New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-08-06

merely nominal, or, we may say, technical
peace. Mr.. Greeley, epitomizng the Cincin-
natl platform, in his letter of May 20, pointed
out how necessary it is that ga long-estranged
people should reunte and fraternize upon
" the broad basis of universal amnesty with
Impartial suffrage;' and nothing could be
more grateful to the ears of all thoughtful
and intelligent voters than the expression by
our candidate Of his confident trust that
the masses of our countrymen, North and
"SOuth, are eager to clasp hands across the
bloody chasm which has so long divided
them, forgetting that they have been enc
"mies in the joyful consciousness that they
care and must henceforth remain brethren"
We have emphasized words which have
already become a colloQuialism; and men,
when they speak to each other of "the bloody
"chasm,n fully comprehend the fearful evil
which the phrase suggests, and the policy
by which we may be saved from it. The third
section of the Cincinnati platform touches the
same points, and is as follows:
"Third: We demand the immediate and absolute
moval OF all disabilities imposed account Of the
Rebellion, which finally subdred seven years ago,
believing that universal amnesty will result In complete
pacHcaton in all sections OF the country"
SO, too the address of the New-York
Liberal State Committee characterized our
cause as that of generous craftsmanship,
reaching with equal benefcence to all sections
of our great country. The mortal fault of the
Government policy is that it is not generous.
1t cannot afford to forgive. 1t deems the
discussions which gave it birth vitality necessary
to its perpetuation. 1t suspects if all men
should become charitable and forgiving that
its occupation would be gone, and that it
might perish in the drOuth of that patronage
and the dearth of that emolument which the
present state of Southern affairs secures
to it,
The truth is we shall make fearful mis-
take if we disregard the cOnciliatOry and fra
ternal feelings which have much more than
begun to manifest themselves at the South.
1t is true that they are entertained by men
who played an active though mistaken part in
the secession. But these are the Southern
men who are to be trusted, if we are to trust
anybody. In that part of the land, those who
have upon their skirts no smell of the fire of
the Rebellion are but few in number and,
from the necessity of the case, of but small
local influence We do not need to recon-
struct those who have never been shaken in
their loyalty. We want those who, in our
opinion, have erred, and who, in their own
opinion, were no worse than patriot
cally mistaken. We want to restore local
self government which is absolutely necessary
to the fundamental idea of the Federal Union.
Before these ruined States can be really pros
porous, we must sweep from them the last
vestige of military rule. Before they can
have peace which is a peace indeed, we
must rescue them from the fangs of mercenaFy
hounds who bark Republicansm and who
mean plunder-the satraps of the General
Government, the paid heralds of the Pres-
dents virtues, the politicians whose weapons
are iirebrands and arrows and whose mission
is a mission of death The President, in his
note accepting a denomination, talked with
jackdaw fippancy of his desire to see "a.
speedy healing of all bitterness of feeling
between sections, parties, or races of citi-
"zens." To prove how sincere he was in this
gush of gentle words, he sent his honorable
and his dishonorable emissaries to North
Carolina to threaten with military coercion
all who were not ready to vote the Philadel-
phia ticket. During the North Carolina cam
paign no impartial observer can deny that the
Administration did nothing more or less than
use the passions, and prejudices and hatreds
of the war to secure the White vote at the
North and the Black vote at the South. The
Freedmen were told that "the old battle
between the boys in blue and the boys
" in gray was to be fought over again" Not
one of the Grant Secretaries was able to get
away from the sanguinary "reminiscences and
the sulphurous rhetoric of the war. Not one
of the Administration missionaries was mag
unanimous enough to take it for granted that
the White citizens of North Carolina had in
good faith accepted the situation; not one OF
them made the least pretense of an attempt
to allay the hatreds which Slavery first and
Rebellion afterward engendered. Their bust
ness was to increase the estrangement exist
ing between the Blacks and the Whites. They
talked as if we were to fight this fight and
quarrel this quarrel for half score of gener-
atoms. What say the voters of the Republic
TO this pleasant prospect'
VDTFRS