Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1866-05-04

0ncemore Radicalism asserts that, as
the national welfare and permanent union
can be established only upon justice, here
should be no unreasonable political disfran-
chisement of any part of the people. II
denies that complexion, or weight, or height
are reasonable political qualifications, and
it refers to the history of the country to
show that they have not always been so re-
garded even in some OF the late slave States,
and remembers that both President johnson
and his predecessor were friends Of impartial
suffrage Holding this faith, Radicalism
urges that while We may honestly differ as
to the wisest means of securing political
equsIty, yet that all our efforts should con-
stantly tend. with due resp ct for the proper
and subordinate functions of the States IN
our constitutional system, to protect those
/ equal rights of man with whose assertion
our Government began, and in consequence
Of whose denial that Government has just
escaped the most appalling fate.
This is Radicalism. Is it unfair? l. it
unconstitutional ? Is 1t anarchical or reyo-
lutiOnary 1t denies no mans rights. 1t
I depriyes no man Of power or privileges. Ii
claims for the National Government nothing
which is not Inseparable from the idea Of
such Government. Does it demand any
thing that every prudent and patriotic man
ought not to be willing to concede ? The
views OF Mr. Thaddeus Stevens and Of Mr..
Sumner. sincerely entertained and ingenious
ly defended as they are, are not the Radical
policy. Mr. Stevens holds that the disturbed
States are conquered provinces in which the
land should be confscated, as that OF Ireland
has been three times over without giving
Ireland peace. Does anybody suppose that
even the House, which respects Mr. Steyens's
sturdy fidelity TO his own convictions, agrees
with him, or that the National Union party
holds his view d? Mr.. Sumner holds that
equal suffrage should be required Of the alb
sent States as q condition Of representation,
and in a Radical Senate which passed the
Civil Rights bill over the veto by vote Of
33 to Is, Mr.. Summers proposition obtained
s votes These gentlemen, Of course, sup
port the Radical policy, but they do not
shape it. The opinions Of the Union party
are 10 be found ss President johnson says,
IN the party platform The policy Of the I
Radicals Is 10 be seen IN the measures they .
adopt and of the iorty-twO bills which at
the time Of the last veto they had presented 4
to the President, he had signed forty.
In our present political situation Conser |
yatl>m is the policy which declares that the .
late rebel States are already in Inditlon /
to resume their full functions in the Union, /
and which denounces Congress for presum-
ing to inquire whether that opinion is well .
founded. IL denies to COngress-that Is. to 1
the representatives OF the loyal people who .
have maintained the Government-the au- /
thorIty 70 look behind the credentials Of any
man who comes from State still painting
with rebellion, and ascertain the origin and I
validity Of the authority that issued the ere {
dcntials Ii objects to the legislation of /
Congress while eleven States are unrepresen-
ted, without reference to the reason OF their I
absence, thus virtually maintaining the I
INDUSTRIOUS proposition that a combination OF /
States. by refusing 10 Be represented, may
prohibit national legislation. 1t denies that /
the United States ought to protect the equal 7
civil rights Of citizens before the law, and /
would admit the absent States 10 Congress /.
before requiring their assent to an amend |
ucnt IgualzIng representation. COnserya |
tIsm IL the policy which, forgetting that the /
United States are bound by every moral OBJ /
lisati0n 70 secure the freedom which they .
have conferred, apparently believes that that I
freedom will be best maintained and the IA /
tIonal peace must truly established by leay I
ing thJsy OF every color who were herOically !.
faithful to the Government during the rebel I
lion to the exclusive mercy OF those who 1
sought to destroy it
These are the distinc, points OF the Con- l
seTy4tiye policy Are thew agreeable to an .
honorable ami intelligent people? And Of .
what IS that policy conservative If Of the I
Constitution and Union, it will Of course be .
.nvp,rt.f ~ fhoir frua apH friaI D
friends l. II - supported Who ale the .
present Conservatives? " no shout and sing
aud fire cannon and ring bells in iubilant ex.
ultation at every measure in supposed ac-
cordance with this policy7 The reply is
unfortunately, unavoidable. The COnserya-
tive party, OF the supporters of the policy /
we have described, is composed OF the late
rebels and Of those who justified and palliated
rebellion, with a few Republicans. And
who oppose this policy? Who are radicals
The great multitude of those who believe
in the war and supported it, whose children
and brothers and friends lie buried in the
battle-felds of every rebel State, whose senti-
ments are now as they have been for FIVE
years expressed by the Union press Of the
country, and whose voice speaks in the vote
Of Union Legislatures and in the results of
the spring elections.
Ii Is useless lOr Conservatism 10 claim that
Cancellation Is essential TO reorganization.
Nobody denies IT, But the cardinal ques-
tion is. not what will please the late insur-
gents. but what will secure the Government
If itbe said that the Government can not be
secured by alternating its late enemies, the I
reply is, that If certainly can not be secured I
by alternating unwayering friends II con- /
citation eontemplates the filling OF national Z
Offices in the South by known rebels, to the /
disrt gard and exclusion OF Union men there /
by rewarding rebellion and discrediting
l0yaltY-if 1t proposes to leave freemen OF
the United States TO the Black Codes Of Mis- /
sissippl and Carolina. and to recognize the
fatal spirit OF caste which has been our
course-then conciliation is SIMPLY name
for ignominy. and Conservatism may see its
fate in that Of Secession.
Radicalsm has not a single yindIetiye
feeling toward the rebel States, but IT does
not propose TO forget that there has been
rebellion. 1t has the sincerest wish, as 1t
had the most undOubtIng expectation, OF
working with the President to secure for
the country what the country has fairly won
by the war, and that is, the equal right OF
every citizen before the law and the tull re-
sumption by the late insuIgtnt States of
their functions in the Union only upon such
honorable conditions as Congress might re-
aure. All reasonable men who support
that policy will not lightly denounce those
who differ with them. They will strive long
for the harmony of those with whom during
the war they have sympathized and acted
They will eoncede minor points OF method,
and bear uatiently with impatient rhetoric
leyeled at themselves. But they will also
bear steadily IN mind the words OF Andrew
Johason when he accepted the nomination
which has placed him where he is: "a While
s1cietv is in this disordered state and we are
seeking security, let US fix the foundations
of the Government on principles Of eternal
Justice which will endure for all time.' The
Radical policy was never more tersely eI-
pressed and it will PROFESSIONALLY be
maintained, for it is founded in the plainess
common sense and the profounde-t convic-
tiOn of the loyal American people.