Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-12-30

, or in the timid apprehensiOns of well
meaning citizens. That day has now
e passed. We have heard the last o
that alarm in 1868. The Union wa
actually saved by General Grant,
victories in the field. The menace O.
I, its destruction ceases with his victory
at the polls.
Second: The reconstruction laws o
Congress have been vindicated anC
sustained by General Grants election
r The State governments erected under
those laws will be upheld and the
basis Of impartial loyal suffrage, with
out regard to race OF color, will be ae-
eepted as the permanent rule in the
lately rebelliOus States, as ii will be al
no distant day throughout the entire
/ Union. This result is certain to be
achieved either through the ameliOfa.
ton of prejudice and the cOnquering
force of justice in the individual
States or by the comprehensive infiu-
enee of a constitutional amendment
which shall effect all the States equally
and alike. The decision in favor Oi
the reconstruction measures must
bring peace TO the Southland with
peace will come contentment and af-
tiuence. The TebelliOus element in
those States, seeing the hopeless folly
of longer resisting the mandate of the
nation, Will acquiesce in the decision,
If with no better grace than merely ac-
eepting the inevitable. And with
this acceptance will begin the real
prosperity of that section, in which
property will then be secure, invest
ments inviting and remunerative,
labor in demand and amply paid.
The better minds even among the
rebel leaders recognize and admit that
as question of practical statesman
ship it is too late to discuss negro suf-
frage; for having been granted it is
impossible to recall it. Between orig
inally Withholding a franchise from
large masses of people and annulling
1t after ii has been conceded, wise
men can see a vast difference diff
ference quite literally as great, it may
be, as that between peaceful discussion
and bloody conflict. So that even eX-
cluding from the case the abstract and
unchanging element of justice which
underlies il, it is demOnstrably i'm
practicable TO withhold suffrage from
the southern negroes now that they
have exercised it, without involving
consequences which would destroy all
+ security for life or property in that
I section for generations to come. Ne
gro suffrage being then of necessity
conceded as one of the essentials of re-
/ construction, the only remaining
source of discomfort is the exclusion
I of small minority of white men from
/ the polls by reason of disloyalty.
| And here the evil lies in the disloy-
n in NIn L
know | am safe in saying that the ex-
cluslon viii be removed quite as rapid
ly as the dislOyalty disappears. And
the disloyal white men of the South
shall be quite eOntented if they ac-
quire suffrage as rapidly as the loyal
cOlOred men of the whole country.
May We not hope that the patriotic
conduct of the one class and the soft
ening of unreasonable prejudice
toward the other, will enable the
American people to hold the centen-
NAL celebration of their independence
with no citizen of the Republic dis
franchised, and with the sublime dec
laratiOn that "all men are created
equal" accepted and realized on the
hundredth anniversary of its majestic
utterance.
Third: The election of General
Grant has settled the financial ques-
ton. l do not mean that it has adjust
ed the details OF even fOreshadOwed
the particular measures by which the
public debt is to be provided for and
its prompt payment assured. / only
mean that the American people have
deliberately, sOlemnly, and emphatic
ally recorded their decision in favor
of an honest discharge of their public !
obligations, and against all the forms
of evasion and delusiOn so temptingly
set forth in Democratic platforms. |
They have declared against the policy
of wildly initiating, depreciating, and
running their currency in order to |
prematurely pay off any portion of
the Government bonds; and they |
have declared with equal emphasis in |
favor of Tightening the public burdens |
by reducing the interest on the ma |
tiOnal debt as promptly and as
rapidly as it may be done with honor. |
They have decided against all forms !
of Reputation ''Opep or covert, |
threatened or suspected" and in favor |
of uphOlding the public faith and
maintaining the public honor spot |
less and stainless. Nay, they have |
gone one step further the question of |
paying the public debt lin the utmost |
good faith, according to the letter and !
the spirit of the contract is no longer |
to be made the subject of controversy |
or of doubt in the American Congress. |
Henceforth we may do well to re-
member that proud example furnished |
US in the parliamentary history of |
Great Britain, where iIlst preceding |
the eventful battle of Blenheim, the |
probability of Marlborough's defeat |
being angrily suggested by one of the
Commons, he was answered by the
most brilliant man of that day in
these eloquent and ever memorable
words:
''The question OF England's ability to
maintain her position should not be discus
sed in her own Parliament. Discussion i'm
plies doubt, and doubt breeds disaster. Our
business is to provide the means for the /
national defense. and let Us to our task"
Fourth With the election of Cen
eral Grant comes a higher standard of
American citiZenship-with more
dignity and character to the name /
abroad and more assured liberty and
security attaching to it at home. Our
will be rescued from the
tone by which we have |
so often been humiliated in our own
eyes and in the eyes of Europe, and
the true position Of the first nation of
the earth in rank and prestige will be
not in the spirit of bravadO
the mere aTrOganceOf strength,
but with the conscious dignity which
belongs 10 power, and with the
which is the true orna-
ment of justice. And with this
of the rights and the rank
of our citizenship abroad will come
also its protection and its panOply at
home. That provision of the Federal
which solemply guaran-
tees that 1.-THE citizens of each State
shall be entitled TO all the privileges
and immunities OF citizens i'm the
several States" will not be a dead
letter under the administration of
General Grant as il in fact has been
from the foundation of the Federal
down to this hour.
HencefOrward it is to he practically
enforced throughout all our borders,
and every citizen Of the Republic,
himself Observant of the law and of
the rights of others, shall go where il
may please him, and speak as he may
see fit, unawed by mObs, unframed
by murders, unmenaced in life, limb
or estate!
With theSe four cardinal noinIs Sat-