Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-01-17
From the Now York Times (RadicaD

| Epson and Boutwell, in the House, and the
more specific proposition of Mr.. Norton in
the Senate, all point to the same result
| The Reconstruction law IS not to be allowed
to run its course. 1t is to be stopped on
the plea that its working is not according
to Radical notions. The whole question is
to be reOpened and the confusion that ex-
lists IN the South is to be worse confoun-
ded, In order that early AID peaceful re-
storation may be rendered impossible. In
stead of reconstruction, we are TO have dis
| organization.
There is agreement, too, as to the pro
cess through which this shall be reached.
The existing civil governments, though In
the eye OF the law provisional, are alleged
to be an obstacle which can be no further
tolerated. 1t is not enough that they are
powerless before the law. They must be
uprooted and destroyed as strongholds Of
the enemy. The District Commanders are
also IN the way. They are guilty Of the
crime OF allowing the civil authorities TO
fulfill its mission, when not i'll conflict with
the Reconstruction acts. For this cfTense
they are to be Shorn Of power, and the full
responsibility OF military administration is
to be placed upon the General-in Chief
The allegations put forward in support
OF the proposed changes amount, snbstan-
tally, to the charge that the Provisional
| Governments, with the connivance il not
the help Of the military commanders, I'M
pede and defeat reconstruction. How or
where does not clearly appear. Left TO
! themselves, it is al least probable that their
| influence would have been injurious /; but
under military restraint they have been i'm
potent. With the exception of Texas, we
know OF no State which at this moment
stands III an attitude OF hostility to the
law. Indeed, the impression produced by
q review Of the action Of the Southern gov
! eTnment8 since It's enactment Is favorable
to their moderation and good sense. They
could scarcely be expected to embark zeal
ously ii a work which began by degrading
them !; but they have, nevertheless, yielded
to military dictati0n promptly, if not
always with II good grace. As for the
! Commanding Generals, what have they
done to justify Senator Morton's sweep
ing accusations ? Popo's successor has
not had. time to be mischievcus, nor
IS there any reason for believing that
he intends to DO otherwise than faith
full to his trust. Certainly, his COM
munIcations to the Georgia Conyen-
ton have been friendly and satisfactory
Against the successor OF Sickles no very
serious complaint has been urged and
Schofeid stands we'll with all parties.-
Hancock alone has provoked hostile crit
clsm, and lis order Of the LIST instant is
singled oDt in the Senate for special con-
demnation. His leniency may have been
misplaced IN Texas an occurrence reported
yesterday looks like an abuse OF his for
bearaLCe which should not be suffered to
occur again. But the particular order cited
by MI. Morton, and the general tendency
OF his administration, are creditable to his
Judgment. They show thai while firm in
the enforcement Of the law, lie leaves the
local civil authority to operate unimpeded
in the matters TO which it properly relates.
MI. Morton 6tlgmatlzes this as Il ''recOG-
milton OF the right OF the State govern
ments, in defiance Of the declaration Of
Congress that they are illegal and unau-
thorized." But it is nothing Of the sort
Congress allowed the State governments to
continue III a provisional capacity expressly
to perform the functions with which Han
cock declines to Interfere. Ii these func-
lions were perverted to uses at variance
with reconstruction, military interference
would be duty, but there has been no at
tempt to show that this is the case.
We conclude, then, that the crusade now
set on foot against the present plan of re-
construction is the product of a deteTmi
nation to keep the Southern question open
for the purposes of Radical agltatOrs. They
do not want any settlement Of the question,
which does not III all respects come up to
their standard. In this spirit they virtu-
ally brand the existing law as failure, and
propose to supersede it by a scheme which
will plunge the South into chaos. Its con-
dition is already bad enough, with whites
and blacks separated, and the power of
framing the organic law vested in the hands
of the former. It will be infinitely worse,
however, if the project of the Boutwells
and Mortons OF Congress receive the APP
proval of that body. For from that mo-
ment the entire law making power, as we'll
as the entire civil administration of the
States, will be controlled b. the members
of the CONVICTIONS. A race but just emerged
from bondage, ignorant and Seni-barba-
rOuS, will have the filing Of every local
office, from the Executive downward
Governor, Judges, sherif1s and all the func-
tionarics of civil rule will be the nominees
Of the Conventions, which again will be
duped and guided by the knaves and adj
Venturers who pull the wires. \ more APP
palling aspect 1t IS not possibly to imagine,
or one which more eIfectually eXtinguishe8
the hope Of peacefully and permanently
restoring the South to the Union.
We have supported the Congressional
policy Of reconstruction undera Conviction
that, with all its faults. it opened the way
to reunited republic. We have preferred
Il harsh and in some respects unwise and
unjust reconstruction, to the continued OK
cIuSion Of the South from the Union. We
have felt that the supervisory power retain
ed by Congress afforded an opportunity for
correcting the errors and moderating the
excuses Of the Conventions and that, af
ter restoration, the South might look for
more considerable treatment, if not for ac-
tual magnanimity. But these endeavoys
to reopen the subject and to start afresh by
plunging the South into positive anarchy,
prove the futility of all reasonable expec-
tations, and the WiIdness and folly, if not
the political dishonesty, of those who are
engaged in the work. Ii they succeed, re-
construction will be postponed Indefinite
ly. DISCRIMINATION will be the order Of
the day. And no man will venture to pre-
dict when or how it will end.
In party sense, the movement is de-
structive Reconstruction has put the Re
publican party on its trial, and the verdict
must be against it, if, after two years ex-
perimentalzing, it confesses itself no near
er success than when it started. The
country has sustained it, SO far, under a
belief that it would quickly and safely re-
store the integrity OF the Union. With