The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-08

~ has submitted negro suffrage TO the popular
vote. will be represented as evidence of hos
tility on the part Of the North to the principle
of the measures which Congress is forcing
upon the South.
We consider IL certain that these endeavors,
however vigorous and persistent, will fail to
accomplish the purpose intended. Congress
will continue its course. II will adhere to the
law as it stands, and will do whatever may
seem necessary to render it effective. Nothing
has occurred to warrant any expectation of
change in the will of the majority Of Repub-
ican Senators and Representatives. If indi-
vidual utterances elsewhere than at Washing
ton, and the unvarying tone of the party
press, form any fair criteria by which to judge
of probable party action, we must conclude
that the determination to enforce the law as
it is remains as strong as before the verdict of
Ohio and Pennsylvania had been pronounced.
Extreme projects no longer obtain favor. The
impeachment scheme is no more encouraged.
Confscation is mentioned only to be hooted
down. And the neglect exhibited by Con-
gress towards the material interests of the
Countryside indifference shown to the de-
mand for retTenchment and revision and re-
duction of taxation-forms a subject of COM
plant, and an assigned cause of disaster. But
so far as the reconstruction policy is con
cerned, not single sign of concession is ap-
parent in any quarter.
The obstinaoy of the Southern whites fur
nishes plea for firmness, not for compliance
with their wishes. And the Acknowledgement
of the negroes is justified as the creation of
loyal bulwark, and an act Of justice which is
in no degree impaired by the refusal Of
Northern States to establish impartial suffrage
within their own borders. These reasons and
purposes may or may not be good. For the
moment, we have no hing to do with their eX-
pediency or their reasonRbleness. We simply
reproduce what we know to be the prevailing
feeling in the Republican party, from which
we infer that there is no probability OF any
material modification of the Congressional
plan during the coming session. In our
opinion, there will be no surrender, no yield
ing on any essential point. On the contrary,
we expect to see the entire work pushed for
ward energetically, with a view to the earliest
possible reorganization of the Southern States,
and their readmission to Congress on the basis
laid down.
These anticipations are not incompatible
with a recognition by Congress of the temper
indicated by the elections. Their lesson as
we understand it, is favorable to general mode
ration in the application of Union views-not
to the pretensions Of those who were engaged
in the war against the Union. 1t suggests the
exercise of no more severity than may be ne
cessary to secure the results achieved by the
war, as against the harshness and intolerance
of those who would add to the horrors of con-
tict the penalties of spolation and proscrip-
tion.
The stage at which Congress may be ap-
pealed to with the greatest probability of sue
cess will not be reached until the preliminary
proceedings now in progress shall have been
completed. The elections as held in Louisiana,
Virginia, Mississippi, and Arkansas must be
respected, and the elections ordered in the
other States must go on. The Conventions
will follow as matter of course, and we may
assume that the constituencies represented by
| the delegates will, in the main, uphold their
| work. The several Constitutions will come to
Congress for its approval, and then will arise
| the opportunity for profting practically by the
moral of the Northern elections.
1t will then be the duty of Congress to eX-
ercise its discretionary authority in the in
terest of moderation and Cancellation. There
is undoubtedly danger in the spirit which will
actuate the majority of delegates to the Con-
ventions. The passions and prejudices of the
people they represent are not unlikely to be
reflected in their proceedings. We may ap-
prehend provisions of an intolerant and pro-
scriptive character, framed in the name of
loyalty against tie great body of the white
citizens. We may look for disfranchisement
and disabilities, and for other provisions at
variance with the harmony and prosperity of
the South. Against everything of this nature
| Congress ought to take determined stand.
| 1t will be bound, as well by considerations
affecting the future of the Republican party
as Dy others suggested by the events OF this
| fall, to supplement the fact of reconstruction
with acts securing adequate protection and
equal rights to the whole Southern people.
Having secured the foundations of State
reorganization, it cannot wisely acquiesce in
| measures that have no necessary relation to
| that object. Some of its most prominent
members have more than once disclaimed the
| purpose of maintaining the disabilities now in
force. They have said that the penalties
enacted shall be revoked so soon as they
cease to be requisite. That time will surely
come when reconstruction shall have been so
| far perfected as TO secure the organic alton of
the loyal elements of the South with ample
guarantees for their strength and safety.
From that moment, penalties imposed on
account of the Rebellion will be inexpedient.
They will be irritating as we'll as useless. And
by guarding against their introduction in any
shape into the new Constitutions, Congress
will effectually outhank the Southern malcon-
tents, take from the Democrats one of their
most potent weapons, and respond satisfac-
torily to the all but universal desire of the
Northern people. The magnanimity of which
we sometimes hear can take no better form,
nor any one more calculated to secure the
permanence of Republican reconstruction.
How Long, LOrdI
From 1e N. Y Tribune
II is within month of sixteen years since
Louis Napoleon struck liberty an assassin's
blow and laid her dead upon the soil of France
He stole upon her in the night, while she
watched with faithful eyes the land she had
| redeemed, and her mortal blow came from The