Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-04-19
An English Opinion of the Pur.
poses of the Radicals and the
Work of tho Rump Congress.

lFrom the London Morning Herald, March 22.1
If the American Constitution had stood
the test OF troublOus times, and possessed
in itself such elements of perpetuity as to
enforce respect for its provisions on the
men, whoever they may have been, who OBJ
tanned the upper hand after a disastrous
period of civil strife, which shook the
state to its foundations, and threatened the
very existence of the common country,
then it might still have gone we'll with the
American people. Emerging from its fiery
trial purified from that base dress which
gathers upon a nation too absorbed in COM
lnercial pursuits, and too exultant in its
wealth, it might have gained in Che addi
tion of the chivalrOus element to its char
acter more than balf what it has lost in the
torrents of blood and money which in its
despairing energy it has poured into the
gulf of its forum. But the Americans, to
their great loss, have failed to- profit by
their experience, and have cast aside in
their haste the sterling fruits of victory.
The motto of the Epirote conqueror bears
the palm, in their eyes, from that of the wise
and more polished Roman of the latter day.
History teaches us that this is an error which
has invariably brought its punishment, ifnot
on the erring generation, at least on that
which succeeded it When the cry of a
warlike people is VG Uictis! we know what
will become of it. When its rule is parcere
SUBJECTS, we may safely predict the dura-
bility of its cOnquests. The Assyrian and
the Persian were cruel and tyrannouS; they
and their races have been swept away into
darkness. The Roman was humane to those
who submitted to him; and his influence
and his government were eminently civil
iZing; it subsisted for a thousand years.
and its traces have not yet passed away
The Norman cOnquerorS of England were
never dispossessed; they had respect for
law, and left undisturbed the old fnstitu-
tions of the country. The rule of the Eng
lish in France was marked by rapaeity and
violence; they were swept out OF the coun-
try with havoc and in torrent of blood. The
bitter injustice which the States of the late
Confederacy have suffered and are doomed
still to suffer, at the hands Of the triumph
ant majority of the American Union. is
grieVous thing, of course, for those who
have to submit; it is i'll one respect still
greater misfortune for those by whom
% it is inflicted. America is entering
into hopeless groove of bad gov
ernment. She is illustrating for us the very
worst OF the evils which can spring from
Democracy. She is teaching It's that this
form of government affords more oppOrtu-
nifty than any other tor the full indulgence
of depraved and vindictive passions. A
land boasting OF. its freedom, she exhibits to
us a third of her citizens in chains. A
nation which makes a parade of its intelli-
gence and boasts Ofits Christianity commits
DluHderS universally condemned Dy men OF
sane minds, and shows itself incapable OF
the cardinal virtue of forgiying. We say
advisedly that, whatever appearance there
may be that all is going well with her,
whatever prospect may appear on general
grounds of aegrand future for America, that
future will never come topass, that horizon
will be darkened, unless she speedily re-
traces her errors of the last two years. A
country which is viciously governed can
never thrive.
The Thirty-ninth Congress has done
about as much mischief as could well be
accomplished in that brief period of time.
Under the leadership of two unscrupulous
demagogues, Stevens and Simmer, deter
mined to maintain the South in condition
of subsection and to crush the President
because he interposed to shield the millions
committed to his charges. It has violated
in letter and in spirit every article of the
Constitution of the United States. The
members for the North have voted them
selves to be the Congress, and excluded the
g Representatives of eleven States, or one
third of the Union. The seven millions of
Southern whites have no share In the Gov
ernment.: They are deprived of all civil as
well as political rights by, the bill just
passed over the Presidents veto, which
establishes military government in all the