Litchfield enquirer., 1867-05-02
The South on Reconstruction.

The position taken by the majority of the Southern press and by the mass of the people is better expressed in the following article in the Charleston Neacs than in any thing we have seen from that quarter. AL though strongly approving the course of President Johnson and objecting to negro suffrage it exposes the absurdity of main taining that the terms of settlement pro- posed in the Congressional resolutions of Is6l, not accepted by the South, must still be binding on Congress in 1867. It also rebukes the outcry of 'unconstitutionality," raised by President Johnson and his friends, by plain unanswerable statement of facts. When we compare the misrepresentations of the Northern Democratic press on the Reconstruction Act, with the calm and sensible course of the Southerners, them selves, the contrast greatly increases our re- spect for the latter.
 After speaking of the legal questions rais- ed by the Georgia petition for an iniunc ton, the article proceeds:-
 But there are two other propositions connected with 1t that have confused many honest-minded people which think it important to notice.
 The first is that because Congress passed reso- lution 1861 the not then waged ''for any purpose of conquest, or for interfering with the rights CT the institutions of these States, but to preserve the Union with all the dignity and rights Of the several States unimpaired, therefore, when we surrendered in 1865, We surrendered under the protection of this resolution which had not been altered by the events and changes of as mighty oV11x -/NrlI had Now there is not an example in history in which two parties at war have kept open standing set of terms upon which the is to be ended Ev- cry negotiation, every war, changes its terms of settlement the fortunes Of war vary, and it was just so with this When 1t began the North thought it could be settled by amicable restora- tlon, and an arrangement as to the rights claimed by the South. As the progressed the North found that slavery clement of strength the part Of the South, very difficult to overcome and Ill repeal of it's resolution it emancipated the slave. Then; as the fortune Of war turned against us came the negotiations at Fortress Monroe, where the terms offered and rejected were infinitely bet ter than the present. And when surrendered our armies and closed the contest the final terms were dictated by Grant and Sherman, and every sensible man knows that these terms are the only conditions of surrender to which VIC have the right to appeal What is the Of trying to delude selves into the belief that the of great 'shattering that it may reach and shattering what it reaches can be governed and limited by the law of shecal contract?
 
 dents action and the assent Of the Southern people through their conventions, was legitimate and final settlement of our position as restored States
 When the armies of Lee and Johnson surrender cd, Congress not in session. The President with his sound practical sense, that restoration and maintenance of some civil government in the Southern States was absolutely necessary, let 1t be as temporary as 1t might. We felt painfully the same thing, fer without. the country woald have fallen into anarchy and lawlcssness. He, there fore, constructed such provisional State govern ments as hc thought best, and we sensibly and cheerfully accepted these governments for our protection. The President has never claimed that 7te cciid restare tic States-his position, as dcTsIand it, is that the Constitution restored them, and that all he did to furnish the means through which the vigor of Constitution could act. And whatever his theory. the President has never denied what IS too practical truth for denial that for his policy to be successful he needed the CO., operation of Congress. As soon as Congress met they refused that cooperation, and from that day there has been fierce contest between Congress and the President as to whether they should sup port his policy or he conform tothclrs the joint tion of both being necessary to carry either policy into effect. With the history of that contest We have at present nothing to do. What we now maintain is that, until by some agreement, forced or willing, between Congress and the President there was and there could be decision as to the position of the Southern States.
 The difference between the policy of the Presi- dent and the policy of Congress is not difference of principle of object, but simply of means. Un- 0eE tne ITcsiue.ts pOlCy, lie, aS CONFERENCE.-THE chief of the United States, appointed Mr. Perry Provisional Governor of South Carolina and put Mr Magrath the legitimate Governor of the State; into Fort Pulaski. Under the Congressional poll cy, he, commander in chief of the United States places General Sickles as smiltary commander of South Carolina, and instructs Colonel Orr, the le gitimate Governor of the State to consult and CO., operate with him. Under the Presidents policy he called Covention of the people of South Caro- lima by proclamation of the Provisional Governor of his own appointment, the election and quafca- ton of its members being regulated by his order. Under the Congressional policy he calls Conven- ton of the people of South Carolina by proclama- ton of the Military Commander ofhis own appoint ment, the election and qualification ofits member being regulated by the prowess of the Reconstruc- tion Act: Under the Presidents policy, the Legs- lature of South Carolina was, as every member of 1t felt and knew, Provisional Government. Under the Congressional policy it is the thing. And should 1t ever meet, General Sickles will scarcely Tebuke its proceedings more sharply than did Mr. Seward when, under the Presidents policy he in- formed Provisional Governor Perry that it's obiec- tions to the Constitutional Amendment were oier- ulous and unreasonable"