The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-05

OlNt lnIONH uOWut bllcIe Is no dutlOIlIH III
the Supreme Court TO set them up.
1t has no power but to decide litigated cases
between plaintiffs and Defendants determining
what is law only as a means of awarding JUS
tice to parties The best that could be hoped,
therefore, even from a favorable decision OF the
Supreme Court, would be an exchange of mill
tary government for anarchy. The State Gov
ernments being already gone, the displace-
ment OF the military government by tribunal
having no power to supply anything in its
place would leave the ten States without any
sort of governmental protection, either mill
taTy or legal. Moreover, the Supreme Court
decided, twenty years ago, that it was bound
to follow the action of Congress in determining
what is the valid State Government in any
State arguing that, as the question was poll
teal, it could only follow the decision of the
political branch of the Government. But,
aside from this question of jurisdiction, the
great age and infrm health of some of the
conservative Judges do not permit us to count
with any assurance on a favorable decision.
We turn therefore, to the three modes of
relief which we have Indicated
|. Military resistance holds out so little
promise of success that it is not likely to be
thought of and its discussion need not detain
us. The army will obey Congress. The
known political sympathes of a majority of its
officers, its dependence on Congress for its
pay, and the natural tendency of a military
body to magnify its own importance and prefer
its own methods of government, will render
the army subservient, and perhaps a Jealous
instrument for the enforcement of this law.
Some of the very worst dangers pointed out in
the veto are inferred from the habitual con-
tempt felt by military men for the dlatory
proceedings Of civil tribunals. Assuming,
then, that the army will cooperate with Con-
gress, the South may well despair of military
redress. Every Southern fort, every South
ern port, every arsenal, is in the possession of
the army The South has neither money, nor
credit, nor munitions, nor even provisions
Owing to the short crops of last year, there
are large areas where the people are in immi-
nent danger of starvation. If a renewal of
hostilities should intercept the charity of the
North, multitudes would perish. The pros
trate condition of the South precludes all pos
sibility of relief by armed resistance and we
presume that even the most impulsive and
impetuous of Southern citizens would not
think of it, although it would be the most
natural mode of relief, if it were practicable.
II and III can be best considered together,
as they are alternatives which depend upon a
comparison of probabilities. 1t is a question
between the relative chances of a change in
Northern opinion and a change in Southern
opinion. If the North remains immovable, the
South can never be relieved from military
tyranny except by reorganization under the
new law. If the South remains immOvable, it
can never escape but by political revolution
in the North. 1t is a contest of opposing pro-
babilities-a question whether the North or
the South is most likely to yield and which
will yield soonest. If the South stedfastly
persists, radical ascendancy would i'll time be
broken, and the Union restored, for the North
will never consent to its permanent dissolu-
ton. If, on the other hand, the North should
adhere, with stubborn persistency to its pre-
sent views, it is equally certain that the South
would at length succumb, to escape the evils
of military domination. The important prac-
tical question is, Which is likely to hold out
longest?
In all such contests of endurance, that side
is most likely to prevail (other considerations
apart) which has the most Overweening con-
fdence in its own strength and resources. So
far as this consideration goes, the preponde
rance of weights is in the Northern side of the
balance. A change in Northern opinion is
more likely to be operated by disasters in
business and monetary arrangement than by
arguments addressed to magnanimity or JUS
tice. But the storm which is merely brewing
in the Northern sky has already burst upon
the South but pecuniary ruin in prospect and
scarcely believed in, is feeble motive in COM
parison with such ruin felt and groaned under
as a present fact. The causes to which we look
forward to produce change of political action
in the North are already operating with the
direst intensity in the South; and so far as
political changes can be predicted on such
grounds, they may be expected to come
soonest at the scene of their earliest and
most blasting operation. The amount Of
change requisite, in either section, to
give effect to one or the other policy,
is a point that must not be left out
of view. For the South to reorganize and
get admitted under the odiOus law which has
been passed over the veto, needs only a
detection sufficient to make, with the negroes,
a majority of the voting population. But to
repeal the law requires a revolution in the
North extensive enough to give the Demo-
cratic party majority in both Houses OF Con-
gress, and, unless we elect the next President,
a twO-thirds majority. A party seeking to
repeal law is under a great disadvantage as
compared with party seeking to carry an
election. The very checks and impediments
by which the governmental machinery ope-
rates against rash legislation and in favor OF
stability secure the perpetuity of bad laws
until they have accomplished all their mis-
chief. Even if we should elect a majority OF
the congressman in 1868, we should be power
less in the Forty-iirst Congress to repeal this
law, inasmuch as the six years term OF the
Senators prevents any party from suddenly
changing the political character of the Senate.
Certain it is therefore, that this abominable
and tyrannical law will stand for at least four
years, unless it is rendered imperative
by Southern acceptance of its conditions
But while there is no possibility OF its
repeal without such a widespread and
stable alteration of Northern opinion as will
insure control of the Senate, a change, in any
one Southern State, of white votes enough to
make majority with the negroes, will relieve
that State from martial law, if Congress keeps
Il. j of