The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-09-25

NOrLl ana our Dlel0Icn III IDb OOuJu are, anu
Tor the future must continue TO be, brothers
still. A speedy restoration of the Union which
shall bring us, slavery and its connections
excepted to the status quo ante 6euDl, is impera-
lively demanded by every prudent, by every
patriotic, and by every generous consideration.
Why then, is 1t asked, do we oppose the Presl'
dent, who is emphatically in favor of just such
a speedy restoration?
We answer - Because we are absolutely
driven by the force of collective circumstances
TO the conviction that the emphatic advocacy
OF reconstruction by Andrew johnson will have
the surest tendency OF any other possible incl
dent to impede and TO defer 1t. That the pre-
sent Congress Will yield to his arbitrary and
muddled behests is clearly out OF the question.
What they refused to DO last Sc ssion they GER
tainly will not, backed by the logic of interyen-
ing elections, consent 10 do in the coming one.
But one party must yield. Either executive or
legislative must go 10 the wall. The way out of
the dilemma on the basis of a fictitious Con-
gress and consequent civil war, as amiably
proposed the other day by the New York Times,
is both outrageous and ridiculous. The temper
Of the overwhelming majority of the nation is
such that any attempt OF the sort would bring
immolation upon those who proposed and
joined in it. Most especially if essayed by Mr..
johnson would such a coup det0t be destruc-
tive TO himself and his friends. He has lost the
confidence OF the people, and so have all the
more prominent of his advisers. We DO not
regard the result of the Name election as
proof that the majority there are opposed to
the South, and unwilling to admit her to her
II Sutlul snare Jn0 uatlO0al councils.
1t is an evide nee which will be followed by
another and an other until there is thunder all
round the sky, an which will demonstrate that
The Northern people do not and will not trust
the present Administration. They do not be-
lieve that the principles or professions of these
men arise from OF are dictated by considerations
which the nation IS called upon to respect or
justified in supporting. 1t is folly to contend
with the irresistible logic of facts. Any person
with cool head and an eye undenected by
rty nrpiudipa nnIc co that nO nOIlpU iuqnirn6
or likely to be inspired, by Mr.. johnson can pos
slbly command anything like respectable
strength. Mr.. Hoffman has no more chance to
be Governor of New York, for example, than
Mr.. Weed has to be Pope OF Rome. 1t is abso-
lutely necessary for any party which is to make
head successfully against the Republ can organi-
Zation, to possess itself Of new ideas, new prin-
ciples, and most decidedly new leaders. Justice
to the South sweeping reduction of the tariff,
and determined economy in national eXpendi-
lures, furnish 8n outline OF the probable features
of the first; of the last we as yet see no sign.
But the signs will assuredly not be long in forth
coming.
The war has taught the community all through
the United States much. very much, which it
did not know before. The contemplation OF q
new set of public characters has, by the effect
of comparison ana contrast, been teaching a
tremendous lesson, the effects OF which are now
becoming manifest. 1t has taught Americans to
weigh as they never weighed before the differ
ence between sacrificing self tor country and
COdULIy lOT SSll, INC DeIWeen WOruB
and deeds, between politicians and soldiers. 1t
is by such light that the late miserable out
pourings OF the President have been heard and
judged. Men cannot forget, ii they would, the
extraordinary bitterness, the uneXampled fury,
with which he mathematical, but a little while
back, the Southern cause and the Southern peo-
pie. He either meant what he said or he did
not If he meant it, his present position anoma
lous and equlvocal. If he did not mean IT, how
can he be trusted for the future? Southerners
do not know, have no security, but that Mr..
johnson may be reviling them next week more
turiously than ever, and following up his de.
nunclations m by inimical actions, 1t is impossi-
BILE to believe that intelligent people in the
cotton States can thoroughly trust the President;
and In point OF fact they 90 not really do so.
His whole character, his career, and his person
are Numerically opposite to the most cherished
Southern feelings, social tastes, and political
procliVites.
On the other hand, the people of the North -
great numbers of them outraged by what they
count his apostacy to the party that elected HIM,
many immeasurably disgu5ted by his speeches
and personal demeanor, some unable to forgive
his acrid hostility to the South in the hour oil
her travail and all in manner feeling dis
graced and dishOnored that such man should
fill the chair of WsShlngton-trust him far less
The popular convicuon is not that his attitude is
that OF pure statesman, a conscientious patriot
wishing 10 do all and dare all for beloved
country, but that it is that of a cunning anC
experienced. albeit rather frequently q some
what hazy-headed, demagogue who has made
| the perhaps mistaken calculation that Southern
| votes added to those of a certain class of South
| ern sympathizers North were to be stronger anC
| so better worth courting than were likely TO b.
| those of the great Republican party. This calcu
laton-involving as it did the two dangerou
| hypothesis, that revolutions sometimes go back
ward and that the Democratic party might b.
| reconstructed as well as the recusant states
may yet by possibility be verified; but it Is a
certain as the sun shines that it never will b.
under its present leadership.
In addition to the prevalent distrust of him
self, Mr.. johnson has also to contend with tha
which, disastrously for HIM, attaches to various
of his leading adherents. There is an atmO
sphere of double-dealing, OF political trickery, o
indelatigable self-seeking, about some OF thes
persons which has done much and lrrepara6l
mischief to the prestige OF Mr.. JohnsOn's ad
mnistratlon. Their very names suggest tiness
and charlatanry. Their conspicuous advocac
of the Presidents policy has hurt it only in
less degree than his own. Every one know
that their adhesion comes of the tiesh-pots, an
not Of the conscience; and every one excep
those interested is heartily tired of the lgnobl
and factious tactics which have so long bee
employed to arrogate power and hlch the publ
spoil. The nation is sick and weary to eXhaus
ton of the trading politicians II would gladl
lay them all away together on some distant an
obscure shelf where they could rot IN quiet an
be heard of no more.
We would not be one-sided, and by n
means contne the letter remark to the hacks
a single party, but intend it to be general an
catholic III lis appl1catlon 10 all. Ihe desire
reconstruction, the wished-for reconciliation bt
tween North and South, will be truest and MOI
cordial when many voces-includil9 those {
Stevens and Sumner, famous for love OF proteC
ton as well as for hate of the South-shall
heard in Congress no more; which remark
dictated by no unfriendly feeling to- wards etht
gentleman, but, as suggested, by the persuasio
that paci6catlon will be greatly facilitated whe
all who have been conspicuously hostile
either section shall have retired from publ
life. The entire country will be happier, and
every way better of, when the whole exlstin