec
tion--but to the country, and 10 the principle
which we deemed essential to its welfare the
early and full restoration of the Union.
III. The late elections put an end to any hope
OF ehecting this restoration in the way proposed.
Right or wrong, wise or unwse, that decision
had been reached. II was and is absolutely
certain that the Southern states cannot be ad-
mitted at the time and in the way proposed.
The Congress which will control that question
has been elected, and Will hold power until
n1dICn II lOOJt Mleu Tue #leTul Vi BreSl-
dent johnson viii expire. He is powerless in
the premises, trst, because he has no control
whatever over the admission Of members into
Congress, and secondly, because there is a
majority III both branches sufficient to- override
and annul his veto power. AS matters stand
now, therefore, it is Gel tain that the South can
not be restored to its constitutional relations in
the Union by any direct exercise OF political
power, and against the will of the Union ma
jorlty, until after a new President shall have
been elected. and still another Congress chosen
This Is Fixed fact, and neither the South nor
the North, neither the President nor his friends,
nor any body else, can change It.
". Now, under these circumstances. what
can best be done? What course of action does
wise regard for their own interests prescribe
to the Southern States? On the one hand they
are advised to persist in demanding their rights
in denouncing the Union party which has
complete control of Congress, and in waging, in
alliance with the Democratic minority, bitter
and relentless war upon it. The President is
urged TO the same course as If it were in the in
terest of the Southern States Wade Hampton
and Governor Humphreys counsel the boldest
and most hgh-toned defiance to their 'oppres-
sors." The Democratic party, as a matter OF
course give the same advice, as 1t is only in
this direction that they foresee any possibility
of their own return to power. Now, what pos
sible good can result from such policy?
Will the Richmond Enquirer inform us how
the South can possibly better its condition by
such action? If it has studied the recent drift
of public sentiment IN the North to any pur-
~
tive to the positive and peremptory demand of
political power in the National Government, as
a matter of right, on the part OF those States
and communities that waged bloody war of
four years for the destruction of that Govern
ment, and that desisted only when, and only
because, they were physically unable to wage
il any longer. Nothing tends more certainly
to consolidate the Republican party, and to
strengthen its most ultra element, than such
demands so urged. The Enquirer may
easily see how, under their influence,
the temper of the North has been steadily
rising Gay by day since the war was closed. Nor
is this at all unnatural or neXpicable-ho
unwse it may be in point of policy. The people
of the North have been compelled to sacrifice
! hundreds of thousands OF lives and millions
upon millions OF money to rescue the Govern
ment from destruction; they are very naturally
reluctant TO see 1t pass at once into the hands OF
| the people who sought its overthroW and when
| those very States seek to snatch it from their
| grasp-to seize it as matter of right, and take
possession of ii as If it had always been their
| cherished possession-they inevitably arouse q
sharp and hot resistance. This may not be
| statesmanlike nor wise, but it0ls natural and
| inevitable -.
The South, therefore, it seems to u.s. has
| nothing to gain and much to lose by perssting
in waglng war upon the victorious North foI
| restoration as matter of absolute right il
cannot possibly succeed, because the Congress
which controls the matter for three years tc
come is beyond its reach. 1t cannot overthrow
it-it cannot reverse the peoples verdict
1t cannot annul the laws OF Congress-i
cannot secure for itself any voice in the election
OF President in 1868. Open hostility on its part
or on its behalf only strengthens its opponents
and confirms their power They may persist IL
it, and may count as their friends only thos
who urge them on. With some men such per
sistence passes for principle, and is deemed thu
only consistent course So long as no good car
possibly result from it--so leng as 1t seems Ger
tain only to multiply and increase the evils ant
dangers by which the Southern cause is alread,
encompassed-it seems to us simple obstinacy
neither damandad nv anV nrincinle nor oradifa