The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-14
SPIRIT or THE PRESS
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE HEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT ToPIos-CoMPILED EVERY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
WHICH PARTY CAN THE PEOPLE
TRUST?


HdTper's Weekly have long rendered that
journal power in the land, describes in q
few words the present position of the Re-
publican party and the administration. The
people, he says, have "perfect faith in the
honesty of the administration" they listen
attentively to criticisms upon it, but they
will ''insist that Republican criticisms of
our own party shall be friendly, and not
helpful to the common enemy; for it is only
by friendly criticism that the party policy is
made truly wise" The principle here laid
down is one to which very few will object.
IL places at once in their proper aspect those
"criticisms" upon the administration which
are evidently based upon mere malicious
and personal hostility towards the Presi-
dent The abusive attacks made by some
of the Presidents enemies probably do him
more good than harm, for in many cases
their motive is we'll understood, and in all
cases they tend TO disgust people, and to pro
duce q reaction in the Presidents favor. If
the administration will place itself in ad
vance of the nation, and identify itself with
tn ose measures which are clearly seen to be
necessary, wild sourrility will be powerless
to in lure it. AS for those criticisms which
are founded upon a supposed foreknowledge
of events or the faculty of shifting with
every change of the wind, no iAtelli-
gent person ever paid the least atteD-
ton to them. In one quarter President
Grant is constantly advised to be like Jack
son, and swear 'by the Eternal" to put down
opposition. Yet, whenever he shows any
signs of independence, this same journal
comes out and tells him that he is a failure,
and pathetically casts him off. Perhaps it
might be deemed offensive to call this kind
of criticism imbecile, and it answers every
purpose to describe it as compounded of an
equal mixture of foolishness and dishonesty.
But whatever differences of opinion may
exist now or at any future time about the
administration, we hope there can be none in
the minds of the people with regard to the
necessity of keeping the Republican party in
power The country has as much need of
that now as ever it had. 1t is still q party
which aims at the attainment of lofty ends,
and which is better capable than any other
party of sustaining the honor and advancing
the prosperity of the country. We are not
yet quite clear of the stormy waters raised
by the Rebellion, and it would be dangerous
to discard the organization which alone pre-
vented the collapse of the United
States few years ago. People who think
that the South has forgiven and forgotten it's
defeats have conjured up for themselves a
FOOLS paradise. The ugly fact is before us
that communities which have staked every
thing on q war and lost, seldom forget what
they regard as their wrongs. No man sup
poses that France will abide by one deci-
sion in the struggle which she provoked.
The Southern press constantly expresses the
hope that the day will come when the 'lost
cause" will triumph. The belief of nine
tenths of the people is that their children
will never rest satisfied until an attempt has
been made to retrieve the fortunes of the
Confederacy. These sentiments may gra-
dually die out, but if the Democracy is re-
stored to power, they will be far more likely
to acquire a sudden strength which will alarm
all classes of the people, and convince them
when too late that permanent security was
to be obtained under Republican rule alone.
The happiest day which all discontented
spirits at the South have seen for some years
would be that on which a Democratic Presi-
dent was sent to Washington. The murmurs
which we hear now would instantly be ex-
changed for something much more formid-
able, and the Democrats as a party would
be untrue to their history if they did not
stand by the South at such crisis rather than
by the North.
Republican leaders are naturally divided in
opinion with regard to the measures which
ought to be adopted for quelling disaffeciion
at the South. Ha7pers Weekly, the Tribune,
and other journals ask for general amnesty.
On the other hand, MIR. Wendell Phillips, with
whom many will agree on such a question as
this, calls this demand zone more outgrowth
of that cowardly and laundering anxiety for
party success which has poisoned the whole
reconstruction policy. Whoever supports it
helps to dig the grave of the Republican
party and possibly of the Union itself. But
the most powerful argument on Mr.. Phillips
side is supplied by Jefferson Davis and South
ern journals. 1t certainly seems great deal
to ask that the president" of the ex-
Confederacy should be instantly rendered
eligible to be sent back to the United
States Senate-as he unquestionably would
be if all political disabilities were abolishe T.
1t is only the other day that Mr.. Davis de-
clared that estate sovereignty and we have
terrible reasons for knowing what he means
by that - although defeated in the late
struggle, will ultimately triumph" The
Southern people, he also said at Selma, chad
sent forth their sons to battle for their rights
as States" He himself never had asked
pardon for what he had done, and he never
would, for he felt that he had done nc
wrong" Would the people who fought
against secession be once more willing tc
have such sentiments as these proclaimed in
the United States Senate The fact is thai
Mr.. Hale's recent amnesty bill goes as far as
common prudence warrants. 1t would ex
olude JEFF. Davis and others of his class
from political power, but it would deal in the
most generous manner with the vast ajority
of the Southern people. There is such {
thing as being too magnanimous to enemies
who still cherish their enmity towards us
and are only anxious to lind another oppor
A tunity of flying at our throats But thi
\ question, like all others, is far safer in tn,
hands of the Republicans than it would be il
Y the hands of Democrats. Intrust it to Demo
cratic treatment, and the South would b,
afame in less than three months. Toreturn
then to what we said at first il is quite clea