The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-15
THE NEW RECONSTRUCTION BILL.

From the NJ Y. World.
Under the new Reconstruction bill for Mis-
sissippi, Texas, and Virginia it is easy to see
where everybody else's benefit is to come in
save and alone the benefit of the citizens seve-
rally Of those States. By the operation of this
bill-and we know enough of reconstruction
to know that all the elections under it will be
declared "duly" carried and all the carpet
bag candidates pronounced "duly" elected
the radical leaders will gain, first, three
rstifcations of the proposed negro-equality
amendment; second, six more surreptitious
Senstors and third, seventeen more bogus
Representatives; the carpet baggers will gain
some nine thousand State offices, little and
big; and about one hundred and fifty thousand
more negroes will be lugged into the American
body polite. These being the advantages
presented to non-citizens OF these three States,
what are the advantages proposed to the citl-
zens thenselvesY We look in vain for one.
Should they defeat these pretended instru-
ments, they will nevertheless be declared
carried, as in the cases of Alabama and Ar
Kansas should they secure Senators of some
personal respeotsbility, they will be refused
admission, as in the case of Georgia; should
they elect a full conservative delegation to
the House, that entire delegation will be
denied seats, as In the case Of Louisiana;
and if the delegation be half representative
and half misrepresentation, the misrepresenta-
tiNco Will 10 duhitIcu anu Iu0 representative
members excluded, as in the case of South
Carolina; and lastly il, foregoing all questions
Of Constitution, Senators, or Representatives,
the effort be to secure good State officers, such
men would be instantly elected on the least
hesitancy in lending their official influence to
any scheme for the promotion of radical
interests, as is evidenced by the fact that such
is now the case by law in every one of these
three States. The citizens, then, of Missis-
sippi, Texas, and Virginia are brought face
to face with this certainty, that If in any
manner they may obtain, under this bill, any
advantage as against Congress-, such advantage
is, by the very terms of the bill, to be legis-
lated by Congress out Of their hands. The
last section of the bill reads-
HSecton 7. That the proceedings in any OF the said
States shall not be deemed final, or operate as COM
plete restoration thereof until their action respec-
lively shall be approved by Congress-"
In one point Of view, this is noble COM
pliment to the citizens of these three States;
for it means that the Congress embodying all
the intelligence, all the culture, the wisdom,
experience, and power of the radical party
is so fearful that the sagacity OF an oppressed
and crippled people may, under that very
| Congress- own law, overcome 1t, that 1t pro-
vides in that law loop-hole whereby to creep
out from the shame Of an apprehended defeat
at the hands of superior political skill In
another point Of view-and more important
| pUlut1 ucCduso hhoio 40 0'ANoANs
from this section that nothing is to stand
unless Congress is willing to have 1t stand.
Should an election go adversely to the radical
interest, Congress will not approve such cleo
| tion, and, of course, such election will mot
be deemed final or operate as complete re-
storation," and in the same way in event
of the success of any non-radical candidate
There will be no approval Of such success,
and consequently no validity in it: The lib
erty of action, therefore, allotted the citizens
Of Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas under m, this
vote themselves deaf and dumb and blind,
and make all the negroes vote their way too,
and triumph hundred times over; and yet,
at the mere breath of the Congress, everything g
may be ordered to the exact contrary OF the
way the election went. The cards, to use a
simile beftting the nature of the transaction,
are stocked. But one result is to be tolerated,
and that the reduction of these three States to
the condition of their reconstructed sisters
misrepresented by csrpet-bagism abroad and
robbed by pauper suffrage at home.