Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-01-18
AN APPALLING ASPECT.
Moderate Republican View Of
the New Recommendation
Programme.


The following extract is clipped froa
a vigorous aud well written article in th
last number Of the New York Times th
editor of which, as o member of Con
xress, voted for the original reconstruc
ton acts:
We conclude, then, that the crusade
now set on foot by the present plan 0
reconstruction is the product of de
termination to keep the Southern ques
ton open for the purposes OF Radica
agitation. They do not want any settle
ment of the question just now, and they
will allow of none which does not in al
respects come up to their standard. Ii
this spirit they virtually brand the ex
listing law as failure, and propose y
supersede it by a scheme which will
plunge the South into chaos. Its condi'
ton is already bad enough with whites
and blacks separated, and the power
of framing the organic law vested IN
the hands of the former. 1t will
be infinitely verse, however. il
the project Of the Bsutwells and Mortons
of Congress receive the approval of that
body, For from that moment the entire
law-making power, as well as the entire
civil administration of the States, will be
controlled by the members of the Con-
vention. A race but just emerged from
bondage, Ignorant and semi-barbarous,
will have the filing of every local office,
from the Executive downward. Gov
ernor, judges, sheriffs, and all the func-
tionaries of civil rule will be the nomi-
nees of the conventions, which again will
be duped and guided by the kpaves and
adventurers who pull the wires. A more
appalling aspect it is not possible to i'm
agine, or one which mere effectuaiiy ex-
tinguishes the hope Of peacefully and
permanently restoring the South to the
Union.
We have supported the Congressional
policy of reconstruction under convic-
lion that with all its faults, it opened the
way to a reunited republic. We have
preferred harsh and in some respects
unwise and unjust reconstruction, to the
continued exclusion Of the South from the
Union. We have felt that the supervi-
sorry power retained by Congress afford
ed an opportunity for rrectiug the errors
and moderating the excuses of the Con-
ventions; and that after restoration, the
South might look for more considerable
treatment, if not for actual magnanim-
ity. But these endeavors to reopen the
subject and to start afresh by plunging
the South into positive anarchy, prove
the futility Of all reasonable expecta-
tons, and the wildness and folly, if not
the political dishonesty, of those who are
engaged in the work. If they succeed,
will be postponed indef-
nitely. DISCRIMINATION will be the order
of the day. And no one will venture to
predict when or how it will end.
In party sense, the movement is de-
structive. reconstruction has put the
Republican party on its trial, and the
verdict must be against it, if, after two
years experimentalizing, it confesses
Itself no nearer success than when it
started. The country has sustained it,
20 far; under belief that it would quickly
and safely restore the integrity Of the
Union. With what propriety or conf
aehce, with what justice or decency, will
Il be possible to ask for further support
if the tolls and devices of two years are
declared by their authors an ignominous
failure2 What reliance can be placed
On the capacity-what trust in the judg.
Republican craftsmanship if
i thus repudiates its own handiwork2