The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-08

hcan liberty, secured by forms adapted to a
transition time but affording no room for the
diabolioal vindictiveness and cunning of the
measures by which Brownlow has fortified
himself in office.
Nor is our version of the law or our render
ing of the Republican policy fanoiful or singu-
lar The most influential leaders OF the party
in Congress have committed themselves to
views identical with those we have expressed,
Yet more recently Senator Wilson, in his
Saratoga speech, disclaimed all desire for pro-
scription or punishment. Recognizing recon-
structon as already assured, he declared his
readiness to welcome the Southern people
back with warm and generous greetings"
trusting that Gin the future we shall be
friends and brothers as we were in the
morning of the republic" In the same gem
uine Republican spirit, Gov. Pierpont avows
the object Of his endeavors in Virginia to be
'to combine all white men and black men,"
and on the broad ground of moderation and
right to construct ''the great national Repub-
ican party of the country" John Minor
Bolts, rising superior to the promptings of
personal wrong, proposes general amnesty
and restoration of all civil and political rights
to the rank and file of the (Rebel) army, and
to the great body of the people," 1t is not
necessary, however, to multiply these cita-
tiOns. The law itself, the avowals that accom-
panied its enactments, and the remarks Of
prove that the party cannot be fairly held re-
sponsible for the deplorable state of affairs in
Tennessee, or for the extravagant utterances
and demands of demagogues who speak in its
name in other portions of the South.
Judged by the standard set up by the Re-
publican party in Congress and generally
throughout the North, the election in Ten
nessee furnishes cause of modification and
regret, rather than of boasting and hope. The
men elected may call themselves Republicans,
but they owe their triumph to agencies in
direct conflict with the principles and the
policy by which alone the party should be
estimated. The shameless partisanship with
which theIwork of disfranchisement has been
carried out-the vile perversion of power which
rendered opposition impotent-and the whole
sale exclusion of tried and trusted white
Unionists for no other reason than their hos
tility to the Brownlow faction-are not more
violative of the philosophy of republican
government than of the well-settled principles
of the Republican party.
The Congressional Executive Committee owe
to the party they represent, not less than to
the country, prompt and decisive efforts to
counteract the extravagances of the Hunni-
cults and their white allies, and to prevent
the repetition of scenes at once so faroical and
disgusting as those of the late ''Mass Conven-
tion' at Richmond. Neither for party nor
patriotic considerations is it desirable that the
Southern wing OF the Republican organlza-
tion should be permitted to be almost ex-
clusively black. Unless the pacifcation of
the South is to be abandoned as hopeless, the
confidence and cooperation of that large body
of whites who anxiously seek peace and
restoration should be cultivated sedulously.
The aspect of the registration lists is a suffi-
cient cause Of alarm, without the addition
of needless prescription and wanton arrogance.
Even under the most favorable circumstances,
we fear that the majorities by whom the State
conventions will be controlled will be black.
Where this disparity arises from the refusal of
whites to register, they only can be held ac-
countable for the result If, having votes,
they refuse to exercise them, they must thank
themselves for negro supremacy. 1t is for the
managers of the Republican canvass to be
careful lest they increase the disparity by
countenancing the extravagances of the worth
less demagogues who address themselves ex-
olusively to the negroes. There are tens of
thousands of white citizens in the Southern
States whose cooperation may be secured if
the responsible guides and leaders of the
party firmly and consistently maintain the
conciliatory temper and the just and moderate
principles which have thus far distinguished
its official action.