Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-08-23

they were candidates themselves is thus
greatly weakened, and they are forced
to discuss issues and not appeal to per-
sOnal feeling IN their own favor. The
peonle are thus left freer than they were
before to choose their own candidates,
and are forced TO think Tor themselves,
as they have not hitherto done
50 FAR FROM BEING WILLING TO SEE
THE DIsERANCHISED CLASSES RELIEVED
FROM POLITICAL DIsA ABILITY, I CONSIDER
THESE DISFRASCHIsING CLAUSES OF THE-
ACTS TO BEAMONG THEIR WLsEST AND
BEST CONSIDERED PROVISIONS. If they
do no other good than torelieye the peo-
pie from the incubus of the old political
leaders, they have acOmpt ished Incalcu-
liable service. II is not doubted that
many worthy and now loyal men VINO
could be safely trusted are disfFanchised
by these clauses Of the military bills;
but such a result was unavoidable, and
can in their cases be easily remedied.-
It will no doubt be wise at an early day
to relieve by name such Of the disfran-
chised persons as have hitherto proved
OF shall prove by their conduct IN the
next six months, that they are worthy
Of it. While it was unavoidable that
some good men would be disfTanChised
by provisions of law against classes OF
y
take the converse of 6his-thatis, to give
general amnesty and exceptindividuals
by name-WOuld certainly result in
leaving large numbers enfranchised
who ought not 10 be. Such improper
persons might decide the coming cleo
tiOns before their un5tness could be as
certained, and even then it would be
more than difficult to remedy the evil.
1 consider the method set forth IN the
Reconstruction act by far the wiser
course of the two, and can hardly un-
derstand how anV man familiar with
the facts can think otherwise.
These disfranchised persons include,
generally, the whole army of those who
now hold or have hitherto held Office
With few exceptions, all these persons
were active Rebels, aud are bitterly Op-
posed to reconstruction under the acts
Of gress-OppOsed, in fact, to any re-
I construction whatever, except such as
would leave them in precisely tl8s same
political condition as If there had been
no rebellion and no war. Even such a
reconstruction as this they would only
II accept as a necessity OF the situation,
with the purpose to renew in Congress,
and peTpetuate among themselves as
nearly as possible. the same conditions
which existed before the war. With
these reactiOnists dominant in the
south, freedom Of speech and of the
! press viii not even exist in name. The
SecessiOuists, but have advocated re-
| construction under the late acts of Con-
rress, would find no peace and no pro-
/ lection in these States. The last cOndi-
ton of the freedmen would be worse
/ than the first.
need only point to this speech of Mr..
| Hill, his numerous letters, the letters OF
! Gov. Perry Of South Carolina, Of Hers
| chel V. JObson of Georgia, and many
/ other such men, for sufficient evidence
/ that have not oYerstated the case
| These men are the representatives of a
! large and powerful element bert on re-
| action, and they have been in the habit
| of controlling tEe southern whites. By
| taking opposite sides of a political ques-
/ tiOn they have in times past divided the
/ Southern whites on purely personal
/ grounds and have thus created the i'm
| preston elsewhere that among the
| masses there was q political question de-
cided instead of a purely personal one.
/ United as they now are against recon-
tstructioD, il is wise to ascertain how far
/ their influence Gun prevail with the peO-
/ pie. The disfrauchising clauses of the
/ acts of Congress put 1t out OF the power
! Of these men 10 be candidates for office.
! one great element of their strength is
/ thus destroyed !; and the people, left to
/ choose other leaders and vote for other
/ candidates, have really a freedom of ac-
| ion which they never had before, and
I dud themselves under a necessity for
/ thinking which they hagenOt heretofore
/ felt. Congress has gwen them this priv
1 tPge, and imposed upon them this sal
/ utarv necessity. It remains to be seen
loW they will use them. If they can
win the battle against their former lead
| rs, after an open fight, all viii be well
in the future. II not, then not.
/ DO NOT AT ALL AGREE IN THE OPIN-
ION THAT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH COM
| THE CIVIL OFFICES WHO ARE NOT DIS
/ FRANCHLsED. L HAVE, I THINK, REASON
I TO KNOW OTHERWISE. But even admit
1 ling that IL is SO, it is better to have an
incompetent but loyal man in office than
! to have a Rebel of whatever ability; in
/ fact, the greater the ability the. greater
4 the danger of maladministration. The
/ questions at issue under these acts Oi
/ Congress are the most mOmentOus e FeI
4 presented to a people. The result for
/ good OF evil will Affect all parts of the
| country with more or less force, and
/ viii leave an impress upon our .instiGu-
/ tiOns which will long remain. 1t is ea'
/ sy- under existing circumstances to win
| the first victory and reconstruct these
states under the acts Of Congress
| Freedom of speech and of the press
/ education, equality before the law and
I Ia political rights and privileges are the
| essentials Of any satisfactory recon.
strUc tion in the South. Without secu-
ring these we have secured nothing
| How can we know that reconstruction
/ will accom- plish these results unless we
/ know in advance the strength and the
/ power of those who oppose 1t ? Reac-
/ tiOn is certain unless the reconstruction
party can win the battle by decisive
| InajOrities over all the elements which
| oppose t, left to develop themselves and
/ apply their full force to the contest. 4
! the reactiOnists thus left free can defeat
/ such reconstruction as this, we then
| know what to do-what, in fact, we
must do, if we desire to perpetuate free
! institutions. It is best to know all these
| things before readmission into the Tn
/ ion is granted. 1t will be too late tC
| learn afterWard, Now is the time. and
| this is the opportunity to complete this
work so that it viii stand. Every die
/ tate of wisdom and patriotism demands
/ this work at our hands. If hastily OF
partially done, reconstruction viii drag
/ with it a train of evils to this country
which can never be remedied. It is not
/ necessary to say that however we re-
strain the opposition party now, the
/ moment reconstruction is accomplished
/ this party viii regain its activity, and
/ we ought to know in advance whether il
/ possesses the power to undo what we
4 thought we had done. do not mean tC
intimate that it would be possible to re-
/ establish Slavery perhaps it would not
I even he VlT-aptiea bla tO take from the