The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-16
"REooNsTRUCT1oN" IN MISSISSIPPI.

The proclamation of General Grant fix
ing the time for the election in Mis-
sissippi and designating th5 parts of the |
new constitution TO be submitted To a sepl- |
rate vote, does not challenge speoill remark,
except in relation TO the time. There is no
necessity, and no good reason, for deferring
the election until the 30th of November. The
motive for selecting so distant day is elsiy
understood and is discreditable to General
Grant and his advisers
There is no such difference in the circum-
stances of the three States of Virginia, Mis-
sissippi, and Texas, that their several cleo
tions should be separated by wide intervals
of time. The people of Mississippi, and the
people Of Texas, were just as well quail
fed, and as fully prepared, TO pronounce their
judgments on their respective constitutions
in the early part of July, as were the people
of Virginia. But the object of the admins
tration is not to get fair and honest express
sion of the will of the people, but to carry
each election, if possible, in favor of the Re-
publican party. Two United States Senators
are to be elected by each of the new Legisla-
lures, and six conservative Senators will not
be tolerated if, by any kind of political trick,
their election can be prevented. If the Wells
party had triumphed in Virginia the elections
in Mississippi and Texas would have been
ordered almost Immediately; but the Repub-
hcan disappointment in Virginia makes the
party afraid, and so General Grant postpones
action in Mississippi as long as he can, and
leaves Texas to await the result of the Mis-
sissippi election.
The pretense that the election is put off
until the end of autumn to suit the conve-
nience of the cotton-planters is an impudent
absurdity. Their wishes have not been con-
suited or considered. 1t is notorious that
they desire earlier action. What is the loss
Of a single day in attending to the cotton crop
in comparison with the release of the State
from military rule J.? Outdoor industry will
be suspended dozens of times by rain-storms;
and an election, even in the busiest season,
would have no more effect than one addi-
tional rainy day. 1t is put off until the last
day of November for no other reason than to
enable the Republicans to organize cam
paign to defeat the will of the people Radi-
cal wire -pullers and stump-orators dare not
venture into Mississippi during the hot
months; and General Grant has appointed the
election with a view to give them the advan-
tGge of busy canvass during the cool au-
tumn months. The Republicans hope to bring
| such influences to bear upon the Mississippi
! negroes as will enable them to control the
whole negro vote; and President Grant is their
! subservient tool.
The result in Virginia was such disap-
| pointment to the radicals that it ''gives them
| pause They hoped to carry the State by an
| affectation of liberality in consenting to
| throw out disfranchisement and the test oath.
| Having committed themselves to this policy,
| they cannot very well back out of it; but
| finding that their mock magnanimity does not
profit them, they are at u stand as to the
course they will pursue in the other States.
| They wish to solve the Virginia problem, and
see what can be done to circumvent the de-
clared will of the people there, before run
n ing the risk of getting other cases of the
kind upon their hands. 1t would be
awkward and embarrassing for Con
gress to reject the new Virginia
Government; and, on the other hand, it
would go against the grain to admit two
conservative Senators from that State. The
only way out of the dilemma which has yet
occurred to the radical leaders, is the applica-
ton of the ''iron-clad" test-oath to the mem
bers of the new Government. Sol long as the
radicals were confident of carrying the State
that test-oath was kept quite out of sight.
But when, as the election approached, they
lost heart at the premonitions of defeat, they
melted General Candy to declare his intention
to enforce the OATH General Grants recorded
opinion, and General Canby's own recorded
opinion, should have bound them to a diffe
rent course; but what Republican cares foi
consistency when the success of his party il
at stake ? General Canby's present argumen
is, that the new Virginia Government will bC
sanctioned it; and that the original recon
struction acts require all the members of pro
visional State governments to take the iron
clad oath. This requirement had reference
only to the State governments organize,
under the auspices of President johnson, an,
was not meant to apply to the reconstructe
governments. At least, so General Grant de
cded and so General Candy himself decided
in previous cases. But the radicals do no
mean to stand by this view if they can hel
it; and General Grant, in spite of his strongl
! expressed decision last year, has referred tn
question to Acknowledgement Hoar for a
official decision If General Canby's presen
view is upheld, it will practically nullf
the result of the recent Yirgini
election, inasmuch as Candy permitted it t.
r be supposed, until long after the conseryativ
candidates were nominated, that, the oat
would not be required, and great many hav
been elected who cannot take it, The rad
Gals calculate that the oath will fling out
, sufficient number of the conservative men
. bers of the Legislature to leave the radicals
Y maj iority, when they can proceed to elect tw
: radicals to the Senate of the United State
t and, this result secured, Congress will maB
Q a sure thing of it by admitting the State
{ this dishonest and detestable manouvre su
Q ceeds in Virginia, the radicals will have MOI
S confidence in the resources of their duplcit
g and fraud for circumventing the people
Mississippi and Texas. aaI ..
4 HOW THE VIRGINIA ELECTION Is II
) TERPRETED.
e From, the NJ Y. Times
5 BY the Republican press generally the r
Sult of the VIRGINIA contest is interDrett