The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-15
TIE VIEW YORK PRESS
EprroRIk1 OPINIONS or THE LRADNo 1oohNAiA'
UPoN CURRENT TOPIcs-coMPILkD kVkhh
DAY FOR THE BvRNIEa TEIEeRAPH.
NH. conN,c. OF oivn ana military Au-
NV ahOrity.
To,n me Herald.

As.the indications come from an PVineS Va
Ibs-q poiitical1 compass, we perceive oprepara7
Uons for new strifs between the various fac
uons. The party journals seem disposed to
Involve the country in another quarrel. They
ARE evidently eager for fight upon some issue,
and they do not seem particular as to what it
Is. The removal of General Sheridan from
his command in Louisiana and Texas, where
he has apparently used his authority under
tbe law of Congress with firmness allied to
discretion, and we believe enjoys the full
approbation- of General Grant In the perform
ance of his duties, forms portion OF the
,,olicv of one branch of the party press, and
is lust as earnestly resisted by the other. The
decision of the Cabinet council restricting the
functions of the Military Commanders OF the
Southern Districts, would seem to leave Gene
raj Sheridan and the other four commanders
shorn Of their powers.
II is clear that military and civil authority
cannot be, ooexistent. They cannot exercise
coordinate jurisdiction. Either the military
authority must have free scope to employ its
functions as a police-which we regard 1t as
now constituted in the Southland remove all
distractions to the proper enactments OF the
law, whether these distractions appear in the
shape of civil ofice-holders or private indi-
Viduals, or it must be abandoned altogether.
ANY attempt to harmonic the two systems
must prove a failure. Hence the denial of
the right of military commanders to remove
civil officers brings the two authorities at
once into conflict, and places the elements of
the Federal and the State Governments in
hostility.
We are not assured that the President has
accepted the advice of his Cabinet on this
question of the conflict between military and
civil power. We can see through the clouds
and storms that darken the horizon pretty
clear pathway. Let the programme set down
in the laws of Congress tending to reconstruc-
tion be carried out according to the Presidents
Interpretation of them in his messages, and
there will be little difficulty. But how far are
we from such result9 1t is evident that the
different political factions are opening up ques-
tions Of the most radical and revolutionary
character. Such agitators as Wendell Phillips
are preaching coniiscatiOn of Southern pro-
perty and a code of persecution. Senator
Wade advocates in his feeble way the princi-
pie of Proudhon, that property is robbery
and so it is with all the factionists who are
contributing their little efforts to drive the
country to destruction. T
In so far as the adage is universally true
that history repeats itself, we are not at loss
for a parallel for our present political condi-
tion. The war of factions, which may be set
down as an inherent evil in all great nations,
has produced like results everywhere; nor
can we, with all our boasted civilization
"modern improvements" intelligence and ex.
perienoe learned from history, claim an ex
emption from the general law. From the tur
bulent days of ancient Rome, when LuciuS
Cornelius Sylla, the iconoclast of AtheniaI
art, and the master mind of conscription ant
conhscation in his own country, led the aristo
cratic faction and ground plebeianism into tn
dust, until the time of the second Caesar Au
gustus, fanaticism ruled the destinies G
Rome. In the person of Augustus the Zone
man power" was asserted; its hand wa
placed firmly ON the helm, and the faction
which consummated their agitation in tn
homicide of the first Caesar were brough
under control. From that time faction
lost its sting. Augustus was master of tn
situation. Although renowned as the patrol
of art and poetry, he was none the less OBJ
servant of political events, nor less able t.
control them.
We may find another evidence of the mis-
chief of faction as developed by the Englisl
revolution of King Charles time. From tn
first evidence of popular discomfort with tn
administration of the government the country
was divided into factions, and the Parliamen
was the nursery of all the factious feeling tina
pervaded the public mind but Cromwell sup
pressed them all when he grappled with tn
Parliament, and on his individual RESPONSE
bility with the army at his back, wiped ther
out of existence and took the authority int
his own hands.
In the French revolution of 1889 factionisn
ruled the hour. 1t prevailed in the Conver
tion; it governed the national policy, so far a
there was any policy then existing; it organize
prescription; ii inaugurated oonfscation, an
It sanctifed the guillotine. 1t was the intel
position of military power by Napoleon whic
alone saved France from the anarchy an
bloody horrors that faction had imposed upo
it. AS with Rome with England, and wit
France we cannot escape the inevitable ever
which follows a revolution; but we reae
the end in a far different way. While otht
nations had to rely upon military dictator
and the appliance of arms for their reconstru
tion, we propose to send our military chieftai
into power as President of the republic by I'll
voice of the people, expressed through th
ballot-box, in accordance with the law and I'll
Constitution, and we expect, furthermore, tn
after the election of Grant we shall enjoy
government as secure as that which Washin
ton left us after the Revolution. All the no
tile and disturbing elements will be subdue
In the North and the South his elevation
the Presidency will be equally welcomed, al
we shall probably find our Caesar, our CroI
WELL and our Napoleon embraced in the OF
name-Grant--the choice of the people, wi
will quietly put all the factions out of sigt
and set the country on its feet. When th
comes about, we shall have no further troub
about the conflict of military and civil auth
Tity in any portion of the United States.
The President on Dangerous Ground
Bf0m Gte Tribune.
The National Intelligencer announces that
''a very recent consultation of the Cabinet
was decided that the military officers in COZ
mand Of the five districts, into which the =