The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-15

dent whites being at their mercy i'm all things
political. No gift of prophecy is needed TO
toretell the consequences Of this policy. II is
irritating and dangerous TO tho last degree,
and its effect upon the property and business
interests Of the State will be most disastrous.
May we not hope that, in this respect, the
Senate will amend the bill We urge amend
ment, not in behalf of prominent Rebels for
we would have them permanently excluded
from all offices of honor and emolnmeut-
with the view of iniuring the loyal blacks.
for If the alternative be the unqualified exclu
sion or the universal enfranchsement of the
freedmen, we prefer the latter. But we are
convinced that a measure of amnesty wide
enough to include that great body of citizens
who, though neither promoters nor leaders
of the Rebellion, were nevertheless implicated
in it, would be eminently beneficial. With
the freedmen enfranchised, there could be no
danger from Rebel Influences; while the ex-
clusion of the great majority of white citizens
from all participation in the Government
will be source of endless difficulty aud
danger.
1t is to be regretted, too, that the result
aimed at-the reorganization of civil govern
ment on a loyal foundation-is, under Mr.
Eliot's plan, remote. BY postponing the
holding eff the State Convention until October,
the final judgment of Congress upon the claim
OF the State to representation is put off until
the summer of 1868. Two years, in effect,
will be consumed in maturing the process of
reconstruction, and during that long interval
the State will be in condition of political chaos
The opposition allege that the object is to ex-
clude the State from participation in the next
Presidential election. Be the object what it
may, this will undoubtedly be the consequence
of the measure adopted by the House.
And, after all, the plan is experimental. Il
lays down nothing like general system under
which the reconstruction of the entire South
might proceed simultaneously. Upon one
point, indeed, it afiirms principle which, once
begun, must be applied to every Southern
State. We refer to its reputation and over
throw of existing State organizations, to the
undoing, in fact, of all that the President has
done, and all that has been done under or in
consequence of his action. The position of
Louisiana is not exceptional. And after legis-
lating its Government and Constitution out of
existence, the same rule must be extended to
all other excluded States. This part of the
programme may be necessity. Assuredly
however, the existing condition of affairs in
the South admitted of some general plan
beginning at the beginning, az Mr.. Eliot pro
poses, but embracing the whole of the ex-
cluded States within its provisions. We might
! then have had early and complete reconstruc-
ton, instead of an isolated experiment and an
indefinite delay.
We submit that the position of the recon
StfuctlOn question, as shown by Mr.. Ehot'S bill,
is not creditable to the sagacity of the Repub-
lican majority in Congress. A grander oppor-
tunity for the exercise of craftsmanship this
generation will never know. Yet at the ex-
piration of the second session after the war, we
are but at the threshold of reconstruction, with
policy that is confessedly experimental AT
this rate of progress the time required by
Union politicians for the adjustment of the re-
lations between the national Government and
4hn ,,, l,o, oo-l,
equal to the time occupied by the Union armies
in conquering the Rebels. Our statesmen are
evidently not quite up to the mark of ouI
soldiers.