The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-18

lutke NdIlOub lleulb VI A0Wp1 oil OUhhOOVoN
more or less directly with the west of Europe,
do not exhaust the alarming rumors current
all over the continent. The threatened Franco
Spanish alliance has already produced not
unnatural excitement in Italy. The Italian
Government, resigned to its fate, has been
quietly going on and somewhat successfully
doing its work since the unfortunate affair at
Montana. A continuance OF the present sys-
tenn of quiet domestic government, tending as
1t does towards the development of the re-
sources of the peninsula, might at no distant
day render solution of the Roman question
as easy and peaceful as it would be satisfactory
to all concerned. The relations which have
sprung up between France and Spain have
infused new life into the party of action, and
Garibaldian threats aud Mazzini letters and
rumored movements of large bodies of men
towards the Papal frontier arenow filling mems
minds all over the Italian peninsula. In the
event of war breaking out in the North and
a Spanish soldier touching Roman or Italian
soil, or Spanish war ship auchoriDg in TIA
liam waters, Italy would burst into one general
blaze of patriotism which nothing but deluge
of blood could quench.
So is it in the South. Matters are scarcely
less alarming in the East. The Greeks, what
ever we may say of their success, are still as
full OF ambition as ever. The Cretan patriots,
in spite of the apparent hopelessness of their
cause, still look forward to the time when the
Greek race, reunited, shall resume their once
lofty place in the great family of nations.
The Servians and other members of the So
called Slavonic family hesitate in deciding
upon incorporation with Russia or upon the
establishment of separate Slavonic empire
which shall embrace all the on-Grecian
Christian subjects of the Porte; while the
Poles, the one Slavonic people who detest the
idea of incorporation with any Power, long
more intensely than ever for their ancient ma
tional independence.
Europe is thus seen to be in a peculiarly
combustible condition. 1t requires but the
application of the match to produce a general
and destructive contagration. 1t matters
little where the match is applied, whether in
the West, or the South, or the East, it is all
but absolutely certain that the flames will
spread until every nation of the Continent is
wrapped in their ruinous embrace. Suppose,
for example, that the forces OF France and
Prussia were to come into collision ON the
Rhine, and that Spain were to attempt to gar
rison Rome, is 1t not certain that q war to the
death would break out between Italy and
Spain Is 1t not just as certain that the
Cre.an insurgents would feel encouraged to
make fresh effort for their independence
Can it be doubted that Greece, and after
Greece Russia, would exert themselves to the
utmost to fan the flame of rebellion through
out the Christian provinces of the Turkish
dominionsY If Russia had not already Joined
Prussia against France Russia would at last
have found her opportunity to march on Con-
stantinople and make good her pretension to
be the natural successor of the great Roman
empire of the East. supposing England to
have refused to fight for Belgium and Holland,
would she remain passive and see the iron
clads of Russia dominate the Dardaneles 2
Great Britain in the fray, where, how, when
will the matter endY Who can answer The
only thing that is certain now is that Europe
is on the eve of great and serious crisis.
''UncOnstitutiOnai, Revolutionary, and
Void"
From The N. y Times
Governor Baker, of Indiana in a discussion
with Senator Hendricks, traced the course OF
the Democrats from the commencement of the
war, with the view of showing that the oppo-
sition now offered to the reconstruction policy
is identical with that which assailed every
measure employed by the national Govern
ment in the struggle for its existence. The
argument now employed to break down the
Republica policy for the restoration of the
Lnion, is a repetition of that which was again
and again used to sustain the cause OF the
Rebellion.
The men who now condemn reconstruction
as unconstitutional, revolutionary, aud
void, +" in the same terms denounced the par.
pose to put down the Rebellion by force Of
arms. That was pre-eminently unconstitu-
tional policy, in the opinion of the managers
of the New York Convention. They held that,
under the Constitution, the States had a right
to secede, and that the exercise of coercion by
the Federal Governme at TO prevent the exer.
else of the right, was revolutionary. Accord
ing to them, the Government made war upon
the Constitution when it undertook the sup
preston of the Rebellion.
Clinging tenaciously to this doctrine, the
Copperheads never neglected chance Of
doing all that the rules of Congress allow tC
obstruct and embarrass the course of tn G
Government. Ali the great measures of the
war period they attacked in succession al
| revolutionary and unconstitutional. The firs
call for troops was objected to on this ground
| The enactment Of the test oath, designed tC
exclude Rebels from office; the amnesty anG
| emancipation proclamations OF Mr.. Lincoln
| the initiatory reconstruction proclamation o
the same President; and generally all that Mr.
Lincoln or Congress did to weaken the Rebels
! or directly to add vigor to the prosecution o
| the war-encountered the active opposition o
! those who now attack reconstruction. Ever
the issue of greenbaoks, with which the
Democratic party now proposes to pay tht
| bOndholdeTs, was resisted as an infraotion oi
the Constitution. The financial measures
which the exigencies of the time necessitated
were enacted in spite of an opposition akiI
to that which would plunge the reconstructed
States back into anarchy.
The plea and the purpose have been tn
same all the time. At every step the party o
the Union was compelled to contest the grounC
with the politicians who nominated 5eymOu
and Blair. They were not simply Indifferent
They were active on the side OF the enemy; no
indeed waging battle in the open field, bu
doing service as aiders and abettors of tn
enemy at WASHINGTON and in the Northarl