New-York daily tribune., 1866-01-06
RECONsTRUCTsON IN FLORIDA

RECONsTRUCTsON IN FLORIDA.
The Erening Post has, on several recent occa.
sions, seen fit to assail the Republican majority
in Congress, on account of the Reconstruc.
ton policy which that majority is supposed
to favor-the policy Of delay. On Thursday
The Post took up the case of Florida, and
anticipating tho presentation Of the cre-
dentials of persons claiming TO be Senators
and Representatives of that State, inquired in
q fine burst of indignant interrogation, What
principle of public law, what motive of public
policy, what consideration Of justice and good
faith" will warrant the rejection of those gentle
men1 1t happens that the same page of The
Post contains q good answer to the question;
indeed, several answers, and ne who makes
them is no less a person than Gov. Walker Of
Florida, newly elected to that position, and the
author Of one of the most extraordinary mes
sages ever delivered.
Mr.. Walker is one among numerous recon-
structed Rebels who have developed OF late
some peculiar notions on the subject of the obli-
CATION of contracts, and the rights of parties
thereto Our idea of a contract is, such an
agreement between two parties to do a
specified thing as imposes similar penalties
on either for breach Of it, Mr.. Walkers idea is
quite different. lie wonld have the negro
bound to his mployer by contract for year
If the employer fail to keep his part Of the agree
ment, the laborer is to have his action for dam
ages II the laborer fail to keep his. that failure
shall be made "a misdemeanor and punishable
with such penalties as will prevent the evil ~
Legislators in South Carolina, in Alabama, and
in Mississippi, have already enacted the same
idea into statutes providing that for breach Of
contract the laborer may be sold into Slavery
Delaware has done the same. and they all mean
by this legislation to come within the terms OF
the Constitutional Amendment, which pro-
vides that there shall be no involuntary
servitude except as a punishment for crime,
whereof tho party shall have been duly con-
victed The black laborers who don't work as
many hours as their masters may exact, are
duly convicted" of a crime under State law
BY local justice and the sentence follows. In
Florida, Gov. Walker proposes to 90 one step
further. He would include white aborers as well
as black, and so hand over the industry OF the
State to the unchecked control of its capital.
What say the white immigrants from the North
TO that
We must presume that Gov. Walker repre-
sents all the loyalty there is in Florida, and
that his opinions are quite up to the average OF
good sense among the citizens of this State
which knocks at the door Of Congress for imme-
date readmission. We reply, therefore, to
The Post that the manifest purpose Of this
State to reestablish a system of compulsory
labor, and to rebuild its civil fabric on de.
NAL Of equal justice to all classes of its citizens,
is a reason why Congress may properly hesitate
TO relinqush the power it now has to legslate
for the protection of the oppressed class within
her borders.
Neither in Florida nor any other Rebel State
do we find any evidence Of willingness, much
less purpose, to recognize the political rights
of the Blacks. Gov. Walker says most ex-
plicitly:
If Congress shall unexpectedly refuse 10 admit our
Senators and Representatives. because We have not
allowed negro suffrage. We must then, without mani.
Testing any undue impatlcnce, wait until Congress
shall think better Of the matter. The justice OF
cause the influence Of the President and the good
and patriotism of the nation cannot fail 10 give our
representation In the end.
''Of could nsr,r accede 20 the demand for
negro suffrage, should be made"
Even what are called the civil rights of the
freedmen, as distinguished from tho political
are still very far from being conceded by the
dominant class. Where granted at all, they
are granted grudgingly, and with limitations.
The negroes are admitted into the courts to
testify, not in all cases, but in certain classes
of cases. What security have they that
this partial concession will not be with.
drawn when the State is once com.
petely reconstructed, and her representatives
recognized in the House or Senatei So long as
Congress retains its supervisory power, there
may be hope that Florida and her wayward
sisters will be brought to just sense of their
obligations to tho race whose fidelity re.
deemed their territory from the charge of funqusl-
flied disloyalty. When Congress abandons
that power, the hope is gone. II, then, The Post
inquiries 'what principle Of public law" demands
delay in tha admission Of those representatives