Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-01-02

tariff, our mines, factories, and furnaces
J were never so driven with work and nevt
made better dividends. Our farmers &c
high prices. individuals in all kinds ,
business were getting ont of debt, ar
paying off their mortgages. lmmigratio
was pouring into the country more rapidl
than ever before Even the non-combatani
of the South, attracted by our tinsnci,
prosperity, came North and brought thei
money with them. Meanwhile, with tn
tightening Of the blockade, and the inabilit
lof the South to get out their cottor
Confederate finances collapsed. Their legs
tenders were worth but two or three cent
on the hundred, and the bitter gibe of III
Southern peace party was, that they too
their money TO market in the basket, an
brought home the meat in their pOcke
books" They could supply their arm
with neither adequate food, clothes, shelter
nursing, or medicine, and three fourtbs O
the troops who had enlisted so enthusiast
cally at the outset, were now branded O
the rolls as descrters. From these causes
more than all others, resulted the collaps
of the rebellion. Yet the fall Of the rebel
lion was none the less triumph of ideas
none the more = victory OF ''brute force,
because the ideas that conquered wielde'
the largest purse, The heaviest reinforce
mcnt of men, and the greatest materia
resources. II was because slavery ,startin.
ahead in the race. and working over th,
larger area and the finer territory of ou
! country, had resulted in a sparscr popula
tiOn, less intelligence, and less wealth tha
il had been condemned by the people il
the triumph OF the anii-slavery sentiment
The failure Of rebellion, through wan
of pecuuarv resources. vindicatcd the
strongest anii-slavery argument. viz, ths
slavery is Improbable. Its failure, from The
over wecning vanity Of Davis, vindicaied
another anii-slavery position, viz, thai
slavery develops vain and empty statesmen
| Its failure, from want of kindness and good
! faith towards the rebel troops, sustained a
third point in the abolition creed, thai
slavery Was treacherous and cruel. On the
other hand, the expansive power OF oul
material resources proved the higher
craftsmanship of that free labor system
without which there could be no diversity
of industry. Our larger benevolencc to
wards our soldiers established our claims
to purcr Christianity and the more lib
eral and truly democratic policies or Lin
coin, in the selection of his cabinet, the ap'
pointment of his generals, and his treatment
of the army, were an impcrsonated dem.
ons!ratiOn Of the superiority OF those free
institutionsewhich elevated one SO mex
perienced, uncouth, and plebian, into a
letter grade Of craftsmanship than belong
ed to the accomplished. gifted, but perfid-
ious representative Of slavery. The ideas
that gave rise to the conflict moulded its
results. Freedom had made the North
richer, more populous, more independent,
than slavery had made the South. This
was the LIorai reason why the Republican
party opposed the spread of slavery in the
Territories, the numerical reason why they
"cut-reinforced" their antagonists, and so
subdued the rebellion. Never was there SO
purely, therefore, war Of principles or a
struggle, in which the ideas involved, so
manifesily determined strength and en-
durance of the contending armies.
Even when the sudden and startling
tragedy--the assassination of Lincoln, and
attempted massacre of his cabinet and chief
Generals closed The magnificent drama of
the war with revelation oi baseness, hu-
initiating TO every American. the martyrs
long faith in the superiority of freedom,
and the meanness and turpitude of slavery,
was sealed, beyond future denial, as a fun
damental truth Of ethics and of history.
The emancipation OF four millions OF
blacks, and the destruction OF ten State
govfrnmcnts, in the progress of war, had
lntreduced into The problem Of reconstruc-
ton two new difficulties, There was not
merely the Union Of loyal States with the
disloyal States 10 be restored, but ten rev
State governments must be created for the
conquered States. Not merely was the
peace between the government and the
rebels TO be declared, but the terms OF
peace between the ex-masters and ex-
slaves had also TO be adjusted. "For," as
says Montesquieu, slavery is that state of
perpetua! war, in which one antagonist is
always vanquished, and the other is forever
on guard"
To permit the State organizations, which
bad formed the Confedcracy. To be incor-
porated into the Union, would have been
both suicidal and illegal Illegal. because
no officer connected with them had for
flve years sworn to support the constitution
OF The United States. and every Office in
them was therefore legally vacant, and the
whole fabric of State government was
lapsed and void: suicidal, because each of
these governments was ofiicercdlby rebels,
whose only right, ifthey were 10 he regard
ed as citizens of the United States, was to
be hanged for treason, or if aliens, then to
be readmitted 10 citizenship on such terms
as should be prescribed. To allow them
TO continue in the control of ten States
would be to enter into partnership with the
rebellion, not to overthrow it. General
Sherman proposed 10 General Johnston
plan of surrender by which these State
governments would have been preserved.
Had President johnson then foressen his
subsequent quarrel with the Republican
party, he probably would have affirmed the
Sherman Johnston treaty. The country is
indebted 10 the energy ofSecretary Stanton,
elono, for the fact that this treaty was re-
jec.ed, and that the reconstruction proc
lamation, which soon followed, were based
on the theory that the State governments
were destroyed. and that new ones must be
created. The President therein built
more wisely than he knew" for, in assum-
ing that new State governments must be
formed, he necessarily raised the question.
BY what authority they should be consti
tuted, and who should vote i'm forming
them. The former question could only be
answered in favor of Congress. rs.;e latter
proved the entering wedge to universal
suffrage, in issuing proclamatious of recon-
s,ruction, and in defining therein who
should vote, paved the way forreconstruc-
ton by Congress, on the basis of impartial
suffrage, and refuted in advance the posi-
tions he subsequently took--that the States
could not destroy their relations to the
Union, and that the national government
had no power to reconstruct them.
Mr.. Lincoln, in his letters to Governor
Hahn and General Wadsworth, had fore
shadowed strong predictions in favor of
universal suffrage as the basis of recon
siruction. His humane instincts would
have moved him strongly to couple with it
universal amnesty. No sentiment of ami
mostly towards rebels, as such. would
have inspired his course. But, at the close
of the war, the mass Of the Northern peo-
pie felt far more animosity towards rebels.
than desire that The freed race should have
any political rights. They called aloud
Tor the punishment of traitors, but, as q
mass, attached much less consequence than