The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-25

sss
Intel est on the Public Debt.....,... 49, S0999
TOTAL 258 0S5 ~
One of the first duties of Congress is to
lessen taxation by every means in its power
consistent with the maintenance Of the public
credit. To this end it should close up the
business of reconstruction as rapidly as possi-
BILE. Exaggerated statements have been made
of the expense of maintaining our present
military governments in the Southern States
but it is, no doubt, considerable, and in
wolves the continuance Of a portion Of our
army, which might otherwise be discharged.
Universal suffrage has proved to be worth
more to maintain peace at the South than
thirty thousand bayenets would be. Now
that the first elections in which freedmen have
ever voted have passed off without an act of
violence, Congress may safely confne itself to
preserving inviolate the right Of suffrage as
the cheap, sufficient, and only standing army
needed in the South. As soon as possible let
them repeal all laws against Rebel suffrage,
and leave that great peace-maker, the ballot,
to exercise its universal influence. And when
the Southern Conventions have framed their
constitutions, and elected loyal State officers
and representatives in Congress, let the work
of reconstruction be promptly consummated.
If it be possible, let every Southern State be
reorganized and readmtted in time to vote at
the next Presidential election without any
vote Republican or Democratic. Whatever
States, if any, we might lose at the South by
removing all restrictions from the right Of suf-
frage, will be more than balanced by our gain
at the North.
mot the least important measures of re-
trenohment should be those which affect Con-
gress itself. There is a vast amount Of sta
tionery supplied to Congress, which the mem
bers would be much more stationary if they
did not drink. There are too many investi-
eating committees, got up to postpose ques-
tions like the impeachment question, on which
members "fain would wound, but fear to
strike the blow" If there were grounds for
the Presidents impeachment, they were
grounds "known and read of all men," and
needed not six months session of smelling
committee in order to discern them. We have
had investigating committees, calling together
witnesses from all parts of the country to tes-
tify to facts which they have gathered from
the newspapers and which, being sworn to,
have been embalmed in ponderous volumes
by the Public Printer, and distributed over
the country to be burned. We have had
Indian wars got up by contractors, costing
millions of dollars for their prosecution, in
which no gun was fired on either side, and
which were finally settled by long speeches,
and fresh gifts of powder and ball to the
savages. We have a mass of rotten Assessors
and Collectors of Internal Revenue, District
Attorneys, and Postmasters, whose daily in
EQUITIES are a stencil in the nostrils of the
nation, and who are appointed and retained in
Office by the President, with the well-aimed
intent to sioken the country of the Republican
party; and it Mas that effect though the party
is no longer responsible for their appointment
or their conduct. Severe examples Of punish
ment and disgrace need to be made among our
public thieves, and unless the Republican
majority in Congress does something to relieve
us, Republicanism, as political power, is
drawing to the close of its reign. Regulations
can no longer be won by fighting on the dead
battle-felds where slavery and disunion now
lie buried. What we now need are wise,
vigorous, and economical measures to raise
public credit, restore our finances, revive bust
ness, and develop our national industry.
The Uses OF Advorsity-By Horace
Greeley.
From The ~. Y. hsdependen.
The Republicans have suffered heavy re-
verses in the elections of 1867. Let us frankly
admit and calmly consider the fact. We carried
all the former free States in 1866; we have lost
considerable part of them in 1867. True,
the majorities in either case were inconside-
rable in many hnot most of the States; but the
changes, large or small, have been uniformly
against us. We were last year morally certain
to elect the next President; we have now a
hard contest before us, and the hopes of
our adversaries are high. They talk
openly of carrying the next House of
Representatives, as we'll as the President,
organizing governments in the Southern
States based on their DID, familiar principle
that blacks have no rights that whites are
bound to respect; and then, by the aid Of
twenty new United States Senators chosen
from the States thus reYolutienized, organize
with their Senators from the other States,
Senate which shall ignore and exclude the
Senators elected from the Southern States
under the Reconstruction acts of Congress;
and thus restore, so nearly as may be, the rule
of the late cotton lords, not only in the South,
but over the entire Union. Such are the pros
poets opened up by the late Democratic sue
cesses; such are the sanguine calculations
based thereon by the Northern and Southern
enemies Of RepublioAnism, now one in faith
and hope, and one in their efforts to obliterate
the memories and the consequences OF the |
last seven eventful years Of our oountry's
history.
Let us comfort them by the admission that
what they call the negro question lies at the |
bottom of our reverses Several influences |
have conspired with that; but thousands |
have turned against us because we |
purpose to enfranohise the blacks. Just as,
in 1862 Mr.. LincOln's first proclamation of I
freedom was quickly followed by Democratic |
victories in every State from the Connecticut |
to the Mississippi, 80 now the reconstruction |
policy of Congress, based on manhood and |
loyalty, has caused a popular revulsion in |
favor of caste, rebellion, and slavery Every |
step forward causes some to lag behind, Others |
to turn back. The pathway of human pro