The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1867-03-01
ANATToNAL CONVENTION.

are hOpelessly unsettled II is that Of Recon-
struction. The present condition of the
South is terrible beyond conception.
Ali seems to be chaos. Trade, manu-
factuEes, eommercs. agriculture. are
Frustrated aud ruined. The old planter
princes. whose magnificent establish
ments and prodigal luxury were world
renowned, have gone down in utter de
With TIE drunken madness
of Lucifer. drawing after them third
part of the stars Of our national banner,
they went forth to as terrible a doom.
The poor whites. their ignorani dupes.
after enduring most msrciless conscrip-
ton. starvation, oppression of every sort,
are now left helpless and penDi!ess. The
negroes. the innocent cause of the war,
are hated with a malignity that seems
utterly internal. Think of the confession
made by the Senator elect from Texas
2700 murders of freedmen during the
past year in that state +! The imagina-
ton reels and sickens while endeavoriue
to grasp such fact. Society in such a
region to be compared only with that Of
the fsnds in Pandemonium. The Loyal
people Of the South are oppressed and
hated with bitter fury almost equal to
that which pursued them during the war
The hideous tragedies at New Orleans and
Memphis must be taken as fair index
of southern sentiment and feeling.
Reconstruction, in order to be salts,
factory and 6nal. must cripple the power
and influence of the leading rebels, open
avenues of progress and enligh teumeni
to the poor whites, fully protect the loyal
people, aud guarantee suffrage and all
other civil rights 10 the freedmen. The
American people will accept nothing
short of this.
The plan now adopted by Congress
iulflls many of these conditions. Il
provides for a military government. to
continue till the several states shall adopt
constitutions in conformity with the requi-
sitiou above. 1t is hard to conceive of q
more perfect plan under the present ma
-tional constitution. The nation would
have been the gamer if such plan had
been adopted years ago. But there are
breakers ahead even o. this plan The
friends OF the measure feel doubtful of
passing it over the inevitable veto. II
passed, it eonfers, necessarily. the ap-
pointing power upon the President, and
we may be sure that such worthless as
Steadman, Fullerton, Couch & Co., will
be intrusted with this vast response
bility. Under the best auspices the mill
tsry arm cannot reach the isolated plan
tations and remotesr districts where
outrsges are the most frequent and terri
BILE. Military rule will not heal up the
wounds of war, and generic in the ig
norant and misguided people of the South
a better knowledge of the national cause,
and higher love for its institutions and It's
unity.
The fact is, the nation has outgrowu
its present constitution. An instrument
which is full of shabby compromises
with slavery, which offers the Vics
President the highest possible bride for
the assassination of his superior, which
brides the President himself to too fire.
quent infamy. by allowing re election,
which involves such clumsy and utterly
unmesDiDg and ueeless machinery as that
of the electoral college. can surely be
to great advantage. The time
is at hand, and the nation is almost ripe
for such action
We shall expect TO see a national con-
ventiOn of the abIest aud boldest among
rs called together before long. a new
framed, and a new capital
located in the geographical centre Of the
country, which is Kansas. Great and
glorious changes are in prospect. We
shall cast off the dark old shell of larva-
hood aud emerge into a higher and
grander life. I