The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-06

I tiOn there is no reason to doubt that the Re-
publican party continues to reflect the views
of the great majority of the people. There
may be shades of difference in regard to the
details of measures to which has been
impaired the authority of law. But on the
great question of recognizing the Union there
is no room to doubt that the represented States
are in perfect unison with Congress. The con-
viotion which prevailed last autumn operates
to-day more powerfully than ever--the convic-
tion that the work of reconstruction should
rest in the hands of Congress-, and should be
perfected in harmony with the aspirations OF
the party by which it is controlled. Equally
certain is it, we believe, that the principles
embodied in the Civil Rights act and the con-
ditions incorporated in the Reconstruction act,
are indorsed as in themselves equitable, and as
indispensable in the present condition OF the
South. Tried on this issue, or on the general
issue of the conduct of the war, or on any
issue involving the relative title of the two
parties to the confidence of the States which
upheld the Union, it may be considered certain
that the verdict would be against the Demo
cracy. The inquiry presents itself, then
"What extraneOus or incidental circumstances
exist having tendency to ALLEVIATE the
sympathy of any noticeable number of those
who during the war, and to this moment, have
voted the Republican ticket What has
occurred in Congress or elsewhere that may
explain the detection of some and the indiife-
renee of others The Albany EUening Journal
which has addressed itself frankly to the
point, dwells upon the temper and tactics of
the extremists as a source of weakness to the
party
'lt is the misfortune of the party to be held
responsible for The manifold Sins of those who
are not its immediate representatives and who
in no sense speak for majority of its mem
bers. The President had deDTived himself of all
EVmDatDX. and wOnld have had
from III. Aoyal men, but for the insane course of
men like Butler and Ashley, who, for the sake
OF nctlt1ous fame have insisted, against the
wise judgments of their colleagues, in pushing
the impeachment MISUNDERSTANDING IL
with virulence and lack of regard for the
ordinary rules, of decency which have well
nigh converted the offending Executive into
martyr Thad Stevens, always impracticable
IN ms pest moods, must needs go beyond
every authoritative exposition of party doctrine
to promulgate his ideas of contiscation. and
insist upon parceling the territory of the South
out to its white loyalists and its freedmen
The long imprisonment of jeff. Davis and the
refusal of the Chief Justice to give him what
every citizen has an unquestioned right to de-
mand--a fair and impartial trial-has exerted
most unwholesome moral influence. And the
recrlmlnation and denunciatlons of leading
members OF the party, in both Houses Of Con-
gress, have not been without pernicious effect.
Add to this the unpopularity of a heavy tax
and the disposition of the electors to try the
experiment of a change Of rulers when they
can do so with seeming safety, and we can see
abundant reasons for concluding that the
hitherto undisputed Republican ascendancy
can only be maintained by display of the
greatest wisdom, moderation, and good judg-
ment."
The Journal speaks truly. The most dan
gerous enemies of the Republican party are
of its own household. The more violent of its
radical members are really more inimical to
its interest and usefulness than the Copper
heads, who during the war burned in effigy the
Governor elect of Connecticut. The Copper
heads can do the Republicans no harm. But
the extreme radicals injure the party by affix-
ing to it the stigma of their ultraism, and max
ing it Irresponsible for their malignancy Their
reckless display of partisanship and hate
their persistent endeavors to force the party
into positions in advance of those assumed
by its conventions, State or National-their
proposals to cOntiscate and disfranchise, des-
pite the growing disposition of the South to
accept the proffered terms-their wanton as
saults upon the privileges of the Executive,
and their anxiety to impeach, with or
without cause-their insolent intolerance and
ostracism, displayed whenever other members
Of the party have dared to condemn their
spirit and resist their plans, these are cir
cumstances which, more than all else, have
served to weaken the party and impair its
prestige. 1t is no answer to say to the country
that, as an organization, the party is COM
mitted to none of the extreme views. 1t is
of slight avail to remind the disaffected that
on critical occasions Messrs. Stevens and
Sumner have been thrown overheard, and that
the reconstruction law now being applied
widely differs from the measure they would
have enacted. 1t amounts to little to repeat
that Butler has failed to acquire power in the
House, and that no member of the Senate has
less individual influence than the Oratorical
Senator from Massachusetts,. 1t affords no as
surance of safety to point to the utter want of
influence of revolutionists of the Ashley school,
and their signal failure to obtain the sanction
of the party as such to their mischievous
schemes. The facts are notoriously as we
state them. And yet the other fact remains
that the party has again and again permitted
itself to be led into false positions by the for
bearance which it has shown towards these
ultraists. They have been suffered to talk as
for the party, in its name to promulgate
anarchical ideas, and to denounce and excom-
municate all who protested against their vio-
lence and arrogance. Here has been one of
tie grave errors of the party. 1t has tacitly
allowed its duly sanctioned measures and
principles to be set aside, and has submitted
good naturedly to pretensions and PROPOSE
tions which should have been on the instant
secuted and resented.
This infrmity during the last two sessions
has engendered fear that the party may yet
be committed to the principles and plans of
the extremists. So long as Butler and Stevens
and Sumner are permitted to talk as leaders,
although unable to command the party vote
SO long will there be misgivings in the minds
! OF a large class of moderate adherents of the
Republican party. They see that the extre-
mists IN Congress are priests of wing of the
party OF which Wendell Phillips is the
prophet. They know that he furnishes the
| extremists with ideas, dictates their demands.
| a nth F.,