The Portland daily press., 1866-03-01
,,onseruatixes and Radicals.


ing the experimental reconstruction policy
of the President" it is fact perfectly clear
to every disinterested and candid observer,
that the people of the country are satisfied
with the progress Of events, and that they are
inclined to watch the gradual solution of our
nations problem with that calmness which
springs from living faith in the final triumph
of the right.
1t not being the characteristic Of revolu-
tons to go backward, slight and temporary
reactions arouse no very considerable alarm
in the public mind and, even if the men who
tried to breast the tide of patriotism during
the war now make alliances with the peaceful
time servers who take delight in the appella-
ton of Conservatives, the coalition will not
be able materially to affect the absolute tri-
umph of the principles of liberty. The men
who engage in these heartless coalitions re-
gard rather the temporary success of party
than the final triumph of a great principle,
and in this they differ from the common sense
of the nation, rs they are sure to lose the
confidence of the nation by their acts and by
the expression of their sentiments.
Even the veto of the Freedmen's Bureau
Bill ought not to discourage the friends of
universal liberty. 1t is quite true that the
failure of that measure, Should failure be
the final result, will very greatly complicate
our affairs and postpone the final, permanent
adjustment; but, whatever the President may
say or do, Liberty is now aggressive and Slay-
cry is on the defensive; and who that believes
either in God or man can doubt the issue of
the struggle? The power of the representa-
tives Of progress is made manifest by the viru-
lence of the attacks made upon them by the
opposition. Stevens and Sumner are men of
ideas, who are striving for well-defned pur-
pose. They give tone to p.blic sentiment,
they are leaders of men because they move
the hearts and convince the minds of men,
Can the same be said of mere politicians of
the Weed and Raymond school? -
What can the so-called conservatives, who
manifest their conservatism by calling their
opponents "Jacobins'' and "revolutionists,"
do in the present emergency? Do they pur-
pose accomplishing anything? Have they
any fixed, well-defined policy or purpose p
They tell us: Let the lately rebellious States
be represented in Congress. What then p.
Why, then We can discuss these questions in
which the loyal and rebellious States differ
and by means of that discussion arrive at
conclusion mutually satisfactory.
Let us examine this conservative" propo-
sition which seems to have received the posi-
tive endorsement of the President. The
questions at issue between Liberty and Slav-
cry soere discussed in the Congress of the
United States until the South acknowledged
its defeat by appealing to the God of battles,
and stopped the debate by laundering against
the trembling walls of Sumter. The loyal
people of the country accepted the challenge
and made hundred battle-fields rough with
graves that the idea of nationality should
be accepted by North and South alike; they
offered upon the altar of their country whole
hecatombs of human victims, and the God of
our fathers blessed them in their arms as he
had done in their councils, and again the loyal
North triumphed absolutely; armed rebellion
is crushed under the iron heel of power
Now, instead of claiming the fruits of victory
twice earned,-frst in council, then upon
bloody fields of strife, conservative tell us
that our true policy is to remove the scene of
the struggle to its original arena, and again
make the halls of our National Legislature
the scenes OF wordy, sectional strife. Ii the
people desire to renew the scenes of the few
years previous the war, let them follow con-
sentative advice and admit to our Senate and
House of Representatives the rebel generals
who laid down their arms to Grant, Sherman
and Sheridan. ..r..
1t may be magnanimity to the South to say
"let byegones be byegones, let the dead past
bury its dead" but is it magnanimity to the
North, is itjust to the memory of the dead
and to their living friends, to abandon any
jot Or title of that line of liberty, which has
been sanctified to us, and to the world forever,
by the rivers ofblood that have flowed and the
scalding tears that have been shed. Conserv-
atism means simply renewal of the struggle
and the ascendency of corrupt party now in
the pangs of dissolution; "radicalism" means
such settlement of the questions in dispute
as will leave no room for future agitation; it
means that the rebellous South was conquer
ca by the valor of our citize: soldiers and that
the fruits of victory are to be gathered for
them and their children; it means, that the
monument OF our triumph shall be a land re-
Juvenated and disenthralled, cleansed from
every stain OF oppression; it means that the
equality OF man. shall no longer be an alb
stract idea, or theory of dreamers. but shall
be living fact wherever the old fac w.ves
kadlcallsm means schoolhouses and small
farms in the South; conservatism means o.,
indefinite continuance of those class d;s,;no
tons, those arlstocratic privileges, which have
been the bane of the finest portion of onr
country. Radicalism is positive, it is conscious
OF its aim and purpose; conservatism is pure
ly experimental, it does not pretend to sonnd
the depths of the future, it "waits for some
thing to turn up, it hopes without knowing
what it hopes for, when asked for pledge its
answer is HWait and see." Radicalism would
give to all men equal justice; conservatism
would avoid exciting class prejudices, would
repair the old fabric rather than assist in the
construction off new and better one. Rad
icailsm means, settlement, conservatism means
postponement and infinite debate. ''.1
1t is very probablethat before the next Pres
dental election great changes will take place
IN the organization of parties, but it is certain
That principles will not change and that all
that Is right now, will be right three years
hence' The country may be saved from all
The evils which arise from angry sectional dis
'usslons IN only one way, and that is, by re-
moving the last vestige of the last cause of
Inference While the subject OF debate ex-
'Sts It is in vain to call upon the people to |
AVOID discussion and consequent agitation;
uepa'e VIII cease when its cause is removed
anu NOT before; if the cause continues all re-
lnons'i ahces OF all conservatism will not close
mems mouths, nor deaden mems consciences