The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-04
THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1866.
A Western Echo OF Eastern UniOnism -
A Trne Raaicnl Message.

IT is with the lleenest pleasure that we have
read the inaugural address of the Hon.
LUCIUs FAIRCHuD, Governor Of Wisconsin
delivered by him at Madison on Monday last.
1t is a frank and noble utterance of sound
Union sentiments, in which none Of that
equivocation and non-committalism which is
now, alas too popular, is to be found. In his
paragraphs are found no negatives for evil,
but positives for good. lie does not say that
such a course ought not to be pursued, he
frankly says what line of conduct should. 1t
is a manly utterance, and one which, coming
at the present time, will have a beneficial
effect on the popular mind. 1t is a radical
address-one in which those views which are
being agitated and supported by all who de
sire TO avoid future Southern ascendancy are
warmly advocated; one which affords in its
tone q reflex of popular sentiment in reference
to the future status of the Rebel States and
the trial of JEFFERSON DAVIS. Some time
since we advocated the Immediate trial before
a military commission of the Rebel chief We
favored the court-martial because we believe
that in a civil court he would not be convicted.
Governor FAIRCHILD says that, Not until
JEFFERSON DAVIS shall have been tried,
convicted, and hung for treason, and the fact
that treason is a crime, which cannot be COM
mitted with jmpunity, shall have thus been
fully demonstrated, will the American people
be content"
Here, then, is a clear. open demand ior the
trial and execution of JEFFERSON DAVIS
a demand which will be echoed by the press
andppeople Of the entire North. Should he
not be shortly punished those who favor le-
niency will find that they will stand opposed
not only to that very powerful body known
rs the Radicals, but also to many of those
who are to-day supporting the mud policy,
believing that vengeance wi be executed on
lim the head and front of Southern offenders.
When it is found that the pardoning power
which is being extended to the minor Rebels
will also include the chief-that no example
will be made whereby treason may appear
both dangerous and odlous to posterity, the
great mass of the Northern people will rise as
a unit and repudlate doctrine which can en-
compass within its merctul folds one who
has violated every pledge and forfeited every
claim to sympathy, respect, or life.
The other issue of the future, the proper
policy of reconstruction, is discussed in the
address with similar freedom to that applied
to the trial case. The measures which we
have been advocating for months are to-day
demanded by cur Western coadjutor in the
cause OF national prosperity. 1t is with salts
faction that we find these views, which have
taken up by an Executive OF great Common
wealth, and sent aG lightning speed over all
the land. Speaking Of the question OF liberty
in the South, he says:-
at now devolves upon lis to see to II that free
dom so established shall be something more than
mere name.
Special enactments must be passed for the
benefit OF the freedman, to protect him against
the oppression Of his late master. He should be
admitted upon the witness stand and in the jury
box, and be made to feel that he is a man, in
vested with and protected in all the rights
manhood
"In reconshucting the States lately in Rebel
lion, it seems both necessary and proper that
ample evidence be required upon their part that
they are disposed to yield ready and willing
obedience to the Constitution and the laws.
with these conditions faithfully carried out,
and with the necessary Congressional enact
ments tor the full protection OF the Union men,
white and black, the people will be glad to
admit those States into full communion with the
Union, and welcome them with open arms"
Such is the true doctrine of the Radicals.
If we could bring ourselves to believe that
the safety of the Union would not be endan-
gered, and the freedom OF the blacks impe
rilled, by the readmission of the Southern
States without sufficient guarantees, we
would open our arms and receive them with
joy, forgetting all their crimes in the past and
treating them only rs brothers in the cause of
future American greatness. But when it is
our Conscientious conviction that by con-
signing to oblivion the past we risk the great
issues gained by the war, and violate our faith
to the freedmen by abandoning them 70 fate
as cruel and unjust as that Of the slavery from
which they had escaped, we must protest
against system which will be ruinous to the
nation and dishonorable to ourselves 1t is
for this reason that we favor those views and
those reasons so ably advocated by the occu-
pant of the Gubernatorial chair of Wisconsin.
Even had we disagreed with all his views, we
would still have praised the fIankness with
which he expressed them. What our country
needs Just now is not so much ability as it Is
honesty.
or the reception of the South with open arms,
the other in favor of measures which will act
as a pledge to the future fulllment OF our
national laws in the Southern States Those
mho favor ono YIay I,ova had fhair o.r,,, a.,