Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1866-02-14
THE sruaRLIsG BLOCK.

sitIons in the Union, Is, siIlply, the efforts o.
manyof those controlling Southern newspa-
psrs and foolish members Of Southern Legisla-
lures, to reconstruct their affairs on the basis
of the restoration OF things in their midst upon
the order in which they existed before the war,
with the exception of the actual ownership OF
the flesh and blood of one portion OF the COM
munity by a small fraction OF the other portion.
President johnson has set his face against any
such consummaton which important fact the
journals above referred to seem bent on con-
ceaIing from their readers. His $4,000 ex-
emption clause was designed expressly to make
Ii impossible that, hereafter, the South will be
governed by those who formed her late oligar-
chy and others thoroughly identified with that
camarilIa. Not a single sincere supporter of
his policy at the North, and surely not a single
Mort Radical differs with him on that
point. Those who do, are but the VallandI-
CHAINS and Ben Woods, who, numbering not
one vote in q undred, are, probably, the only
pro-slavery men left by the war in the
and. OF all things certain here, where
so few are certain, the fact that the re-
admission of the Southern States as
States of the Union must be on the basis Pres
ident Johnson has laid down If accomplished
at all. is perhaps the most certain.
The Richmond journals. with the exception
OF the Republic, seem to be daily laboring to
convince the world that the Presidents plan
meets no real sympathy at the South Thus
the gist of the Examiners and ER9nirer's edi-
torials on Saturday last was to the end of in
flaming the Virginia popular mind against the
negro race, in commenting upon the recent in
terview between a negro delegation and the
President. This was done in terms even more
offensive to thoughtful persons-to the great
mass of the people north of the Potomac
than the turbulence and bad manners eyinced
l.. H..
struct, ifnot to brow-beat President johnson
out of adherence to his views.
We submit-the smell OF the negro-as offan
sive as it may be in crowds, has nothing what
ever 10 do with question of great public poll
cyi which is ,Iot TO be settled upon any such
plea, or uEder the influence of any capital
Jokes for which il may be made the occasion
Nor are the ancient predictions OF the late
governing class in Virginia against the Free
dom of negroes, TO be permitted to weigh a
feather in determining what the Government
will insist on before consenting to remit to yir-
ginia the right to govern herself in all thin Is.
a chief aim of the restoration policy Of Presi-
dent johnson is to obtain surety that hereafter
the South shall be exempted from the despot-
ism of those who were her governing class be-
fore and during the war.
The editorials on which we are commenting
continue, in effect, to insist that the class in
question-and no others of her people, white
or black-are the State of Virginia, or possess
Interests worthy Of consideration by the Gov
eminent here or by Virginia All their wailings
over Virginia's current lack Of capital and Of
labor. evidently mean complaints that her oil.
garchists and their willing instruments now
find themselves poor and deprived Of power.
All their hopes expressed, evidently mean but
longings that they may shortly be restored to
both, with little thought of the future of the
ninety other men in every hundred in their
midst, white and black, who comprise the State
Of Virginia which President johnson seeks to
protect, improve and reinstate in the Union
SO, too, the Legislature undertakes to instruct
Senator elect Underwood forthwith to resign
the position to which he has been elected; and
the Richmond Enquirer unveils the animus
with which the Legislature passes this worse
- than foolish construction" upon him, in de-
nouncing him for having "five years ago played
traitor TO the State''
President Johnson's speech of Saturday last
to the Virginia Legislative delegation, we
trust, will serve to open the eyes Of these yir-
ginia journalists to the fact that there are none
Ito speak of in the loyal States who will con-
sent for years to come, TO have in Congress
from the South any who did not stand by the
General Government throughout the war, or
to have the latter release its control Of the at.
fairs Of the southern States until there is suf
fcient surety that they will be RENTED to the
keeping of that class, and only that class of
the southern people.
1t is the evident purpose Of President John.
Son TO save to the individual property holders
OF Eirginia-personaI and real-as much a.
possible OF the estates that yet remains theirs,
and all their personal rights and liberties to an
Erginias people. But if the latter continue
to look complacently on those who hold to the
positions being daily commended by these
Richmond journalists, they will find that Pres
luent Johnson VIII have no power to save
them. The proposition to remit Virginia back
TO complete territorial condition governed in
all things from abroad, will prevail, as the only
means of securing, eventually, the assimila.
ton OF her affairs TO those of the loyal States
Unless there is hope that that may be accom-.
plished In due time through the white
and black labor Of the South, none will he
found in the North willing to treat her other.
wise than as conquered territory to be re-
Claimed for American uses and institutions. "a
our western wilds have been reclaimed, by
gradually erowding out her Inhabitants and
substituting in their stead such a people as now
occupy our great West. Homogeneity must he
attained, even at that cost.
The Richmond Eraminer on Monday last
eraveiy declares that the loyalty required in
me fresioehts address to the Virginia Legis-
latiye delegation is prospective loyalty, not in
the past; while another Richmond journal of
the same date announces the National Iut.ui.
9enceT as the organ OF President johnson, Wa
need hardly say that there is NO more truth in
one OF these ideas than in the other. President
johnson has not more emphaticalIy made
known what description of loyalty he thinks
necessary in future L.. s. Senators and Rem.
resentstiyes from the South, than he has dis
claimed identity with that incon yenient finger
burning machine, newspaper organ. He
desires support Of his policy from any and all
quarters, but condemns apprehension at this
moment as earnestly as at any period Of the
last eTentful five years. Nor does he intend to
be embarrassed with it North, South, East or
West.
TIE CHRONICLE Ann THE rrpsr pppo