Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-12
NASHVILLE UNION AND AMERICAN. FRIDAY APRIL 49, 1872

self complacency.
There are other and more striking proofs
however, going to show that struggle s.
| protracted, highly concentrating all authori
| ty for special action, has encouraged changes
| in
Current Political Ideas
at the North, dangerous to the Ebertie;
most cherished.
In the South, where the very vesture Of
all government was torn away, and where
the processes of reconstruction have taken
direction from national authority, we have
seen that public thought of the North in
terpreted in the most distinct manner.
There the work of reconstruction has been
followed up by
An Alien Policy,
swift to punish rather than to reconcile.
There the spirit of dominion mas been the
synonym of federal authority, in the shap-
ing of all local organization, open control
of large bodies of dependents, interference
to sustain worthless officials, and ruthless
violations of the rights Of person. There
the failure to build new civil and social
order, replete with illustrations of concord
and progress, has been most signal and
unfortunate. There the race which was
liberated has been kept solidly arrsyed
against the rest of the community. under
corrupt appliances, with constant fer
ments, to control such States in the interest
OF the Administration. There the
substance of entire sections has been plum
dered, debts mortgaging generations OF
labor contracted, taxes levied to the point
OF contiscation-all done under agencies
upheld by the National Government.
There, whenever the system itself has
created new disorders, as in the nature of
things it could not fail to do, still harsher
legislation has been demanded, and the en-
forcements of martial law have been resor-
ted to with needless severity. But the
texture of the rule and failure thus imposed
must be held to show forth the animating
impulse that accredits its work. The po-
litical ideas which are accepted at the North
are the self-same which have thus had I'M
restrained vent in dealing with the South,
and this might Il crowd into its conSci-
business that mighty language of the Earth
Spirit in Goethe:
cat the roaring Loom of Time pIv,
Weaving for God the garment thou see'est him
by"
Now, submit to you if theory of ma
Jional policy and power, which has devel-
Oped so ruinously elsewhere, is not dan
gerouS everywhere. | ask you whether a
public opinion that has sustained so much
Of spoliation, and shown itself so Indifferent
10 the limitations, of rightful authority
abroad, may not possibly be the parent
cause Of corruptions, springing into such
alarming magnitude at home. Do not
such infections, like
Curses Come Back to ROOst,
and may not the plumber of Erie corpora
ions and venality in so many Legislatures,
rom Albany to Topeka, have a closer CON |
lectiOn than might at first Re supposed, |
With programme of political thought and |
lction thus set on high, as type of the pub |
ic conscience. Could the two hundred and /
fifty millions, pillaged by the carpetbag gov
have been permitted, except under !
! dissolute political morality that connived at
rammany in ten million steal? Could that
iolence, done the Constitution, in suspend
ng the habeas corpus, have proceeded from
ny other than an atmosphere saturated
With constraint Of elections and dictation to
lectOrs, under Presidential auspices. And
S fitting sequel, also, to such inquest,
nay it not be worth while to consider if the
moulding of such dependencies on admins
ration favor as louisiana and South Caro-
ma, ruled by an uneducated, inhamed ne
70 vote, may not have a significance in the
leCtordl college or the delibaration of Con
ress, that will silence the protest even of
Massachusetts Herself,
lOuld the exigencies of an election demand
war with England?
1t will not be contented with any truth,
nat the great mass of Northern men sym-
athiZe with the animosities thus perpetu
ted, or that they would willingly foster
angers thus threatening to all free society.
ut it is true that they have surrendered
le leadership OF public opinion 10 a party
rganiZation because it carried them safely
trough the perils Of civil war, and have
OF been alert to prevent that control from
king shapes utterly at variance Y it'll the !
ZEE opinion in which it was founded. IL
therefore only by an appeal from the
arty to the people, that any readjustment |
the thought Of the North can come, and
is only arresting that tendency in na-
onal administration to extreme centrali-
alton, that any influence can be given
such reawakened conscience. The duty
as plain in the first instance to take
Ieasures for confirming the results of the
ar by fundamental law; but it was not
ON mere acts of reconstruction that the
Ills now so apparent, necessarily resulted.
am sure that such results, TRANSFORMING
IT whole republican system, were never
'ntemplated by many of the most reso-
lie who gave those acts their support.
Let us search out again that virtue of the
)Vernment Of our fathers, which consisted
recognizing its true lineaments, and toll
ating no departure from its admirable adj !
stments of parts, its balance of powers.
) rigid restraints. The very genius Of our {
ederal Constitution consists III reconciliDg
cal freedom and federal unity. The prin-
pie of national sovereignty is now too
mly established to be again assailed: let i
see to it then that the corresponding {
inciple, independence of the States within
cir spheres, be likewise maintained. And.
peclally, let US guard that no contempt for I
cal government, or equal rights, or self ]
lip prepare the way for one of those !
lendid mockeries of rule which, under
eteXt Of caring for all, in the end, ruins $
In looking abroad over the country there 8
e many signs which foretell the coming 8
great political changes. OF those indi2 I
tons there are none more significant than a
Very Widespread Dissatisfaction 1
at is everywhere manifesthd amongst :.
,publicanS who have hitherto acted in .
nCert, and who would naturally overlook J
any minor faults of the administration. I
t who are now seen from Iowa to Texas d,
liberately breaking ranks. They assert :
th much truth that the results reasonably l;
have been expected from so long a con- U
luance Of Republican supremacy have 5
t been attained, and that the prospect is o
t reasSuring. When party leaders de- y
md that new campaign shall be con- z
cted simply upon old issues, and take no Y
p to meet urgent wants, to correct grow
, abuses, or to repair grave errors of y
Icy, such distruSt is not only pardonabe, .
cOmmendable. Somehow it is felt that .
! rapid retirement of bonds in advance of /
cessity has not been accomplished through
icter economies i'll the service, and wiser Il
assures Of public revenue, but rather by il
an excessive burden of taxa Ii
u upon the people. Even W
The Syndicate, ~ ~
iptural allusiOn though it possess, for
5ht We know, does not raise any vision n.
turning the money changers out of the Sc