Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-05-12
VOLUME XXXIII.
AN ENGLISH VIEW OF RADICAL POL
ICY----A LESSON FROM BRITISH
HISTORY.
From the London Times. ApriI2LI

From the London Times. April 2lI
If the Americans would but look steadily
into the mirror Of British history they might
discover much TO instruct them in the pres
ent conjuncture of their affairs. We IN this
old country have passed through Just such
crisis as that 10 which they have now been
brought, we took our course, it proved the
wrong course, and we paid heavy penalty
for the mistake.
The Southerners are prepared TO shake
hands, but the Northerners will not have il.
They are resolved to keep their late enemies
out Of the pale of the Constitution, 10 disarm
them by the inAictiOn of civil disabilities, TO
punish them for their recent malignancy by
political Outlawry, to restrain them by penal
statutes, 30 introduce among them obnoxious
principles supported by force, and thus in
the heart Of the South to establish Northern
ascendancy. Of course they do not profess 10
be doiHg all his IN pepetuity. They intend, as
soon as SOutherRers and Democrats hare been
made good NOrtherners and Radicals to re-
more tie political letters by the abolition of
tests and by measures of emancipation. That
is the programme Of the party now in col
lision with the President, and no English
man will have any difficulty in recognizing
the parallel. We see exactly what America
is about. u is Ireland orer again.
There is, no doubt much TO be said for the
policy of the American Radicals. They
can speak powerfully in their own defense,
as we see them doing. When they allege
that the people lately in arms against the
Government, always estranged from the
North by incompatibility of disposition, and
now exasperated by defeat and ruin, are not
to be trusted with large ana perhaps COM
manding share of power in 4 representative
Congress, they are advancing 4 specious if
not reasonable, argument. In fact, the
arguments reasonable, but it snOt so reason
able as the opposite. We had reason at the
time, and a. things went, for all our penal
legislation Il rds only iH later days that We
discopcred The error Of our policy. We found
that exclusion aud prescription did not cohCeH
conquered rebels into good subjects, bat that The
;doas rhich cc desired 10 e6tce rather greg and
hr0rc under persecution. We completed and
intensified the very alienation Of which we
complained. We found ourselves with
source of political danger where there
should have been a source of political
strength, and were compelled to witness
"the difficulty" of one portion of the En-
pire recognized with eagemess as "the OPP
portunitv" Of the other. The condition of
Ireland was always thrown in our teeth as
the insurmountable reproach Of our legisla-
ton, our Constitution and our Government.
Even when we had done our best to re-
dress the error, we could not not escape its
consequences Disaiiection and hostility
still fingered after their causes had been re-
moved, and at length, years after a policy
Of liberality and conciliatiOn had been in
augurated we have the Fenian conspiracy
to remind us of bvgOne blunders.
The Americans may well take a lesson
from all this. They have not as much Jus
tihcation for error as we had, for they live in
more enlightened times We really believed
| that the Pope was a formidable enemy, and
| that nothing but Protestant ascendancy
| could protect us i'm Ireland But the Amer
| lean people ought not 10 be under such I'M
| pressons at the present day. Granted that
! the Southern people are but half recOnciled
| 10 their defeat, how is the desired concilia-
| tion to be more completely accomplished?
| Do the Radicals really Jeiiere that their eoua-
try,aen ,choa they distrust as probably disGGcctod
,r0,dd be better affected or more trustworthy after
| pears Of onddwy and proscrptioW If the
| Demo cratic South is governed on the princi-
piles of the Radaical North by intrusive Off
GERS and exceptional tribunals on the basis
| Cf military force, is it likely to become poll
tcally comformable under such treatment?
| Is il not rather manifest to ali who can read
the future by the light of the past that the
| policy which the American Radicals are
now striving to establish uciH pcJPctuote disgf-
ecion and create Jetrecn t,ro great sections Of the
Union a gulf which 10 riH take years Of better
policy 10 closet
The expostulations of the Northerners at
this conjuncture are not unnatural on the
contrary, they have been heard in all coun-
tries on all such occasions. After our own
civil war it was bitterly said that Oblivion
and amnesty" meant "amnesty" for the
Kings enemies and "oblivion" for his
friends After the return of the Bourbons
the Legitimists complained loudly of the
support extended to the principles and en-
actmcnts of the Revolution. But all wise
Statesmen have recognized the necessity of
deferring to the demands Of the conjecture.
If two parties are 10 be made one again, If
can only be bv such Difference TO the weak
er party as will always appear offensive to
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