Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1870-08-27

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
svetem, the timid counscls Of conserva-
tsm and the apostacy Of the Executive
Great interests and powerful combina-
tions sought TO so reconstruct the South
as TO place the power in the hands of fthe
late slavebolding class, and leave the
helpless freedmen in the abiect condition
Of practical serfdom. Seldom in history
has there been imposed upon any body
Of men work Of greater magnitude or
difficulty. The Republicans might have
ehrnnk from and avoided it. They were
sorelv tempted to do 50. But they re-
sisted the temptation of official power
and patronage. the threats Of Executive
dictation and all other adverse influences.
and with sublime fidelity and courage
addressed themselves to the herculean
task.
To aid in reorganizing disordered in.
dustries, caring for, protecting and in
structing the emancipated bondmen in
the new duties of their changed condition,
the Republicans established the Freed
mer's Bureau, which, nv the wise expen-
diture Of few millions of dollars, did an
incalculable work fer order, peace and
rehabilitation Of Southern 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 civ
il rights to wronged and hated race
they proposed and adopted the Four
tcenth Amendment, and enated the bill
of Civil Rights. To establish nv irrevpr-
sibie guarantees equal political rights and
privileges, they adopted the Fifteenth
Amendment. and as crowning ac, for
freedom they provided by law for the en-
forcement of these Amendments thus
newly enshrired within the Constitution.
Thus, the Republicans, against the stern
est opposition. against misrepresentation,
against appalling obstacles, have strug-
gled on until the rebel States, reconstruct
ed on the basis OF impartial liberty, have
been restored and the sublime doctrines
of the Declaration Of Independence made
assured and practical realities. In the
progress of the ages il has been given to
few. in any form or bv any modes. to
achieve a work 80 vast. go grand, so be-
neficcnt, so sure 10 be recorded bv his
tory and applauded and remembered by
coming generations.
Having achieved this grand work,
having passed through these three eras
of its history, the Republican party,
entering on it's fourth era, was summon
cd t" deal with questions relating to the
National debt. the currency. the finances
and taxation, to forms in the military,
naval and Indian service, and whatever
remaining burdens and legacies were left
bv the war; Concerning these questions
there are apparent diversities of interests
and real differences Of oppiuions. The
solutions of some of them are embarrassed
as we'll az financial skill and practical
statemanship for their adjustment. DIFF
ferences of opinion on matters so recon-
dite and complex, in an organization
embracing so manv men of large intelli-
gence, trained to habits of independent
thought, expression and modes Of action,
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 deduced. The
men, therefore, who stood so firmly while
in a minority, amid the denunciations,
arrogance and scorn of power the men
who met the stern exigencies OF civil
war with such heroic courage, who as
sailed the slave power and extifpated
the slave system the men who grappled
so successfully with the perpleXing and
pregnant issues of reconstruction, lifted
helpless freedmen up to citizenship, ex-
alted them to the heights of civil and
political rights and privileges, and made
the nation free in fact as well as in name,
should not shrink from the less moment
GUS and less embarrassing questions now
before them. t..
Patriotism, principle, the contin ued ex-
istence, reputation and renown of the
Republican party, aud due sense of
self.respeat 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 be-
ing as an organization of reform and
prOSrets, anu snoulu Oe ever ieduy W ic-
cept the living issues of the hour and
march abreast with the spirit of the age.
Unaided it has fought the battles of re-
form with constancy and courage. Nor
in the work still before it can it hope for
aid from those who still cling to the ira
ditions OF the past, pride themselves on
their conservatism, and who, during the
conflicts of the past twenty years, have
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 have
achieved such browning victories, who
are tired OF the responsibilities OF pow
er, and would reinquish it to other
hands, they should remember that there
are none worthy TO accept it. For sure
ly they cannot tail to see that the Demo
ci attic party, oy its policy during the clio
sing year Of its power, and by its blind
and unrelenting opposition to reiorma-
tory measures while out of power, even
now, as if smitten by judicial blindness,
refusing to accept the Constitutional
Amendments as fixed and final, has dem
onstrated its utter incapaciIy for such
trust.
Accustomed to success, even against