The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-14
Reconstruc,ion.
bom ne Tribune.

rom he Tribune
Mr.. Eliot's bill to establish Provisional
government in Louisiana, and provide for the
Reorganization of the State on the basis of
royal and impartial suffrage, passed the House
Sn Tuesday by the decisive vote of 113 to 4s.
The Democrats opposed its immediate passage
upon the plea that it needed longer examina-
tion. But the principles of the bill have been
discussed by Congress since 1865; they have
been again and again voted upon by the peo-
ple: there is not an important section which
has not been thoroughly debated, and the bill
embodes many of the absolute convictions of
the Republican party. 1t does not follow that
this measure was hastily adopted by the
House merely because the bill itself was so
recently proposed.
Whether the bill goes to the root of the mat
fer we do not need to discuss; nor whether
Congress should make it the basis of the recon-
str,Iction of all the Rebel States. Uniformity
of reconstruction has not been proved to be
necessary What is required for Texas or
Louisiana may not suit North Carolina. The
House. we believe, establishes no arbitrary
nrecedent in passing this BILL and does not
probably intend it to stand as the final method
of reconstruction. 1t is simply a practical
measure, which the House, acting upon the
report of its Committee appointed to investi-
gate the New Orleans massacre, deems neces-
Sary to protect loyalty in Louisiana. And it is
a recogniton-which the House, we Judge,
begins to feel-of the urgent necessity of pass
ing some measure of reconstruction.
As a beginning, at least, of that great work
Congress has only talked about for two years,
the passage of a measure which has some
principles of justice and permanence may be
welcomed. 1t takes at once the State of Loui-
siana out of the power of the men who
dragged her into the Rebellion, and who
are depressing the men who opposed rebellion.
1t is useless for the Democrats to object that
the Louisiana loyalists were Rebels, for if they
were, the bill excludes them from office. OF
more importance than the exclusion of disloyal
citizens, is the declaration that in the reorga-
nization of the State Government all loyal male
citizens, without distinction of race or color,
shall have the right to vote for officers, and
voice in forming the Constitution by which
they are to be governed. This is the great
principle of the bill, to which the appoint
ment of military commander, the Provisional
Governor and Council, the prohibition of the
payment of the Rebel State debts, ETC., are
but accessories and preparations. We rejoice
in the passage of an act which peremptorily
asserts the power of Congress to restore to all
loyal citizens in the States which have for
feited their old Constitutions by rebellion, their
inalienable rights.
Mr.. Stevens bill to establish military gov
ernments in the South does not appear to con-
fict with this of Mr.. Eliot, for it is understood
that it is meant to be but preparatory to such
measures of permanent reorganization as those
the House has just adopted. Mr.. Stevens bill
would remove every officer in the South who
has usurped authority; it would end the rule
of men who, like Mayor Monroe, instigate
murder, and those who, like Governor ThrOck-
morton, appear powerless to prevent or punish
it. 1t sweeps away that machinery by which
the men who maintained the Rebellion and
who surrendered to Grant, have regained pos
session of the South. 1t is thought that this
bill will be passed by the House in day OF
two. When it becomes a law, it will place
every Rebel State exactly where it stood at the
end of the Rebellion. Then will follow those
grander measures for rebuilding State Govern
ments which shall not be the tyrannies of a
privileged class, or an aristocracy, but the
work of the people, in which all citizens shall
lie represented, and by which all shall be pro
ected.