The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-25

mind give them better opportunities Ofjudging,
TO decide whether the present attitude OF the
South is so fixed that no lapse of time nor
ooniuncture of events can shake or change
IL. If so, the policy of the South is simple
and clear, and their advantages for parrying
the intended coercion not inconsiderable. But
unless this immovable and indivisible fxity of
purpose can be counted on with a degree of
ass urance amounting o certainty, the sooner
a new line of action is challSed out the better
for ALL In other words, if the South has any
reason to distrust its own frmness, it had
better yield in 1867 than at some future time
This point is of such fundamental concern
that we trust we shall be pardoned for bring
ing it clearly into the foreground. The in
terests involved are of such momentous mag
nitude, that 1t would be a fatal blunder for the
Southern people to mistake transient wilful-
ness for immovable determination If the
South is euer to accept of negro suffrage; if il is
eUer to reorganize its State Governments under
Federal dictatOn if it is eUer to ratify the pend
ing Constitutional amendment as a condition
of restoration, there are manifest advantages
in not postponing till another year what they
may be brought to do at last. We are far
enough from advising that the South should
voluntarily submit to fragrant injustice and
humiliating subjugation. On the question
whether they will give in or stand out, we will
at present say nothing. But as between sub
mission now and submission at some future
time (supposing future submission to be pos
sible), our views are 50 clear, and rest upon
grounds that seem to us so solid, that we
should fail in our duty if we withheld them.
Whatever may be the ultimate basis ON
which this great controversy is settled, there
must be advantages in the early adoption
of that basis. The crippled business inte-
rests of the South ought to be lifted out of
the stagnation caused by the existing uncer-
tainty. To postpone reconstruction under
Sherman's bill for the sake of restoration
under the simple, unamended Constitu-
ton, would be wise and reasonable delay.
But to postpone reconstruction on the new
| plan to adopt the same or some similar plan
| three or five years hence, would be short
| sighted passionate folly. Every year of
| military government puts back the recupera-
| ton of the South, and (what is worse) accus-
| toms the Federal Government and the North
eIn people to the dangerous practice of domi-
| nation. The losses and dangers thus entailed
| may be reasonably accepted in the persistent
pursuit Of compensating ends; but not gratui-
| tously-not as halting place at which the
South only loses time, property, and quiet, to
enter at last on the same repudiated path. As
between the Sherman bill pure and simple,
| and the Sherman bill plus several years of
additional distraction, a reasonable people
should not hesitate.
If the Southern States are ever to reor-
ganize under the Sherman bill, they should
do so this year, and thereby gain the advan-
| tage of participating in the Presidential eec-
| tion. If they form new State Constitutions
during the summer and autumn, and present
them to Congress for acceptance at next win
| ter's session. their sixty or seventy votes may
determine the result. But postponement till
next year would shut them out completely,
and might be the means of subjecting them to
| four years more of radical tyranny. If they
| should reOrganize next year, their COnstitu-
| tions could not be submitted to Congress for
| approval until after the Presidential election
| is past. The South has a far deeper stake
| than any of us at the North in rescuing the
| Government from radical control, and their
electoral votes would in all probability turn the
scale We do not advise the Southern people
to seize this advantage if they feel sure of an
ultimate triumph by other means; but unless
they are unchangeably confident and united,
they had better not let go bird in the hand
to try what luck they will have in beating the
bush. .
As to negro suffrage which we suppose to
be the most odious feature of the new scheme,
the same mode of reasoning is applicable. If
negro suffrage can be permanently prevented,
there is sense in fighting it; but if the South is
to concede it at last, it would be better to
accept it at once. Whatever may be the ulti-
mate decision, it seems tolerably certain that
during the provisional period, while the South
is held under martial law, there will be no
negro suffrage anyway. In every State except
| South Carolina the whites outnumber the
blacks, and if they are united they can elect all
the officers 1t is the purpose of the radicals
! to create schism in the white vote, and, by
| reinforcing their own part of it with the
negroes, to control the elections. If the
! Southern people promptly accept the situa-
| tion, they can Illustrate this design If
there must be negro suffrage Gas there will be
! at least during the period of military rule), it
| is preferable to make the best of what can
not be helped. 1t is better to welcome the
negro vote and control 1t, than by Intellectual
| resistance to sour and exasperate the negro
mind, and thus surrender it as a political tool
| into the hands of the radicals. The interest of
the negroes is the interest of their section, and
they can easily be made to perceive it. A tax
of three cents pound on cotton is as bad for
the black cOttOn-gTower as for the white. A
protective tariff raising the price of goods for
the benefit of Yankee manufacturers, tends to
clothe negroes in rags as well as to impoverish
their white neighbOrs. The skill of the South
eTn POLITICIANS will enable them to control the
negro vote as easily as they have always con-
trolled the white vote, provided they begin in
season, before the radicals manipulate the
negro mind into subserviency, and inOculate
it with hatred of the white majority. This con-
sideratiOn loses its force if negro suffrage is to
be but temporary; but if it is to be finally
acquiesced in by the Southern people, the
sooner the better. .I s...H..I D. ..H.t
We do not doubt that, in the end, the
Southern people could battle the radicals by
simple, steady persistence. But for this
policy to prevail, they must be substantially
unanimous. Mere perseverance without unity