Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-08-28
The Great Issue.


Private adviccs from New York says the
Nercmy) assure us that there is pause in
public feeling on the subject of Southern re-
construction. The Herald is still marching
on towards q Conservative policy. and the
masses begin to feel that the column of Radi.
cal reform is now threatening the North as it
long threatened the South. The following
leader appears in the New York Herald Of
Saturday:
The great national issue which will over
shadow all others in our coming Fall elections
in the Northern States will be the issue OF ne
60 supremacy hereafter in our national at
fairs, through Southern negro political bal
nnce of power contemplated aud broadly
f,reshadowcdi in the Congressional programme
OF Southern reconstruction. The Republican
party, from Abraham Lircoln's election To
The Presidency down to this scheme OF Al
transfer of political power in the S}uth from
the white 70 the black race, has been sustained
by the almost unbroser voice Of the North
ern States in all its measures /; first, for 'hc
suppression Of the rebellion, aud next. fIr the
reorganization of the rebel States on the basis
uC universal liberty. But in this bold and
dangerous scheme Of putting the Southern
Political balance Of power cvcT our natloHai
affairs in the hands OF tie blacks. Just released
from the darkness and decentralization of ne
gro slavery. it strikes Us that Only III another
io,m the Republicans arc making the same
fatal mistake which was made By the late
National Dem crRcy when they attempted 10
pa,pa;ua;e the reign of the Southern Slave
holding o!igarchy, with their laws, DEGREES
and dogmas for the perpetua,ion and exien-
sion Of slavery Itself.
This is but the swinging Of the pendulum
from one extreme to the othcr-i; is steering
from Scylla to Charybdis. What peace or
harmony can We hope fo. in exchanging the
insolent rule Of the late three hundred thou
sand Southern shareholders for the rule ol
five hundred thousand Southern Dagroes who
but Yesterday were slaves and the descendants
of ignorant slaves for hundreds Of years?
The experiment involves an outrage. upon tie
enlightened public opinion Of the Northern
States which will surely meet with decisive
rebuke.
We cannot doabt that this desperate expe-
finaent Of negro supremacy will be emphati-
cally condemned by the voice of New York in
our coming November election. A change
Of eight OF ten thousand votes in the six hun
drcd and ode thousands Of this great Com
monwealth is but bagatelle; Jut IL ,cW SUI
ice TO yesolutioni=e the State. Upon this
broad and distinct question Of negro suprema.
cy, however, we may look for change oi
thirty, forty or fifty thousand, as compared
with the figures Of our last November elec-
lion. In Ohio, with Vallandighan and his
obnoxious copperhead notions again in the
foreground, :here is but gloomy prospect
for the opposition elements. They ca7aot be
combined on Vallindigharn or under Ts.llan-
digham. But in Pennsylvania they have
very fair prospect of anticipating in October
the inevitable November reaction in New
York. Upon this question we expect po-
litical reaction in the North this Fall which
@;ll enforce some attention and respect frum
Congress. 1t is to the people that we look
:or rescue for while the laws stand as they
are President johnson can do very little to
stay their operation. however great the num-
Der OF removals and changes he may make.
We look to the people for reaction aeaius.
til. perilous scheme for fastening upon the
country controlling negro political balance
of power.