The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-10-03
The south ana the Amendment.--Tifne,
Dangers OF Delay.
lsionl ~ NE Hork RerqLd

. A"U S1OuGn SeAlA lnG AAG
"t Dangers OF Delay.
FtrontLhe Netr York Herald.
Recent events, North and South, have
wonderfully contributed to strengthen
the Republican party on the platform
adopted by Congress for the recon-
struction and restoration of the lately
rebellious States. The Memphis riots,
the New Orleans massacre, and other
scenes of a similar character in differ
ent places South, have made a deep im-
preston on the Northern public mind,
| prejudicial to the confidence policy OF
restoration. The philadelphia August
Convention has signaIly failed in its
efforts to organize a new national par
ty, from a fusion of the conservative re-
publicans with the treacherous North
ern democracy. The Maine election
has sshown that the new distributions
| OF Executive patronage undertaken at
| Washington comes too late; and If any
/ doubts still remained that the plan of
Congress as against the President plan
of restoration will sweep the North,
! nom New York to San Francisco, those
doubts have been removed blythe unfor-
tunate incidents by the way OF Mr..
JohnsonRs late unfortunate pilgrimage
10 the tomb of a Western trading poll
tician.
Thus the issue between the President
and Congress has taken shape which
has strengthened the republican party
on the policy of Congress beyond the
largest Expectations entertained by its
leaders six weeks ago, and has corres-
pondtngly weakened the chosen policy
ot the administration. From PennsyI-
vanta westward "the Boys in Blue" re-
place in 1865 the scenes and gatherings
of the ttWide AwalSes" OF 1850. The
enthusiasm, the numbersand the spirit
Ofithe republican mass meetings, and
the still Increasing popularity of
this constitutional amendment before
the States, too clearly mark the drift of
public opinion 10 leaye-a doubt as to
the general results of the coming elec.
tions., This amendmentof the consti-
tuition passed by Congress will be rati-
fed by the North, and the Congress in
terested will be endorsed in a re-elec-
ton substantially on this broad and
acceptable platform of securities for
the FUTURE"
Representation in Congress on the
basis of 'suffrage, as efich state lnnv
choose for itself; tho inviolable obliga-
ttons or the national debt, the irrepeal-
able repudiation of all rebel debts and
all Claims for emancipated slaves and
the. exclusion from federal offices here
after of certain classes of active rebels,
until absolved by two-thirds vote OF
each house of Congress, are the condi-
tions ofSouthern restoration which will
surely be exncted by the North in the
approaching elections. And why should
the South hesitate in accepting these
terms, whenin substance they are moth
ing more than the putting of the Presi-
dents terms into the form of binding
contract or treaty of peace, with a gov
ernment stamp upon it which cannot
be called in question: Why hesitate,
when, nothing is to be gained, but when
much that may be now secured by the
South will be put in jeopardy by delay2
Why did the Executive require of the
lntely insurgent States the ratification
of the constitutional amendment abol-
ishtng slavery as an Indispensable con-
| ditioM of restoration? Because If nd
mitted to their former relations in tho
| government in advance, these States,
1t was feared, might refuse the rRtitica-
| tton, and might ut any time, each State
for itself, under the constitution as it
was, revive tho institution of slavery,
The masses of the Northern States en-
tertain the same idea in regard to the
national debt, all rebel debts, and all
claims for liberated slaves. Hence the
resiStleSs pressure OF this paramount
idea ofa bond in advance, which cam
not be hereafter set aside or repealed by
a Southern balance of power in Con-
gress. ~ .7.fttf5tfl
Tho North says to the South, after
| fighting for four terrible years as no
| people ever fought before to destroy
their government, nfter sacrificing as
! you have done IN this war quarter of
a million of able. bodied white men,
and black slaves as property to the
| Yalue of twenty: five hundred millions
ofdollars, and other property and crops
and capital to the extent of five or six
thousand millions, NIL gone beyond re-
Idemption, we must have a bond in nd
l vance before we can trust our debts and
lobligations toithe chances of n Southern
balance of power in Congress. We
must have our conditions of security
in advance; for we cannot place into
your hands the power to reject them.
This is a practical view of the matter,
which every man of business will read
lily and herein lies the se-
icret of the astonishing popular strength
of this restoration plan of Congress in
the NOrth..n No man who has a fifty
dollar government bond salted down
would trust its redemption to the
chances of the casting vote in Congress
of q utherner who has lost his thous-
ands in Confederate scrip. -
We must repeat, then, to the Southern
States our earnest admonition that the
terms of this constitutional amend
| Inent ape the best they can obtain; that
\ their true, policy is to get back into
Congress us fast as possible on the Gre
4 dentials of this amendment, which will
bring them in; and that If they permit
this golden opportunity to slip away
they will run the hazard OF of'sWeeping
i penalties against treason and traitors,
and of universal negro suffrage by
4 coInpulsion. This constitutional amend
ment, in a word, as the ultamatum of
the North, is the only way of safety to
the South. 81
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