New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-08-29


Of war was in itself az great a victory as Gettysburg
Grant felt that his business was essentially fighting
Fremont and Hunter had written antiSlavery opin-
ions" IIallec decidedly proSlavery opinion" but
they were ofno value than the paper upon which
they written This plain. plOddng little gentle
man left opinions to his civil superiOr5, and confined
himself to the business of "pegging away Inc
time came in its season when earnest meu were
greyed with this silence, When Emancipation
was proclaimed. Mcclellan give it naughty ana apo
Ogetic support. When it was necessary 10 arm .,o
negToes-a project that had been overruled when WI
Cameron proposed it in 1861. only to be procaileu III
lS63-there was great discomfort In the army "o"'
of the corps commanders were vehemehV'J oPP
to it. This Douglas Democrat aud lo'in1' o
holder had no such scruple. "YOu may rely Oh NY
carrying out any policy ordered by ,oco I
IN tho host Of nv ability This was in April looo' anu
:; Trro ,yo find him bearing this proud testimony
On + hattie CNilliken's Bend most OF the troops
o,,,d ,yore Africans who had but little expert
once in the use of arms. Their conduct Is sald nov"
over 70 have been most gallant, and' doubt nor
Int with good officers. they will make good troops
When Iogan was making speeches in favor oil Lincoln
bo wrote him in cOngratulatiOn When the President
himself was placing the Union above Slavery, Cen
Grant was unwilling to see an imperfect settlement
"My paramount object" said Mr. Lincoln, in this
struggle is to save the Union. and IS not either
TO save or destroy Slavery" AS anxious as
am to see peace" said Grant, and that without
Slavery reGstablishcd would not be willing TO SEQ
any settlement until this question is forever settled
Craftsmanship is doing the best thing in the best
way at the best time. Thackeray in his gallery OF
snobs forgot tho Snob Political. This Gifted Person
familiar with the penny newspapers and the caucus
has high ideas of Policy The yOluble orator who
talks by the hour at every town meeting; the honor
able Congressman who enthralls listening House by
moving for leave to have his speech printed for dis
trbuton over his district and whose reputation Is one
of the evils of the franking privileges the ponderous
corner grocery oracle who secs IN every national
change that the country is going to the bad, are all
statesmen Well tried by these tests our quiet sol
dier-captan whose combined public addresses would
not exceed a column of this newspaper is certainly
not o statesman. But there are simpler tests, and
these we proceed to apply.
Tho war left us Reconstruction. What was the
best thing TO be DONE and when was the best time
to do itP We have seen how Grant accepted the
question of Slavery we shall that ho prompt
in meeting tho second phase of iJ--Suirage. Our
Snob Political shouted over victory but the neccs-
sary result of victory was the execution or Mt
Davis! Gettysburg Yicksburg, Chattanooga, Win
chester Five Forks imperfect unless we took our
most noted captives and hanged them Mr. Lincoln, 1t
was feared was not stern enough for this new duty;
and when the tidings of his death came TO some of
our friends, they fot that God in his mysterious prov
idence intended to remove him, and give the work
TO a more resolute man. The Editor of THE TRIBUNE
has publicly testified how much it cost him To say
that the worst thing TO do with Davis was to hang
| him. Our statesmen especially one who received
! the nomination of the Republican party for one
| Office and large vote in the Democratic COnyen-
ton for another-were imperative in favor of ven
| geance. This soldier was wiser than men whose
noisy wisdom the pride of tho hour. His mind
saw through the clamor for bodily and cruel Won
geance and, rising to higher level he wrote these
| words:
although 1T would meet with opposition North
10 allow Lee the benefit OF amnesty think would have
the best possible effect towards restoring good feeling
and peace I'm the South 10 have him come In All tho
people except few political leaders IN the South Will
accept whatever he does right and DO guided TO great
extent 10y his example"
This sentiment was proclaimed on tho 9th ofMay,
1865, Lincoln being dead scarcely month. and the
shouts of revenge rising high above every other
sentiment. 1t required brave, serene, far-secing
man to say to amaddened and unappeasable NORTH
Vengeance is weakness punishment is folly the
scaold will only dim the glory of the sword blood
"enOugh has been she'd Soldiers should not be hang
men mercy is sternnesss; these men were gallant
"foemen; we have not been warning with jail-bIds
n
"to Rebellion let us begin with pardon to Lee"
This was the first principle of Grants statesman
ship and here we write it,
l. amnesty 10 a Conquered Rebellion.
There was another phase of our Reconstruction
duty which excited our gifted statesmen. The army
was in the South and a clamOr arose. headed by tho
President who, q few months earlier, was twisting
rope for Davis and Lee demanding its removal. Now
it came to him that these rebeOus mobs were
States" and State was something saored-unap-
proachabe; a very ark Of the covenant and TO be
touched by no prOfane hand. Moreover, we wore
white men, and this was whito mans
country and white men should bring the
Rebel States back to the Union. A great
party echoed this demand. and it seemed as if the
country would submit TO IT, Gen. Grant, however
unwilling to hang the rebels did not believe in fight
ing them again. in remanding the negroes to
their absolute and unChallenged control, and so,
when the President requested him to go into the
South and what was to be seen, he replied that
the time had not come to withdraw the military from
the South "The white and black continually re-
quire the protection of the General Government"
" In some form the FTeedmens Bureau is an absolute
necessity until the civil law is established aud en-
forced securing TO freedmen their rights and full
protection This was during the session of the first
Congress long before the alarmed Republicans had
broken ground in favor Of military governments;
military protection was the best thing to do, and
certainly it was the best time to do it. SO we write
as the second principle of Gen. Grants craftsmanship;
H. Military protection 10 The loyal negro against The
rebel ohie until such time ds the cicil lac gare him
the pOcer 70 protect himself
The craftsmanship that showed mercy to the con-
quered was not iDsensible to the demands Of the ne
groes. While the President willing to submit all
the questions arising out of the to the honor