The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-14

dent; or, If he shall lack the 6fmness and the
COURAGE TO resist 4, whether the people themselves
There is room for mistake here. "It is to be
seen whether the people will themselves submit
to" a law which the President may "lack the
frmness and the courage to resist Which we
take to be polite way of nclting said people to
resist the law, by force If necessary.
While journals whi III vie with each other in
their bids tor Southern circulation thus en-
deavor to foster disaHection, and to promote and
Justify another rebellion, Mr.. A. H. Stephens
entertans the conviction that the people OF the
South should-and his belief that they will
accept and obey the law IN good faith. Upon
this point the Worlds WASHINGTON correspondent
shall be our witness. In q despatch printed
Thursday, purporting TO epitomize Mr.. Stephens
testimony before the Reconstruction Committee,
concerning affairs IN Georgia, these sentences
occur:-
80 far as he was capable Of Judging, the people
willingly accented the new condition OF aflirs
winch the RebolhOn had brought about He said
be dIo not believe there was any considerable num-
Der oil persons IN the South who were not In favor
10 the Government lie thought the passage OF the
Civil Rights bill over the veto would have good
effect, for Il would indicate to the people in the
South the temper and determination OF the domi-
nant party in Congress-"
Instead of recommending the people among
whom ne lives, and whose lot he shares, to
violate the law Mr. Stephens would have them
promptly aud cheeriully submit 20 it, even
though Il be the Civil Rights bill. He desires
that they shall interpret that bill as an indlca-
predominant IN Congress touching the civil
rights Of the freedmen; his evident hope being
that the States themselves will meet the vie VS. of
Congress, and so avoid collision. Mr.. Stephens
wants no more nullihcation-uO more Rebellion.
He accepts 'the new condition OF affairs" with
all its consequences, and attributes the same SEN
sbe disposition to the great majority OF the ctI-
Zens OF his State.
Herein, then are the true and the false friends
OF the South made manifest. The noisy Demo
Gratis of the North, speaking through their Jour
nails recommend TO the South line of conduct
which, by bringing it afresh into conflict with
the national authorities can but add to It's mortI
ficatiOn and It's misery; and they do this simply
and solely TO further their own partisan ends.
The true men OF the South, on the contrary. sub
mitting honorably 10 the eXigences OF the stJua-
ton, are anxious that there shall be no msun-
derstandlng on the part or the people as to the
conditions entailed upon them as consequences
OF the war. They recommend cheerful obedience
TO the law, and loyal adhesion TO the National
Government. The difference between the two
classes-theIr relative right to give advice, and
their relative degrees OF interest in the moment
Gus problem to be worked out-wIll unquestion-
ably be rightly estimated in the South Between
the peaceful, hopeful views OF MIR. A. III.
Stephens, anu the gloomy predictions and the
rebellous recommendations OF the Daily NeICS
and the World, the Southern people are not
likely long to hesitate.
The case is not inapay inustra'ed in the
Southern States themselves. The most trust
worthy visitors to that section concur in
men, as almost uniformly COntented and loval.
Having fought bravely against the Govern
ment they now as determinedly yield to its
authority. The mglcCntents are the men who
never exposed their bodies TO a bullet, and
women to whom reflection does not hab1tually
belong.
So while the South, as a section, submits to
fate with a comparatively cheerful spirit and Is
preparing to work out Its redemption under the
law, these Northern Democrats, OF the school
OF our contemporaries, insist that the struggle
shall be renewed by the South, and actually
again promise Northern assistance. What care
they for dangers they carefully stunned, and
| sUterngs they do not share! Let VINO will in
the South act upon their suggestions, they are
safe. They contemp plate revolution, desire 1T,
are working tor it,; bat the prudence which kept
| them out OF harms way during the war now
| over, would preserve them should war be re-
| newed. Theirs is zeal OF the cheap sort. More
| Southern than the Southerners themselves, they
| are playing the game of heartless partisan
| ship, using the Southern question merely for
! political effect here, and striving to develop
| trouble that they may profit by its chances.
We give the Southern people credit for more
| sense than is implied in the appeals addressed
| to them by the Daily Netos and the World. De-
| Ceived-cruelly, wickedly deceved-bY Northern
Democrats of the Copperhead species, before
| the war and during its progress, they will know
| the exact value OF the counsel which they are
called upon to follow. We look for a response
| somewhat like this:-"You Northern gentlemen
| who profess devotion TO Southern rights have
| been tried and found wanting. You urged us
! into war five years ago. You told us to tight
| on, and on, and on until we could fight no
| longer. And now that we have been vanquished,
and have returned to our old allegiance with
| conviction that duty, interest, and honor impel
us TO cultivate a genuine loyalty, you assure us
| that we are OUTRAGED, that we must fight again,
and that you will help u.s. We don't believe
you, gentlemen. We have learned that you are
| hypocrites, towards, tricksters, and therefore
| decline to receive your counsel. We have no
| idea OF being used for your paltry partisan pur-
| poses If there must be more fighting, we leave
! you to undertake IL, and TO experience its con-
| sequences"
But those terrible radicals who oppose Presi-
dent Johnson, and pass Negro Suffrage bills and
| Civil Rights bills--think you the South viii
succumb to them?
| Well, the South may be supposed to have some
| memory. And among its recOllections there
| are probably three circumstances which certain
| Northern Democrats would iain have forgotten.
! One is, that Immediately after the close of One
war; the Daily Nelcs undertook the advocacy of
negro suffrage, and advised the Southern people
to conCede it quickly snd graciously. Another,
| that but for Democratic representatives, the
| House could not have passed the bill conierring
the suffrage upon negroes in the District OF
| Columbia. And vet another, that Democratic
| members OF the House have again and again
| refused to cooperate with the Conservative Re-
publicans in support OF the President; pre- lerring
to help the radicals, under the belief that exist
ing difficulties might thereby be rendered more
formidable.
On the whole, therefore, we think that when
the South balances its accouus with Northern
politicians, and makes up its mind as to the
respective merits OF those who call themselves
its friends, it will count among its worst enc
mics those who hold the views of which the
Daily Nei0S and the World are the recognized
| eXponens.