New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-07
. REcoNsrRrcuoY Ar HlND.

We note with satisfaction the gathering ct
Washington of populations from several
Southern States representing diverse phases of
opinion at the South. 1t can hardly be year
since The Times urged us to say why so loyal
and true Unonist as Col. j. NJ. johnson of
Arkansas should not be admitted by the House
TO the seat whereto !he had been mquestion-
ably chosen. We now see that Col. johnson is
in Washington to urge Congress, on behalf of
the fire-tried Unionists of Arkansas, not to
admit representatives from that State until
she shall have undergone a radical rec0Hstruc-
ton. And we trust--nay, we are sure-that he
and his colleagues will be heard with profound
attention. So, we doubt not, viii that delega-
ton which represents the other folks in ArIan-
sas who aR a decided majority Of the White,
but perhaps not of the whole people of that
State.
We trust the rival parties of every Southern
State either are or soon will be represented at
Washington. Let all have a fair hearing; but
let them be admonished that time flies, and
that less than two months of this Congress re-
MAN, If the rival delegations could confer
with each other and agree as TO the bases Of
Reconstruction, they would signally facilitate
the action of Congress. And why should they
not at least try to agree9 They are fated to
be fellow-citizens, neighbors, often kinsmen
even if they desire to remain at war, that
luxury is imperatively denied Them Will not
the rival delegations from Arkansas set the OK
cellent example of cautiously comforting and
trying to agree on plan of reconstruction to
be jointly submitted to Congress? Surely, the
effort, if made in the right spirit, must be pro-
ductive of good.
Congress ought soon to indicate to the unrep-
resented States precisely what they must do 1t
will not do to let the session wear away with
out this If any State shall not be called
when the next House assemblies for organiza-
ton, it should be clearly and generally known
Let there be light
Gen. Grant is reported as having expressed,
at Gov. Stewards dinner party ON Saturday
evening, his conviction that, if the Southern
States should adopt the pending Constitutional
Amendment, they would be promptly restored,
and no further conditions imposed. We do not
so understand Congress. If those States had
promptly and heartily ratified that Amend
ment, we believe o majority would have felt
morally bound to admit them thereupOn. We
do not understand that the johnson organiza-
lions claiming to be States which have re-
jected the Amendment especially if, as in the
case of Texas, they have treated it with
marked ndignity-should they now conclude
to ratify it rather than take the chance of
Doing worse, would be regarded by majority
of either House as having established any right
to recognition as legitimate by Congress.
But, whatever the fact may be, Congress
should promptly and unequivOcally indicate it.
For our own part, and without presuming in
any manner to speak for others, we must say
that the ratification of this Amendment by any
State would form a very inadequate and i'm
perfect basis Of Reconstruction. The vital
matter, in our view, is security to every midi
vidual, however humble and despised, in his
essential rights of person and property. Any
Reconstruction which does not guarantee the
Whites who have been Rebels against future
arrests arraignments, seizures, considerations,
because of their part in the Rebellion, and
does not secure the Blacks against such abuse,
spoliation, enslavement, and butchery, as many
of them have experienced within the past year,
will scarcely deserve its sonorous title. We
sec not how true and lasting peace, O
speedy restoration to comfort and thrift, can
be attained on any terms less comprehensive
than those Of Universal Amnesty coupled with
Impartial Suffrage.
Millions Of acres OF the best lands in the
South now Lie desolate and useless, because
their owners cannot procure the means of fepc-