The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-30
THE NEW YORK PRESS.
ADiFoblAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
OfoN CURRENT ToP1Cs-CoMPILED EVERY
BAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.

Little Phil. Sheridan" believes in decisive
measures. His "General Order No. s." as
commander of the Fifth Military District COM
prising the States of Louisiana and Texas, sus-
tains his reputation. He briefly declares An
drew s. Heron, Attorney General of the State
of Louisiana, Edmund Abell Judge of the
First District Court of New Orleans, and John
I. Monroe, Mayor of the city, removed, and
names other men of a better record of loyalty
as appointed to fill their places at II O'Clock
on the day on which the order is issued. This
is the short work of coup d'6tat, and Re-
publican contemporary says it "Thrills the
Unionists with joy and the nullifers with dis
may" But wherefore What offense have
these dismissed civil officers committed to
justify this unUeremoniOus removal, and why
is their displacement hailed with joy by the
Unionists and dismay by the nullifers?
= The official correspondence on the New Or
leans massacre of last July explains the mys-
terry 1t thus appears, from the testimony Of
General Sheridan among others, that Heron,
Abel, and Monroe were to a great extent
responsible for that massacre; that it was the
result OF conspiracy OF unreconstructed
Rebels, officials and privates, to suppress in a
reign of terror the Yankee abolitionists in
New Orleans, and the emancipated blacks
afiliating with them as political party. But
We're not Heron, Abel, and Monroe in the
confidence of President Johnson Untortu-
nately for the President, they were. He was
not only deceived and betrayed by them, but
ne tolerated them alter the facts had esta-
blished their criminality as conlederates Of
the mob engaged in that July massacre. He
had, however, committed himself to the
theory, and would not abandon 1t, that the
obnoxious radical Convention and the negroes
were the instigators of the riot, and that Her
ron, Abel, and Monroe were the instruments
only of law and order in its suppression.
General Sheridan, on the spot very pun
gently at the time took the opposite view Of
the affair, and his convictions of last July are
embodied in this decisive order No. 3.
In the next place it is reported that Mr..
Stanton, Secretary of War, has sent a compli-
mentary despatch to General Sheridan ap-
proving his order No. 5, and we presume that
he has done so because his opinions of that
New Orleans massacre are understood to be
those of Sheridan. What, then, is the posi-
tion Of the President, assuming that these men
were removed without his authority and
against his wishes He cannot touch the
Secretary of War, because he is protected in
the Cabinet by the new law regulating the
tenure of office. He will hardly undertake to
remove Sheridan, or to reinstate these obnox-
ious officials, because either of these proceed
ings will strengthen the impeachment party
before the Judiciary Committee of Congress,
charged with the investigation of the ''high
crimes and msdemeanors" alleged against the
President in view of his impeachment and re-
moval. His position, then, is not that of the
Great Mogul, reclining on a bed of roses, nor
anything like it. He has Secretary Stanton to
hold him in check ON one side, and the I'm
peachment Committee to watch him on the
other. His only course, therefore, is to let
these laws of Southern reconstruction, under
Stanton, Grant, and the commanders of the
five military districts, take their course,
taking care only to ''see the laws faithfully
executed"
Meanwhile while General Grant has taken
the bull by the horns in Louisiana, we per-
ceive that General Sweeny post commander
in Georgia-in the absence of General Pope,
Third District COMMANDMENTS ordered the
suspension of certain local elections super
seded by Congress, that General Schofeld is
very popular in Virginia, that General Sickles
has been favorably received by all parties in
North and South Carolina, and that the people
of Mississippi and Arkansas are pleased with
their commander, General Ord. From Vlr-
ginia to Texas we perceive, too, that the Re-
publican politicians, white and black, in
Guiding some colored stumpers from the
North, are actively at work organizing
Southern wing of the Republican party, while
General Wade Hampton, ct South Carolina,
Ex-Governor Brown, OF Georgia, and General
Lee in Virginia, and others of that school, are
moving as earnestly in behalf of new indie
pendent Southern party of whites and blacks,
planters and laborers under the laws OF re-
construction. From all these proceedings we
see that Secretary Stanton, with the district
military commanders under his instructions
and approval is really the master of the situa-
tom that the Southern people are at last
thoroughly convinced that President Johnson
cannot even help himself; and that instead Of
praying any longer to Hercules, they must put
their own shoulders to the wheel and work
out their own salvation under the conditions
of war resulting from the collapse of their
Southern Confederacy.
To make all things sure, Congress, now
about to adjourn, may decide to come together
again in the summer, to take a look at the
situation and pfogress of reconstruction in the
South, and to see what the impeachment COM
mittee will recommend in reference to Presi-
dent Johnson, and to learn also what will
have been done meantime, or to determine
what must be done with Collector Smythe and
other ofice-holders whose places are wanted
bv other parties. Moreover, as the radicals
of MARYLAND threaten little revolution on
their own account unless Congress shall IN
ternose to save them, that matter may also
come up for the summer session. Otherwise
we expect that everything will 60. ON SO
smoothly that this precautionary session Will
have nothing to do but to report progress and
adjourn till December.
Recon.truction According to Wade
Hampton and the Negroes
From The Tribune
The negroes are not vindictive race Nor