The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-04


cannot pretend TO be Indifferent.
The country calls for practical legislation.
Before this can be had, however, there must be
concessions touching questions of which the
freedmen are made the sCapegoat. Why not
make the Civil Rights bill the beginning of the
work OF compromise?
The Finality-Im portant Proclamation of
the PTesident-The Southern States Re-
stored.
From the Herald.
The President has fttngly celebrated the first
anniversary OF the fall of Richmond by the pub
licaton of proclamation officially announcing
the Rebellion at an end, peace restored, the
State Governments again reconstructed and in
working order, and the General Government
firmly in power throughout the entire Union.
The great purpose and object of the war was
the preservation of the Union. To doubt this
was till lately but little less than treason; and
many who from time to time ventured to declare
that the object of the war was the conquest and
| destruction OF certain States we're tor no other
reason classed as feeble friends, If not positive
foes of the country. Indeed, the declaration
| that the war was one OF oppression suOiuga-
tion, and conquestwas the staple OF those who OPP
| posed the war and impuged our motives, whether
in the South, in England, or in the Rebel press
of our Northern cities. All the country can
remember well the supreme scorn and indigna-
tion with which the orators OF the Republican
| party denied the declarations of the enemy.
Each wed with the other in the endeavor to
give more torcible expression to the great pur
pose OF the people That the war was to maintain
the Union, and to show that if the war should
involve the abolition Of slavery it would be only
as an incident, and not as a primary object.
We were even reproached by Earl Russell with
want of this purpose against slavery.
Congress- IN sympathy with the people, went
to the limit of the language to give emphasis to
the declaration that the war was war for the
Union. Just after the battle OF Bull Run it
ntnn a in yUb n War thacn lords
I'm this national emergency Congress, ban
ishing all feeling OF mere passion and resent
ment, will recolect only its duty to the whole
country; that this war is not prosecuted upon
our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any
i purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor tor the
purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the
rights established institutions of those States,
but TO defend and maintain the supremacy OF
the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance
thereof, and to preserve the Union, with all the
dignity, equality, and rights of the several
States unimpaiTed; that as soon as these objects
are accomplished the war ought to cease"
Nothing could be more emphatic or positive
than this.
But there was one representative who believed
that even this did not go tar enough as to the
preservation of the States, and who therefore
desired to go further. This was Thaddeus Ste
yens, of Pennsylvania. On December 4, 1862,
that gentleman offered in Congress resolutions
declaring that "the Union must be and remain
one and indivisible foreVer;n and also that iii
any person in the employment OF the United
States in either the legislative or executive branch
should propose to make peace, or should advise
the acceptance of any such proposition on any
other basis than the integrity and entire unity
of the United States and their Territories they
existed at the time of the Rebellion, he will be
guilty of high crime.n
Such was the position at that time of Con-
gress, of the country, and of the Republican
party, then in sympathy with the people and ex
pressing the popular Will. AT that time Con.
| gress, the President, and the people were asked
to acknowledge that the abolition of slavery was
the object OF the war, and they Tepudiated the
thought. Congress was asked TO declare that
the States which rebelled had forfeited their eX
istence as States. Mr.. Conway OF Kansas
offered a resolution declaring "that the Ameri
can Union consists of those States which are
now loyal to the Federal Constitution" 1t waf
tabled by one hundred and thirty-two votes
Mr.. Conway himself being the only person who
voted in its favor. By the light Of these facts Il
is readily seen that the now dominant faction in
} Congress which claims to be the Republican
. party, the Union party, the party that carried
the country through the war, is not that party
at all. Thaddeus Stevens is tnow rampant fol
Congress to commit what, as Republican, he
declared would be high crime. Congress now
daily assumes that the Congressional declara
ton OF 1861 was gigantic falsty, and acts OF
that very negation of the States which is voted
) down as outrageous
The President alone adheres to and maintains
the great national principles and policy OF the
party that carried the country through the war
g Abandoned by Congress, he has pursued to the
( logical conclusions, without reference to tina
body, the principles enuncated in the resolu
a tions quoted above and in his proclamation o
i | peaCe and union. All the States have now
since the notification of the ordinance of seces
e SION by the Texas Convention, done all that LAY
, in their power towards once more taking thei
/ proper position in the Union. 1t only remained
l. Tor the President to do the rest on behalf of tn
country. His clear duty was to pronounce thei
b complete restoration, and this he has promptly
il boldly, and unreserVedly done. He has don