Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-03-26
PEACE OR WAR.
When Congressional Reconstruction Ends
and Peace Begins.
The Question as Presented by the Radical
Carl SChurz In the U. S. Senate.
From the 81. Iouls pemocral lrerr RadI

=
icsll.
With the argument of Senator
Schurz upon constitutional and legal
questions involved In the Georgia
matter there viii be little dissent
among those who maintain that there
is any other obligation higher than
that of the will of the dominant ma
jOrity for the time being. Other Sem
atOrs, of acknowledged ability, as
sailed him in the debate upon these
points, but the completeness Of his
reply, we may fairly say, was due not
so much to any superiority OF ability
as to the sOundness Of the position
which he had taken. Indeed, no bet
ter evidence need be asked of the
force of his reasoning than the fact
that Senator Drake, a lawyer OF ac-
knowledged strength, rising to reply,
was driven to say that he cared
nothing about the legal ques-
tions involved; to him it seemed
the duty of Congress to protect
the loyal people Of Georgia,
no matter how many constitutional
barriers might stand in the way. In
/ this the Senator was wise, for the ar
gument Of General Schurz was simply
unanswerable. Congress has recog-
| nized rs valid the ratification Of
amendments by the Georgia Legisla-
tuFe in 1868, and In doing so has rec
| ognlzed that the Legislature itself
was at that time valid. Hence it fol-
| lows that the term of that Legislature
must have then commenced, and its
cOnstitutiOnaliy prescribed two years
| must be now nearly at an end. The
bill, therefore, simply empowers the
! Legislature TO perpetuate its own
| power and term of Office at pleasure,
/ in defiance of the State Constitution.
But it was In the broader view of
| the questionable statesman's rather
than the lawyers yiew-that General
Schurz best displayed his ability. In
mS-a legal Questions other Senators
will surnass him unless he has that
imIneasurabiS advantage OF an i'm
pregnaole case. But in grasp of the
broad question of public policy, and
In the method Of stating and impress
ing his ideas, no other Senator has yet
eduaIed this speech, and il places him
at once at the very front Of those who
sustain the policy Of President Grant
that policy which seeks peace as the
surest and shortest road 10 peace.
Right here is the vital difference be-
tween that policy and the one which
Senator Drake and Gen. Butler adYO-
cate. Strange! that men who were
RepubIicaus before the Republican
party was born, should be taught their
duty BY two men, the one in the SEN
ate and the other in the House, whose
attachment to the Republican party
began after that party had won power!
These gentlemen maintain that the
only Way to make peace at the South
is to continue the methods and seyeTi-
ties of war until the rebels shall
do something or other, what,
we have never yet ascertained.
The trouble is that poor, weak
human nature has its resentments,
and the harsh methods suited TO i
state of war do not tend to put all
men into a peaCeable humOr. Re
peated departure from the principles
of self-gOvernmeut, repeated over
throw by national power of the organ
iZations set up by the popular choice
under acts Of Congress Offering 10 the
people the right to govern themselves,
repeated change of the fundamental
conditions imposed, has had the
effect TO irritate and em5itter men, /
the more when coupled with the I
transfer Of power to men Of the cOlOred /
race. This road to peace we have |
been trying persistently for several |
years. II Governor Bullock and his /
friends do not exaggerate, Georgia Is /
to-day not as near a state Of peace as |
it was on the day when Jefferson |
Davis was captured. After so many |
trials, attended with 80 little success,
we are now told that it will be absO-
lutely fatal TO the loyal people there !
II the people are suffered to choose |
theiF own rulers next fall.
General SchUrz replies, if that be so,
declare the state in insurrection, |
sweep away the mOekeFy Of seifgoV-
ernment, and make Terry PFOcOnSul /
there, with absolute power, If that
be not so, and you pretend to give the
people selfgOvernmant, then let them
choose their own rulers. Ry pretend
ing to do i, and refusing wheleyer
they elect men not Republicans, you
them, disgust fair-minded
men, iniure the party, and intensity 1
the natural antagCHism Of race. II !
you want peace, try the methods Of
peace. Give these people their own
choice of officers, and then demand
that the laws shall be faithfully en-
forced. il that is not done, put an
end 10 their selEgovernment by due
process Of law, declare theState 10 In
and march in the troops.
1t is not pleasant to see that reason
ings so powerful make no impression
upon the minds OF a large number Of
the Republican Senators. Ii it De 50
that Republican leaders have lost the
power Of sober reason in their zeal
for party success, the days of the Re
publican party ara not 10 he long in
the land. No party can stand whose
policy it is to reject good 1
sense. But we do not believe
that the Republican party
will lend itself to the work Of mere
partisanship, or the mistaken policy
which some Senators advocate. On
the contrary, we think that il will "a
ther sustain the President and the
wiser craftsmanship 10 which he in
clines. ReasOning5 like those Of Cen
eraI Schurz, if not Immediately aC-
cepted by all Republican Senators,
will surely have weight with the peO-
pie. We rejoice that in him the wiser
policy has fOund so effective an advo-
,ate.
10 TIE colored people themselves,
"a 20 tbe,~ behalf, this argument ap-
.aeIt lG = ., 'th grea: force. 1t can never
> e',i9 ,bo;- w. -, = interest TO be placed in
nnecessaTv 1tlcsl Ptagonisni :" the white
eopIe of t6e So,1th, or favor measures
rhich tend to wiz .'en the breach be- !
ween the races. Thctr true ilends .ais
Till ask nothing in theiI, uaihe "llcn
hall seem illegal or uL,' even
D their opponents. No man can SA-
mine the Georgia question WITH
ut being convinced that the cOlOSed
eople would suffer from the adoption |
{ the plan urged by Governor Bull :
lck, and though to many 1t seems
ark and doubtful to-day, we are sure
hat In due season all of them Will
ealize that those were their true I
riends who advocated the most mod [
rate measures. To them, above all {
thers, the shortest road TO peace Is
he best.
Nil prbAors ,.S pahLn-fnc