Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-09-04
NATIONAL REsTORATION.

Progress.
PEEKsKILI, Thursday, Aug. 80 1868.
Ch0s. G. Hdlpine, Brevet BrigGdter General;
II. w. Sloctnn, Major General; Gordon
| Granger, Major General, Committee:
GENTLEMEN Il am obliged to you for the
| invitation which you have made to me to
act as Chapl iin 10 the Convention Of Sailors
and Soldiers about to convene at Cleveland.
cannot attend IL, but heartily wish 1t
and all other Conventions, of what party
/ soever success, whose object Is the restora-
tlOn Of all the States late in rebellion TO
their Federal relations. -slar ti.r Z
Our theory of government has no place
I for State except in the Union. It Is just
| ly taken for granted that the duties and re-
sponsibilitles of State In Federal relations
tend TO Its political health, and to that Of the
/ whole nation. Even Territories are hastily
brought In, often before the prescribed con-
| ditions are fulfilled, as If 1t were dangerous
10 leave community outside of the great
| body polite. Isl. a1I.
Had the loyal Senators and Representa-
tives of Tennessee been admitted at once on
the assembling Of Congress. and, In moder-
atesuccession, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama,
North Carolina and Virginia, the public
mind Of the South would have been far
more healthy than 1t ls, and those States
would have been under more salutary in
fluence to good conduct than il dozen
armies watched over them. a.l.. .r..
Every month that we delay this health
fnl step complieates the case. The excluded
population, enough unsettled before, grow
more irritable; the army becomes indispen-
sable to local government, and supersedes
IT. the Government az Washington is called
to interfere In one and another difficulty,
and this will be done inaptly, and some
times with great injustice-for our Gov
ernment, wisely adapted TO its own proper
functions, Is utterly devoid of those habits,
and unequipped with the instruments which
fit a centralized Government to exercise
authority In remote States over local af-
fairs. Every attempt to perform such du-
ties has resulted in mistakes which have
excited the nation. But whatever impru-
dence there may be In the method, the real
criticism should be against the requisition
of such duties of the General Government.
The Federal Government is unfit to ex-
ercise minor police and local government,
and will inevitably blunder when 1t at
tempts it. To keep half score of States
under Federal authority, but without ma
tional ties and responsibilities; to oblige
the central authority to govern half the ter
ritory Of the Union by Federal civil Off
GERS and by the army, Is policy not only
unc0ngenial 10 our ideas and principles,
but pre-eminently dangerous to the spirit
OfOur Government. However humane the |
ends sought and the motives, it is, In fact q |
course OF instruction, preparing our Gov
ernment to be despotic, and famillarizing |
the people to stretch of authority which |
can never be other than dangerous to lib
erty.
lam aware that good men are withheld |
fra aHu In fha nnfa nd
admission of the eXiled States by the fear,
chiefly. of its effect upon parties and upon
( eedmen. ...
1t Is said that IL admitted to Congress,
the Southern Senators and Representatives
will coalesce with Northern Democrats and
rule the country. Is this nation, then, to
remain dismembered to serve the ends of
parties Have we learned no wisdom by
the history of the last ten years, in which
just this course of sacrificing the nation to
the exigencies of parties plunged us into
rebellion and war? ..- ...
Even admit that the power would pass in
to the hands of q party made up of South
ern men, and the hitherto dishOnOred and
mlsled Democracy of the North, that power
could not be used just as they pleased.
The war has changed, not alone institu-
tiOns, but ideas. The whole country has
advanced. Public sentiment Is exalted far
beyond what it has been at any former
period. A new party would, like river,
be obliged to seek its channels in the al
ready existing slopes and forms of the con-
tinent. .r. -
We have entered anew era of liberty.
The style of thought is freer and more no.
BILE. The young men of our times are re-
generated. The great army has been O
school, and hundreds Of thousands of men
are gone home to preach truer and nobler
view of human rights. All the industrial
interests of society are moving with in
creased wisdom toward intelligence and
liberty. Everywhere, in churches, in lit
erature, in natural sciences, in physical in
dustries, in social questions, as well as in
politics, the nation feels that the Winter is
over and new Spring hangs In the hori-
zon and works through all the elements. !
In this happily changed and advanced con-
dition of things no party Of the retrograde
can maintain itself. Everything marches
and parties must march.
/ hear with wonder aud shame and scorn
the fear of few that the South once more
In adjustment with the Federal Gov
ernment will rule this nationl The North
Is rich-never so rich; the South is poor
never before so poor. The population of 1
the North is nearly double that of the South. ,
The industry of the North, in diversity, in ..
and productiveness, in all the
and education required for man I
ufacturiDg, Is half century in advance of I
The South. Churches in the North crown ,
svefy hill, and schools swarm in every !,
neighborhood; while the South has but
lights, atlong distances, likelight-
houses twinkling along the edge OF con-
-nent ofdarkness. In the presence of such |
contrast, how mean and craven is the fear
that the South will rule the policy OF the !.
land! That it will have an influence, that !
It will contribute, in time, most important
influences or restraints, we are glad to be- {
lieYe. But If it rises at once to the control !,
Of the Government it will be because the
North, dem0ralized by prosperity, and be-
,otted by gr0yeling interests, refuses to e
its share of political duty. In Z
uch case the South not only will control 4,
he Government, but 1t ought to do 1t.
2. It Is feared, with more reason, that the c
restoration of the South to her full inde- a
,endence will be detrimental to the freed
men. The sooner we dismiss from our
minds the idea that the freedmen can be
lassified, and separated from the white
aud nursed and defended by n
themselves, the better it will be for them =,
nd us. The negro is part and parcel of y
Iouthern society. He cannot be prosper V
us while it is unprosperous. Its evils will o.
ebOund upon him. Its happiness and re- "
nvigoratiOn cannot be kept from his par .,
The restoration of the South to '.
mfcable relations with the North, the re- u
of its industry, the re-inspira- W
lon of its enterprise and thrift will all re- ri
ound to the ireedmen's benefit. Nothing l.,
20 fha froodYna az, a ~ ,,seot' IL