The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-12
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CuRREET ToPIos--CoMPlLBD BvKRY
DAY FOR tbs EVENING TRhBaRAPH.
The ABYSS Before lis.
Fkom the ". Y. Irtblne.

From Lhe NJ Y. Tribune
II II were possible that the American people
should commit their destinies to the keeping
of Horatio Seymour and Frank Blair, these
consequences are iDevitable:-
l. The seizure of unbounded power over the
Southern States by the late Rebels. In stating
this, we state but what they, through thou
sand mouths, have already proclaimed. Not
Frank Blair only, but nearly every talking
conservative" in the South, has assumed
that the election of Seymour will be popular
verdict against the whole reconstruction
policy Of Congress, and especially against the
right of the blacks to vote. They tell us that
the election of Seymour and Blair will be
ratification of that plank of their Tammany
platform which stigmatizes the reconstruction
acts as Revolutionary, null, and void," and
that they shall proceed to treat them accord
ingly. That is to say:-They will treat the
new State Governments as nullities, and pro-
ceed at once to replace them by what they
call "White Mems Governments''-that Is,
governments based on their own good plea
sure. That they will be resisted, and that
bloodshed and anarchy will result, are lnevl-
table.
II. Another result of Seymours election will
be the triumph of that sneaking, cOwardly
form Of reputation termed paying the Five
twenties in greenbacks. We do not mean that
this villaipy will ultimately prevails but its
advocates will for the moment be uppermost,
and will push it to the extent of debasing our
currency SO that it will have no definite value,
and the property of the widow and orphan,
now held in trust, will be rendered worthless.
Knaves will pay their debts with ten to twenty
cents on the dollar, and labor will be paid off
in money that has little or no value. Ulti-
mately, the infinite evils of this scheme will
strip its advocates of power, replacing them by
champions of financial integrity; SO the debt
will at last be paid, but not until after it has
dc tn ba lOaa Of Ooi1 Or
needy holders, and its repudiation will have
wrought general bankruptcy and ruin.
Ill. The white Unionists will be hunted
from the South as they were in the winter and
spring of 1860-6l. Many of them will be
killed in the process, as they were on the
former occasion. "They (Republicans) want
to get up free debate" said Clingman, of
North Carolina in the Senate, in December,
1860, ''as the Senator from New York (Mr.
Seward) expressed it in one of his speeches.
But Senator from Texas (WigfalD told me
the other day, that great many of these free
debaters were hanging from the trees of that
country" (Texas). Such was the Southern
response to pacific overtures from the North
after we had elected our p esident. 1t will be
rougher than that if they should now elect
their man. From every Southern stump, it
is proclaimed that 'the rpet-baggers' Gre
publicans from the Nortb) and "scalawags'
(white Republicans born in the South will be
Tuu OUT luOn6uI Juty Cdu D6 WlJuOuJ lear
of damaging Seymour's prospects. Should he
be successful in November, the white Repub-
lcans in the South will be hunted over the
Potomac and Ohio or into their graves, before
Christmas.
w. The blacks will general be allowed to
stay if they cringe enough and abjure the right
of suffrage. A few of the leaders will be killed
for examples sake; but the great mass will be
simply reduced to the condition Of beasts OF
burden and tolerated so long as they abide in
IL. If they grovel sufficiently and keep their
mouths shut, their lives will be spared.
V. But the whole business OF black educa-
tion will be arrested at once. The schools
kept by whites will be burned; those kept by
blacks will be peremptorily shut up. A negro
seeking education for himself or his children
win be regarded and treated as an incendiary.
All that has been so nobly and well begun
for the enlightenment and moral elevation o
the freedmen will be stopped, and their educa-
ton made crime In fact if not also in law
Darkness will again settle upon the face of the
and, and common schools, even for whites,
either be forbidden or generally allowed to fall
into disuse.
Such are some of the inevitable results o
Seymour's election, were that election posi-
BILE. The condition of the South resulting from
such triumph would make angels weep ant
devils blush. 1t would be victory of darkness
"a jubilee of treason-a long stride towards
chaos and primeval night. 1t is not possibl,
that such fate is in store for our fre-trieC
republic.