The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-31
Progress of the Revolution.
From the ~ Y. Herald.


Seven of the Southern States having COM
piled with the requirements of Congress, the
set constituting them military districts has
"become inoperative;" so the armed power of
the nation is withdrawn and the power here
tofore lodged with commanders is "remitted to
the civil authorities" Law and not the will
of any man is now theoretically supreme in
those communities. But what lawi Particu-
larly the fourteenth amendment, which Mr..
Seward has just (somewhat superfuously) de-
olared "valid to all intents and purposes as
part of the Constitution of the United States"
These Southern communities are now subject
to their local laws, save in so far as these con-
lict with the national laws; and they are sub
ject to the laws of Congress except when these
conflict with the provisions of the Constitution.
Just as the parts of the Reconstruction law that
established military authority in the South have
now "become inoperative' and are put aside,
SO other parts of the same law will of course
become imperative and be put aside, as they
seem to be superseded by the higher constitu-
tional enactments. Between the reconstrue-
tion laws and the fourteenth amendment there
is direct collision on that vital point of South
ern politics-negro suffrage. In the amend
ment the Southern communities may find full
power to supersede and push aside the laws
that establish this suffrage, and from all the
indications We now have of Southern temper
we cannot doubt their readiness to use that
power at the earliest possible moment In
erasing negro suffrage they lose certain
weight in the national legislature; but they
will deprive themselves of that to put their
dome site institutions on basis satisfactory
to themselves. For this they will only wait
to manipulate one State election, and so get
the power that Congress has left with the
carpet-baggers. To this effort they are mani
testify invited by the altitude of the Execu-
tive, by the ostentatious announcement to
fhln met has oAt cd hot he
generals have no longer any power, and that
the fourteenth amendment is the paramount
law.
Here we go, then, into another stretch of
revolutionary impossiblities, into another
phase of the war OF factions, as if to demon
strate that the newest republic shall not be
exempt from the vices that destroyed all its
historical predecessors, and to declare that
forms Of government give no security against
tho OWLS that now from party fury and all
other developments of political vice. Our
future we can only study i'll the history of
other nations. Was the fall of the Roman Re-
public an accurate antelope of ours ? Be-
tween the decay of the old republican forms
and spirit and the next name that gave glory
TO the Roman name there was over hundred
years in which the State was alternately in the
hands of one or another faction. Reaction from
one extreme always brought the other
into power and the incoming faction
|
ing up all that the former had done and
in initiating another organization of govern
ment from the most widely different princi-
pies. Laws were only made by one to be
unmade by the other, and society, the people,
every interest of the community was thus
kept at the constant mercy of men who could
See nothing that stood in the way of their
party revenges. Thus the Roman republic
went down, until its people so lost their great
spirit that they could accept a master, and
then the shadow of C@sar's name, greater than
Cesar, consolidated the empire. Are we to
experience the same change Was the gov
ernment founded by our fathers only fit for a
republic of five to ten millions of persons and
did the growth of the nation render inevitable
a change in its political system And must
we, in order to reconcile us to the system of
the future that shall be suited to fifty mil
| lions, go through all the miseries of a rule
of faction till we shall be ready to accept with
peace system that now would be repugnant
to our republican instincts
As we stand we are in the hands of the
| demagOgues. This most atroGious faction that
we call the Radicals has cheated the nation of
the just results OF its great efforts and victory,
and thus starts the reaction that has threat
ened to bring into power the other extreme.
But shall we fare any better with that other
extreme! What can we expect OF Seymour, of
Blair, or of party one OF whose orators is
in great part by the men who waged four
years war to destroy the Government Sey-
mour is rather worse than poor Pierce-a mere
retailer of infinite twaddle. If his party were
to win We should expect to see him withdraw
and Blair take his place. Blair has promised
in advance to take us back to the chaos of dis
organization. He would observe constitutional
forms that is, he would wait until he had
secured Congress of his own creatures, which
he could certainly do by such use of Govern
ment patronage as has not been dreamed of
hitherto. With that Congress and that Presi-
dent whittier might we not be takenl And if
the Northern people resisted another war of
coercion would be easy to start and South
eIn army, with change of coat and colors,
might march into the Middle or New England
States under Wade Hampton to assert the
authority of the National Government. We
cannot fancy that the radical faction is any
more worthy to be trusted than the Rebel
faction; but we believe that Grant is safe; and
as we have seen him in tine war win battles in
spite of the enemy in front and the politicians
behind, We could hope that he might do quite
as much again. His election affords the only
promise OF saving the country from such a
future as an indiscriminate war OF factions
would involve.
The Exact Figures.