Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-08-26

G pose. Though made tree, the bOndmer
n were homeless, without property, withou
< employment, subject to the cruel laws
e against free people of color, which hac
b always disgraced Southern legislation
: and in the midst of a people exasperateo
by defeat and maddened by their loss o.
: power still longer to hold and oppress
2 Property was swept away. industry dis
: organized, society disintegrated, and
: States were without lawful Governments.
THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION.
Upon the Republican party devolved
! the task of reconstruction. To its in
trinsic difficulties were added the intense
hostility of the ex-rebels, the lingering
. prejudices long engendered by the slave
system, the timid councils of conserva-
tism and the apOstasy of the Executive.
Great interests and powerful combina-
tiOns sought to so reconstruct the South
as to place the power in the hands of the
late slaveholding class, and leave the
helpless freedmen in the abject condi
ton of practical serfdom. Seldom in
history has there been imposed upon
any body of men work of greater mag
nitude or difficulty. The Republicans
might have shrunk from and avoided it.
They were sorely tempted to do so. But
they resisted the temptation of official
power and patronage, the threats of EX-
ecutive dictarion and all other adverse in
fiuences, and with sublime fidelity and
courage addressed themselves to the
herculean task. To aid in reOrganizing
Edisordered industries, caring for, pro-
tecting and instructing the emancipated
bondmen in the new duties of their
changed condition, the Republicans es-
tablished the Freedmen's s Bureau, which,
by the wise expenditure of few millions
of dollars, did an incalculable work for
order, peace and rehabilitation of South
ern society. To reconstruct rebellious
States on the solid basis of equal rights,
they gave suffrage to the freedmen in
the reconstruction measures. To secure.
/ citizenship and civil rights to a wronged
and hated race, they proposed and
/ adopted the Fourteenth Amendment
and enacted the bill of Civil Rights. To
] establish by irreversible guarantees
equal political rights and privileges,
they adopted the Fifteenth Amendment,
and as a crowning act for freedom they
/ provided by law for the enforcement Of
| these amendments thus newly enshTin-
! ed within the Constitution. Thus the
Republicans, against the sternestT opPo-
sitiOns against misrepresentation, appal-
ling obstacles, have struggled on until
the rebel States, reconstructed on the
basis of impartial liberty, have been re-
stored, and the sublime doctrine of the
Declaration of independence made as
sured and practical realities. In the
progress of the ages it has been given to |
few, in any form or by any modes, to /
achieve a work SO vast, so grand, so |
benefcent, so sure to be recorded by /
history, and remembered by coming
generations.
IT'S FOURTH ERA.
Having achieved this grand work,
having passed through these three eras
of its history, the Republican party, en-
tering on its fourth era, was summoned
to deal with questions relating to the ma
tional debt. the currency, finances and
taxation, to reforms in the military, nav
al and Indian service, and whatever re-
naming burdens and legacies were left !
by the war. Concerning these questions
there are apparent diversiries of interests
and real difference of opinion. The So
lutiOns of some of them are embarrass-
ed by grave difficulties They require
time as well as financial skill and prac-
teal craftsmanship for their adjustment.
Differences of opinion on matters SO re-
condite and complex, in an organization
embracing so many men of large intel
ligenCe, trained to habits of independ-
ent thought, expression and modes of ac-
ton are inevitable. They are indeed to be
expected and desired, for from such free
dom of discussion truth is elected and
proper modes of action are deduced-
The men, therefore, who stood so firm
Iy while in a minority, amid the denun-
Citations, arrogance and scorn of power;
the men who met the stern exigen-
cies of civil war with such heroic cour-
age, who assaiIed the slave power and
extirpated the slave system the men
who grappled so successfully with the
perplexing end pregnant issues of recon
struction, lifted helpless freedmen up to
citizenship exalted them to the heights
of civil and political rights and privil-
eyes, and made the nation free in fact
as well as in name, should not shrink
from the less momentous and less en-
barrassing question now before them.
WORK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED.
Patriotism, principle, the continued
existence, reputation and renown of the
Republican party, and a due sense of
self-respeet and pride of character de-
mand that Republicans now, as in the
past, should have faith in this capacity
to carry forward to completion reforms
so auspiciously begun. 1t came into
being as an organization of reform and
progress. and should be ever ready to
accept the living issues of the hour and
march abreast with the spirit of the age.
Unaided it has fought the battle of reform
with constancy and courage, nor in
the work still before it can it hope for aid
from those who still cling to the
traditions Of the past, pride themselves
on the conversatism, and who, during
the conflicts of the past twenty years, /
resisted all reform, and mourned over |
every effete and hateful abuse as it fell. /
If there are Republicans who are weary !
of the ascendancy of party which has |
achieved such crowning victories, who |
are tired of the responsibilities of power, !
and would relinquish it to other hands, |
they should remember that there are
none worthy to accept it. For surely |
they can not fail to see that the Demo
cratic party, by its policy during the |
closing years of its power, and by its /
blind and unrelenting opposition to re-
formatory measures while out of power, |
even now, as if smitten by judicial /
blindness, refusing to accept the Con-
stitutional Amendments as fixed and |
final, has demonstrated its utter inca
pacity for such trust.
PkESlDEN4 GNANA ADMINS EN@A 1 AO-''
Accustomed to success even against /
fearful odds, and undertaking, perhaps, |
the intrinsic difficulties of the pending ]
issues, many Republicans looked to |
General Grants administration with high |
raised expectations. OF course they |
have been impatient, and not always |
satisfied with results, But while these |
expectations have not been fully realized
in the action Of either the Presidet or Of
Congress, much has been achieved
enough, at any rate. to satisfy them that
the difficult problems will be wrought
out and the hoped-for results accom- /
plished. General Grant came into Of
fee pledged to maintain inviolate the
public faith. reduce the national debt,
diminish taxation. appreciate the cur
rency, reform abuses in the civil and