The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-24


| law making body, to declare how it should be
| done. If the Government had no such power,
| what becomes of the Presidents proclamations
| of reconstruction The signal error committed
| by the President was in having too much am
| bitiOn to allow Congress or even his Cabinet
to divide the responsibility and share the glory
| of reconstruction, and yet too little ability to
devise a plan of reconstruction which was
either statesmanlike, safe or possible. The
error committed by Mr. Randall in defending
his master lies in forgetting that the people to
whom he addresses his statements do not hold
the Office which to him is a sufficient compen-
satiOn for making them. Hecne they cannot
be expected to see their force.
Republican statesmanship-A Hint to
Party Orators.
From The ". Y. Times.
Were we to estimate the facts of the situa-
tion on data oulled from the campaign oratory
of the day, we should perhaps conclude that
the problem of reconstruction still awaits solu-
tion at the hands of Congress. On no other
conjecture should we be able to comprehend
the ealnestness and persistency with which
Republican speakers of all shades of opinion
discuss the policy pursued towards the South.
Every man who rises to enlighten assembled
citizens seems to consider it his duty to begin
.
over again, to determine according to his par
ticular views the standing of the Southern
States, to eXpOund and vindicate every point of
Congressional action, and to denounce with
microscopic minuteness the successive sins
and follies of President Johnson. Each speaker
appears to hold himself bound to cover the
| whole ground of the war and its political re-
suits. The Presbyterian preachers of bygone
| generation were expected to incorporate the
| entire body of divinity in every Sabbath-day's
discourse; and a somewhat analogous standard
| of orthodoxy regulates the platform efforts of
| those who are relied upon to do the talking
| of the autumn contests. With very few eX-
| ceptons, they proceed ON the assumption that
as the suppression of the Rebellion constitutes
the achieved glory of the party they plead for,
so the reconstruction of the offending States
| forms the beginning and the end of its un-
| finished statesmanship.
| magnitude of the task which has devolved
| upon the party in power, or to lmpugn the
Judgment which treats it as the greatest OF all
| issues at present before the country. Ihat
| the restoration or reconstruction OF the Union,
with the least possible delay, is the question
! which in importance transcends all others,
| none ventures to deny. And that its adjust
ment is controlled by the Republican party,
| and will be consummated by them in one way
| or another, is, we believe, matter of sincere
| rejoicing. Nor is it surprising that the orators
of the party find it expedient to state the case
| of Congress again and again, and to direct
attention to the principles on which it has
| acted and the terms it has prescribed.
The error committed consists in the adop-
| ton of the idea that a necessity exists for
| making the war and its consequences the sole
topic of discussion. Little or nothing else
enters into the speeches of the most distin-
guished orators. They travel over the same
ground, however often they speak, and do
their utmost to produce the impression that
| Republicans have no policy outside of the sub
| iect of reconstruction. AnalyZe the majority
of their efforts, and they will be found to re-
solve themselves into well-worn version of
facts known to everybody, spiced with vtupe-
ration more or less violent. OF new and useful
information there is scarcely particle. Of
calm. instructive reasoning there is much less
than there ought to be. For the most part,
the orations are made up of appeals that are
heard for the thousandth time, mingled with
threats and denunciations Of which all but
| slavish partisans are ashamed. Novelty IN
the form of statement, if not in the state
ments themselves, might possess interest; but
when the whole thing is stale, people grow
wearied, and turn away Indifferent if not dis
gusted.
Moreover it is blunder to assume that the
principles or details of reconstruction are any
longer open to discussion in the sense that
attaches to an unsettled question. 1t is not a
question on which action remains to be taken
by Congress or its constituents. The policy
has been determined. Congress has decided
the status of the South, and has affirmed its
absolute authority over Southern affairs. The
time, manner and conditions of recon5truc-
tion have been arranged according to its own
conceptions of duty and interest. 1t is to all
intents and purposes master of the position.
The President can neither curtail its power
nor prevent the final success of its plans.
What more is needed, except that Congress
shall demonstrate its capacity to complete the
work it has begunl
What Congress has already done of course
constitutes proper subject of party debate.
The Republicans are responsible for it, and
may we'll desire to have it ratified anew by
the country. But after ALL the test by which
the reconstruction policy will really be Judged
must be furnished by Congress itself All
depends upon failure or success. The
country calls for the immediate restoration
of the South to the Union, and if the mea-
sures now being applied produce this result,
they will be held justifabe and right On
the other hand, no amount of vituperation
or partisan violence will palliate or hide
their failure to bring about the end they are
designed to accomplish. The statesmanship
OF the party in regard to reconstruction
therefore remains to be tried by another stan
dard than that to which campaign orators
usually appeal. All is contingent upon its
proved ability to harmonic the sections, and
| restore industrial activity and permanent