The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-06-01

| Confederate debt shall not be paid, and
/ that the National debt shall be paid.
| All this is comprehended in the great
| first principles, Union, Liberty, Credit.
| and how shall we realize in our policy
the sanctity of those principles? That
is the question that penetrates the fu-
| ture.
\ Plainly the point is as to what con-
| ditions shall be imposed upon those
who fought to overthrow the General
Government, before they are admitted
| to have an equal voice with loyal peo-
pie in its administration. The PRESIDENT
| has imposed conditions upon the States
that were possessed by our armies.
One condition was that OF the abolition
| of slavery by Constitutional Amend
ment. Another was the repudiation
| by the States of debts incurred in the
| war waged by them as political bodies
against the Union. He insists that the
Southern Representatives admitted 10
Congress must be loyal men. The ma
iority in Congress go further. Ihey
have objected to the Presidents policy
| of Restoration or Reconstruction as
hasty and dangerous. They resented
his veto of the Freedmens' Bureau
Bill, and passed the Civil Rights Bill
over his head. AS long as they
had simply TO oppose his policy the
task was easy. Recently, forced TO
take an affirmative position. it appear
| ed in their case, for the thousanth time
| in history, how much more dltncult IL
| is to be an architect than an lncoho-
clast. And this important fact shlnes
| out clearly that after all the e&cltlnS
| discussion and evaporation OF the
| Dublic-the difference between the
President and the Congress is not the
| radical one whether any conditions at
all shall be imposed upon returning
rebels, but what conditions. rms es-
| tablished, we must conclude that some
| thing of mutual forbearance and ordi-
nary practical wisdom only is requir-
ed 10 reunite Congress and the Presl-
dent upon essentials, and convert the
war party of the North into the peace
party of the Nation.
1.-The guarantee that Mr.. Sumner
and his followers insisted upon SIX
months ago. with an ardor ina. up,
preached violence-that of the enforced
enfranchisement of the Southern blacks
has been, by the very Joint Recon-
struction Committee, that the President
stigmatized iu his 22d of February
speech as the Central Directory, aban-
| doned. Charles Sumner may object 10
Welding this point, but Thaddeus Ste
yens and Edwin NJ. Stanton have yield
| ed it, the latter tersely siIying:
"NIv own mind inclined to this view, but
| after calm and full discussion, my Judgment
| welded to the adverse arguments resting
| upon the practical difficulties TO be enGouh-
| tered In such n measure, and TO the Presl.
! dents conviction that 10 prescribe tue RUE OF
| suffrage was not within the legitimate scope
OF his power"
Many other minds have during the
| same period passed through an identl-
| cal experience, and have arrived at n
| like result. AS to the Freedmen's Bu-
reau, it has time enough TO run TO
demonstrate to the perfect satisfaction
| of all impartial observers, that II IS
either failure or necessity. Inc
| Civil Rights Bill has, as Mr.. Stanton
says, .passed to the statute book,
and ceased to be the subject OF
debate" He might have added
| that in passing to the statute book 1t
had almost passed from the public at
tention. II it does any special good or
harm, we shall know it, and it can be
enforced or repealed, according to the
enlightened will of the people. Con
cerning the disfranchisement OF S reDeis Esas
how many shall be edisfranchlsed,a ,and
for what period those who are reputed
most radical in Congress differ most
| widely. The famous third section OF
the report of the Joint Committee OF
Congress, though it passed the House,
is doomed to defeat at some stage OF the
proceedings, for it is known that two
| thirds of Congress instead of being for
| il, are against it. If the object OF the
third section was to prevent rebels from
| voting at the next Presidential election,
those whe conceived the purpose OF us
! ing constitutional amendment Tor
special case of that kind, have only TO
reflect that If the Union people of the
| North nre not distracted and divided
by new and needless issues, they Will
| certainly elect the President and that
| if they are so divided, the Democracy
are certain to elect, so that 1t does not
materially matter about few votes IN
i 10 IN la
| to see "the necessity, justice or wisdom
| of the measure" of the Joint Commit
tee.
| There is no longer considerable
| party in favor of the confiscaLion of all
| the property of the Southern rebels.
1t is generally accepted as true that in
| the loss of slaves, and cotton, and IN
yestments in Confederate securities,
and of property directly destroyed by
the war, and in bearing the proportion
of Federal taxes due from the South,
there Is about as much contiscation as
the rebels can endure, and as much as
it would be profitable to impose. There
is no great eageruess for the hanging OF
jeff. Davis. The best public opinion is
that he ought to have been permitted
| TO run away, or killed on the spot
when captured, and that he should
now be set ashore upon the continent
| of Africa, and allowed his freedom
| there upon COuulllOu ludl ne BlfSS AiS
parole never to show his face in Ameri-
| ca. Where, then, is the difference be-
tween the President and Congress,
| brushing aside the indiscreet talk and
limmaterial issues on both sides? If
anywhere, it must be as to the Consti-
/ tutional Amendment, Equalizing Re
presentation, and that is proposition
that commends ltselfto the good sense OF
| the people who are not for the uncondt-
tionaI reinstatement of rebels, and who
are not agreed that one voter in South
Carolina shall have as much power in
\ the National House of Representatives
as two voters in Ohio; and who do not be-
lieve that the rebels should come out of
the rebellion with their political power
increased by counting the whole mum
ber instead of three-hfths of the ne
groes. Some of the extreme men in
Congress are against the amendment
eQualizing representation. Mr.. SUM
| ner Killed it in the Senate after 1t had
| passed the House, voting with the DEM
| ocrats to do II, because IL recognized the
disfranchisement of persons on account
/ of color. The masses of reasonable
4 and patriotic men are, we believe, firm
/ lY persuaded that this amendment is
/ the actual key of the position-the real
Great Guarantee-that If il is secured
all else is secure, and that if it is lost
the future is full of perils. The pene-
trating question then as to the Presi-
dents position at this time, is whether
he is in favor of, or will give his sup
port to this isamendment, countenancing
its adoption, by Congress and recon-
menCling its ratification by the States.
4 In this connection Mr.. Seward made,