The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-25


and debasing Indifference to the effects of crime
on character and to the desrableness Of sup
porting in our conduct the lofty doctrines
which we all spout from platforms or publish
in books or newspapers, may every day
be witnessed; but Mr.. Greeley has achieved
the distinction Of Offering the world one of
the most striking and very conspicuous of
them all.
Congress and the sOuth--The Recon-
structiOn scheme a Ftnallty.
From The Times.
''Who is authorized to travel the country
and peddle out amnesty2" ''Who authorized
any orator to say that there would be no con-
fiscation 9'' ''By what authority does any
one say that by the election of loyal delegates
they (the Southern States) will be admitted3"
Such were the interrogatories with which Mr..
Thaddeus Stevens assailed the declaration of
Senator Wilson, addressed to the Virginians
assembled near Hampton Roads-that ''there
would be no impediment to Southern repre-
sentation in Congress if they elected Union
men," According to Mr.. Stevens, this decla-
ration is not warranted by the acts or the in
tentions of Congress. There are, he says,
many things to be done before the restora-
tion of the South can be perfected, even if it
comply with the terms already prescribed.
General Butler entertains the same opinion.
And Wendell Phillips insists that for seven
years the South must remain in the purgatory
of military government, regardless of its COM
pliance with the conditions laid down by
Congress.
The Republican party, However, has de-
cided that Senator Wilson's promise was
timely and proper and shall be adhered to,
and has disclaimed responsibility for the
threats of the small minority represented by
Messrs. Stevens, Butler, and Phillips. The
Republican journals, with scarcely an excep-
ton, have repudiated Mr.. Stevens interpreta-
tion of party purposes and opinion and have
ratified Mr.. Wilson's assurance as essential to
the maintenance of the party faith. Mr..
Speaker Colfax, addressing the Union League
Club of this city, presented the same view of
the question. Congress has pledged itself,
he said in substance, to admit the South if it
comply with the requirements of the recon
struction measures; and to disregard that
pledge, on any preteXt whatever, would be an
act of perfidy which no party could survive.
Senator FrelinghuyseA echoes the statement.
The law as it stands, he contends, presents
the finality of reconstruction, " and by it Con-
gress and the country must abide. II is
not necessary to swell the roll of individual
testimony upon the point. The proof is over
whelming that Mr.. Wilson uttered the resolve
of his party, and that the menaces which his
siderable though noisy faction.
Official evidence is furnished by the address
of the Union Congressional Republican Com
mittee to the Southern people, of which no
less decided radical than Mr.. Boutwell, is
the reputed author. This document explicitly
disavows the Stevens programme of 'mild
confscation," and other punishment. The
measures now before the South are declared
to be measures of beneficence and restora-
ton, and not of revenge or punishment u
They are designed not to keep the South out
of the Union, but to secure its restoration Sin
the spirit of justice, and upon the basis o.
equality The conditions prescribed are
represented as intended only to secure equality
and safety, and the penalties contemplated are
limited to 'the small class Of Rebels who are
excluded from Office by the proposed amend
ment to the Constitution" Freedom of speech
free press, and a system of free schools are
adverted to as results to be achieved as far as
possible, through the action of Congress-we
presume in determining the suficiency of the
local guarantees to be provided by the State
Conventions. The main reliance, however, il
is confessed, "must be upon the wisdom and
virtue of the people of the respective States, y
and these the Congressional Committee seeks
to conciliate by an affirmation of the friendly
purposes and spirit of the law-making power
The measures of justice" set forth in the
address as essentials of restoration to the
Union are an acceptance of universal suffrage
''as the basis of political, educational, and in,
dustrial prosperity and power" and the es
tablishment OF system of education, IRE.
spective of race or color. 1t is to these, prOba
bly,, that the Committee refers when it reminds
the Southern people that their proceedings in
regard to reconstruction are subject to the
supervision OF Congress. The steps indicated
in the law touching the machinery of recon
struction are understood to be preliminaries tc
the establishment of republican government
according to the views of Congress; and we
accept the results specified by the Committee
as the criteria by which the suficienoy of Local
action will be judged. If this suppositon il
correct, the South can offer no reasonable OBJ
| lection to the standard erected by the Wash.
lngton Committee. II simply afirms that the
south Will be required to oconform to the change
produced by emancipation, so far as to recog
nize the political equality of all, and the duty
Oh providing for all the educational facilities
winch nave contributed so largely to the pros
perity and moral power of the North.
=, thlrd result is pointed at as desirable
Inough confessedly coming within the category
ol subjects which must be left to ''the wisdom
anu virtue OF the people," We refer TO the
suggestion that the large landowners of the
South should stimulate aud facilitate The acoui
siuon OF small treeholds by the more thrifty O
the freedmen. The address is, in this respeet
| especially significant as a disclaimer az tbt
mia connscation" policy Of Mr.. Stevens. Fol
the suggestion that the planters should hIrnisI
these incentives and facilities imnlies a racoo
milton of their right to dispose of their vessl
] property as TO themselves may seem best