The Portland daily press., 1867-06-13
General LonSstreets Letter ON Recon.
structiOn. ....-..f

StructiOn. ...... .
1t must be confessed that there was time
when we did not hear the name of Longstreet
with feelings of unalloyed pleasure. He was
as often defeated as triumphat to be sure, but
it was generally understood that he was an ug-
ly customer, with bad habit of making de-
termined charges, and never knowing when
he was whipped 1t is therefore with some
degree of surprise that we have recently notic-
ed repeated instances of very handsome and
pacific conduct on the part of this reconstruct
ed soldier. 1t is like hearing that their Fiji
majesties had abandoned their favorite mission
airy diet, and become strict vegetarians; or that
the Blue Beard of our childhood was in tact a
kindly, though eccentric, old gentleman, whose
conduct had been entirely misapprehended by
his contemporaries. ...I- f 1e41-l 4.ue
We have had many encouraging words from
the South since the close OF the war, but in
some respects Gen. Longstreet's recent letter
to John N. G. Parker is the most satisfactory
expression OF Southern opinion with which we
have yet been favored. We have had first and
last the views Of almost every military man in
the country upon the political questions OF the
times, but some OF them derive their whole val
ue Irol Inc Seutrai NelSuI Vi Iner autnCrS
character, and otherwise are of no more conse-
quence than would be their ideas OF tie glacial
theory, Or the cuneiform characters inscribed
upon the ruins OF Nineveh. ita..l.4..5
But Longstreet seems to have grasped the
main questions at issue between the conserya-
tive and progressive parties of the country, and
treats them with as much sagacity as If his
whole lile had been spent in the profound
study of political instead of military situations
The elaborate disquisitions OF our Republican
statesmen have contained no thrust at the
Democraticy party which reveals so clearly
the obsolete and antiquated nature of its prin-
ciples as the following telling Sc ntence nom
the Generals letter: - ,.lt,..
But as far as can Judge, there is nothing
tangible about 1t, lthe Delnocratlc party) eGcept
there lost. gia.sar .a.a4 .,.1 l...4 '...us
That IS his reason for cooperating with the
party inpower, and accepting the military bill
and It's amendments as 'peace-offerings." Thus
is more satisfactory than Gov Perry's reason
TOR taking the opposite course, because "a
lovely woman" sustains him in it; or Albert
Pixies, who is pleased to say that he does NOT
support the Congressional plan OF reconstruc-
ton, because it would be a "damnable crime"
to do SO. '' '-- -' 'Aif ii-t
! Nor does it detract from the value of the
Generals letter that he insists that the people
OF the North should make their own State con
shtutions conform to the principles they would
force upon the South. This is the one weak
point in the position OF the National Union
Party, and with his usual penetration he has
found it out.I The responsibility OF this, how
ever, is strictly local; and it is believed that
there is too much justice as well as sagacity
in the North to lermit this reasonable ground
Of complaint to exist much longer p.W 3si s.