The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-02

bNNH Obhhuob anu hS hS ThulCAl fduCOF
could CO. nullifed and annhilated by legsla-
tive degradation; and now, when it is found
impossible to reconstruct the South without
their aid, they are soundly abused because
they bave not furnished 1t II their influence
was wanted in the paei6 jation of the country,
why was it not applied for2 At the close Of
the war fierce shout went up that the South
efn leaders must be prescribed aud ostra-
cised that their property ought to be con65-
Gated, and themselves banished or hanged.
In the work of reconstruction, they
were warned to "t take back seats. +"
The restoration of the Union could have
been accomplished within thirty DAYS after
the surrender of Lee had it not been for the
proclaimed horror md scorn of allowing 'Ghe
Rebels" to have any hand in the work. All
that was needed was for the existing State
Legislatures to take oath to support the Con.
stituiion, and the work would have bsen ac-
complished. President Lincoln at first favored
spch action by the Legislature of Virginia:
but the radicals raised such din OF fercs re-
monstrance that he quickly changed his mind.
When General Sherman received the surrender
OF Johnston he had not heard of Mr.. Lincoln's
change of purpose, and followed what he
supposed was to be the model set by the
President in Virginia. Nobody can have
forgot the tremendous howl of indignation
which resounded throughout the North
Republicans denounced General Sherman as
traitor. The Secretary of War used the
telegraph to publish that great soldier as a
traitor. The cry was taken up and echoed
by Bancroft, the historian, in a speech de-
livered in this city. The whole radical party
was shocked and appalled,, was Mortified, in.
dignant, and furious at the idea that 'rebel
Legislatures" were to be made instruments of
re restoriDg the Union. The same intoeraut
fee ling was manifested towards all who had
taken any part in the Rebellion, and particu-
larly its leaders. And now the Tribune has
the absurd assurance to turn round and abuse
the Southern leaders because they have not
lent their aid to build up a new order of
things
After all these years of turmoil and disor-
ganzation, the radicals are at last beginning
to find out that stable reconstruction is impos-
sibe without the active cooperation of the
leading men of the South. Almost the whole
white population took part in the Rebellion,
and the same leaders whom they then followed
could easily have made them content with
reasonable terms of reconciliation. Rather
than permit this, the radicals inverted the
order of nature, and absurdly imagined that
by military coercion they could make herd
of needy, ignorant blacks, Just let loose from
brutalizing seTvitude, the leaders of Southern
society and the architects of new order of
things. The result is what any reasonable
man might have expected. As the Tribune
is constrained to confess, Emigration is ar
rested-capital shIinks from her cities and
eaports-cOmmerce seeks less congenial but
more secure clmes-credit is dead d-her vast
resources are neglected d-there is no industry,
no enterprise, no national progress, no public
spirit, nothing but political chaos and social
anarchy"
This is the practical result of radical manage
ment in the South. AS the Good Book says,
"a tree is known by its fruit. Men do not
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them"