The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-04-20
Oh AR L ES TON
MONDAY MORNING, AFRIL 20, 1868.
The New York Times on the Republican
Party.

cal status, the New York Times makes some
singular admissions, calculated to damage
the party with which it has heretofore been
connected.
The Times admits that the Republicans
have 'sstruck down both the President and
the Supreme Court" and that the House
has forced the Senate to yield to its will.
The government which it now conducts is a
different one from that ordained by the
constitution under which we have lived up
to the present time. But then this depar-
ture from the theory Of our government
(usurpation of power will, in its judgment,
be temporary. 1t is the result of ''a ma
tionsl dislocation..' - The plea will COM
pare with that of the Commercial -4drertiser
for young Ketchum, poor fellow. who COM
mitted forgery because he was in state of
monetary excitement.
In another article relating to the conduct
of the impeachment trial, the Tunes says
that "the appointment of Mr.. BUTLER to
"control the case for the prosecution is the
sadoption by the House managers Of the
practice adopted by the 'shysters of the
GLOW criminal courts. By twisting evil
"dence, badgering witnesses, quibbling
"over petty points, abusing the opposing
"counsel, and resorting to all the mean
'.tricks of the pettifogger, it is thought
"that their side of the case can best be
sserved, and the Senate most easily be af-
ssfected. It was as an adept in these prac-
s'tices that Mr.. BUTLER first distinguished
"himself in the criminal courts Of Massa-
"chusetts" And there is dignity as well as
force in the conclusion that different
mode of conducting this important case
would have been more creditable to the
Senate, more creditable to the country,
more creditable to the cause of justice, and
more worthy of the admiration of mankind,
here and everywhere, now and hereafter.
In still another article upon the condition
of the South, the Times instances Tennes-
see as State where the harsh rule of Re-
publicanism has had full trial. If the
Radical procedures were wise, Tennessee
should now be the model State Of the Union.
Yet it is conceded "that in the whole South
s'there is not State which can vie with it
''in the malignity of the temper which ami
'smates portions of its people, in the ia
"grancy and frequency Of outrage and in
s.justice, and in the utter want Of conf
"dence which is felt in the peacefulness of
s'its future. Nowhere throughout the South
sis life more insecure, property more nearly
"valueless, or society more completely dis
'organized than in parts of the State which
"has experienced the extreme policy of Re-
"construction. And it is further conceded
that the present policy will still need to be
upheld by bayonets, after Congress has an
nounced it perfectly accomplished.
And the Times draws the following pic
ture of the effects of that policy upon the
colored population of the South:
"Nor can we in fairness overlook the
''rapid growth of aggravated crime among
s'the freedmen. This aspect Of the case re-
"ceives but slight attention at the hands Of
sthose who are loudest in denouncing the
ssperpetrators of the Ashburn murder.
s'The reports are either withheld from
qualification or are denied prominence.
"Yet they have been numerous, specific and
authenticated. OF theft in Mississippi
''and Georgia, and of theft complicated
"with incendiarism in South Carolina
"freedmen being undenia bly, the crimi-
'nals-our correspondents from these States
"have, during the late winter, furnished a
formidable record. The nature of the
"crimes reported weekly becomes more Sc
rious. The Associated Press dispatch from
"Alabama, the other day, narrated the mur-
"der of an ex-Confederate in locality
swhere four other white men, also ex-Con-
celebrates, have been shot and instantly
"killed. This from Alabama. In Virginia,
"again, murders by freedmen are on the in
"crease. Within week ouf Richmond
correspondent has informed US that white
"men are waylaid and shot by negroes on
'roads leading to that city. There, as at
"Selma, the murderers being black and the
murdered white, the special vigilance of the
military has not been invoked, and the
''crimes pass unpunished. They have not
ssbeen paraded for the enlightenment of Con-
"gresa, or used as occasions for sweeping at
stacks upon the race that furnish the muir
"derers. This course is pursued when the
"purpose is to demonstrate the necessity of
excepting u tight hand upon the South; it
sis not adopted when the effect would be
"unfavorable TO the class on whom the law
shas conferred large-if not the controll-
.sing-ipfuence in the reorganization of the
South
These are terrible charges. Can any
party hold its own. even by the shameless
audacity of power, when their truth is con-
ceded-when the facts which condemn it
form part of the current history of the
country?
IT IS WORTHY OF NOTE that while the