Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-01-20

affair anOrue. ne cOWuruleb hs wen no
the bravado Of guilt is stamped upon its
face. 1t shows an utter absence OF con-
fidence in the constitutional efficacy OF
the measures which are applicable to the
South, and an utter want of moral cour-
age to uphold the principles that are in
volved. A consciousness Of right usually
inspires calmness and strength, and
the party which realizes itseldom shrinks
from the contingencies incident TO politi'
cal warfare. These extreme Radicals,
however, seem to shut their eyes when
they rush ahead. They are afraid OF the
ground they tread upon, and OF phan-
toms at every turn. Now II is OF the
President, anon of the district comman'
ders, and yet again at the Supreme
Court We suspect that they also begin
to fear the people in whose name they
act, and whose instructive sense OF JUS
tice revolts against the abuse OF their
delegated power. The idea seems to pre-
vail in the Reconstruction and Judiciary
Committees that there is no time to lose.
The thing called reconstruction must be
pushed through, even though 1t be ne
cessary to muzzle the Supreme Court
judges.
How the court will treat the attack
upon its independence remains to be
seen. 1t is not likely to respect or obey
law which interferes with its constltu-
tional functions, notoriously for the &C,
complishment of an unconstitutional
purpose. What then2 Suppose the
court, by majority Of its members, de-
u Il
tionally invalid, and refuses to recognize
as constitutional the law defining the
conditions ofa judgment2 Will Congress,
having failed to legislate the court into
compliance, undertake to leglslate 1t out
of existence? Will party majority
make the General-in.C Chief the judge OF
the Judges, as we'll as the superior OF the
President2 Will they at least avow their
contempt for the Constitution and their
resolve to proceed regardless of its pro-
visions? To this position their steps
unquestionably tend, and the only iniiu-
ence that can restrain them will be Tear
| for their own safety. or what possible
value, then, will be the policy of Con-
press when pushed to extremitles a
party whose leaders trample on the Con-
stitution, because it impedes their opera
tons, cannot long retain the confidence
of the country, and when their overthrow
comes-as come it must-what Will be
the fate of their policyY what the upshott
of their plotting and leglslatlng ana
usurping2 These are inquiries which
concern more than themselves, for they
indicate the re-opening OF the. Southern
question and the reconstructing OF re-
construction as the consequences OF the
recklessness which marks the Radical
programme.
From the New York Herald. January lS.l
RoMAYIzrNG THE NATION - The
President must 60 on in the exercise OF
his rightful executive powers in the
United States, North or South; aud ii
Congress, establishing its new recon
stru ction machine, forces q conflict, that
conflict will be of Radical making, and
the President will have behind him those
msiorities of the Northern people that
so lately made themselves heard against
Radical extremity in California, Con
necticut, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Our
own great Empire Stnte.
As to the natural and inevitable danger
to freedom that lies in the setting up OF
great military power in any district
within our borders, the history of Rome
is eloquent in its example. Such dis
tricts were the gradations by which
Rome stepped from the republic to the
empire. In them were nurtured and
kept in train the armies that, beginning
to fight for Rome, grew into the military
subordination that at length made them
content to fight for their general, what
ever the quarrel. In those vast spheres
of command, generals acquiring ambi-
ton with power, became too great for
the safety of the State.
Thus it was that Rome's conquests
proved Rome's ruin, and the State that
could defy the power of the world besides
| fell a victim to her successes. Caesar
grew in Gaul to such hight that Rome
could hold him only as an Emperor.
Let the people of the North reflect on the
unquestionable fact that the danger in
this matter ia to their own liberties, not
to those of the Southern people; for the
South is so beaten down now that it Is
out of fortunes power; there is hardly a
depth of political degradation that itt
people have not sounded under Radical
military rule, and they seem to feel that
any change may possibly be for the bet
ter The danger is to those who are still
free. The danger is that as we grow
daily in anarchy, as we grow from bad
to worse under the misgovernment OF a
Congress that forgets its plain duty to
the nation in the pursuit of partisan
schemes, the people by aud by may
grow to envy even those who live under
the tranquility of despotism, and may
look on with satisfaction when the COM
mander OF an army posted to keep down
the Southern people (perhaps recruited
to a great extent in the Southern States)
shall suddenly march to Washington,
seize the capitol, and disperse that chat
tering, jabbering, corrupt and contempt
ible rabble, the Congress of the United
States.
From the N. Y. Times (Rep0, Jan. l3th.l
TIE NEw RECONSTRUCTION BILL.-The
Reconstruction Committee has not quite
got up to the standard Of Southern con-
veniions. They, or some of them, have
modestly asked that the civil offices OF
their respective States be declared vacant,
and that they be filled by appointees of
the conventions. This seems to have
been a little too much for the committee.
But, though the new measure which 1t
has prepared does not foster anarchy, 1t
does provide for a great deal Of confu-
sion and for central military dictator
ship by way Of remedy.
II will not be easy, by-and-5y, to define
the civil governments Of the ten excluded
States, or to say how or for what they
exist Provisional they have always been
declared to be. Under the proposed
measure they will be several shades less
than provisional, ifit be possible 20 CON-