The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-08-09

know, too, that those Northern white radical
stumpers in the South who have most broadly
suggested the possible application from Con-
gress of "Old Thad Stevens" panacea Of con-
iscation have excited the liveliest enthusiasm
among the blacks. Ia 1t any wonder, then, that
Ex-Governor Perry, Of South Carolina, and
other leading Southern men counsel the policy
Of quiet submission to their present military
government indefinitely as preferable to this
will place the State absolutely under the con-
troll Of the blacksf Do we not also perceive
that in this matter there is an opening for
decisive political diversion on the part Of
President Johnson in bis execution Of these re-
construction laws in the interval to the next
meeting Of Congress!
Granting that the Northern States are pre-
pared for the recognition and acceptance Of
equal suffrage to the blacks, Is New York, or is
Pennsylvania, or is Ohio prepared for the full
blown experiment of negro supremacy in ten
Southern States, az contemplated by the re-
publican radicals in Southern reconstruction
Assuming that II, with conservative acting
Secretary of War in the place Of Stanton, and
with five military commanders of Mr.. Johnson's
way Of thinking in the places Of the five COM
manders who think and act according to the
gospel of Mr.. Stanton-asuming that the result
will be to delay the work Of Southern restora-
ton for even two or three years-will this not
be wiser than to rush headlong into this danger
Of Southern negro supremacy! Will not the
inevitable tendency Of negro supremacy in
South Carolina, for example, be to drive out
the white population or to precipitate that war
of races which, If commenced, will be apt
speedily to ripen into war on both sides of
indiscrlminate determination? Will social har-
mony or peace, or financial confidence or
active and systematic industry ever be restored
10 the South under the threatening danger of
negro supremacy
We cannot answer these questions truly with
out recognizing the sagacity and wisdom of
President Johnson's policy Of giving to the
Southern whites as far as possible under the
terms Of Congress a chance to recover their
lost ground, and to take the lead in Southern
reconstruction. We are, indeed, 90 far i'm
pressed with the idea that In this view Of the
question be stands in strong position that we
feel bound to advise him to make the most of
his opportunity in bringing the issue before the
people of the Northern States for their "sober
second thought" upon it in the coming fall
elections There is no security, and there are
a thousand dangers, In the radical programme,
which now distinctly foreshadows the placing
of the late governing whites of the South under
the political control and subject to the caprices
and revenges Of the black race relieved but
yesterday from the moral darkness, oppres-
sions, wrongs and disabilities of African
slavery. These dangers are so menacing that
they must be appreciated by thinking North
ern men. We hold, accordingly, that the time
at last has come for Northern reaction, and
the time, therefore, for decisive measures
on the part of President Johnson.