The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-05-08

I A2Airs IN Arkansas-Whst Prsrfseat
Grant Might Have Done.
Arkansas has advanced another step in its
progress towards chaos. The s'Supzeme
Court" has had q session and rendered de-
cision in favor of Brooks as a contestant If
this Supreme Court had any authority and
respect, if it had any jurisdiction over the
subject, we might consider the decision as
having an influence on the discussion. But
as it is. the opinion of these four judges is no
more and no less than the opinion Of any four
citizens Of Arkansas. The deplorable turbu-
lence and chaos into which society has fallen
have gone too far to yield to any remedies
short Of federal interference, backed if neces-
sary by military force. It is too late for
Supreme Court opinions. But this great
subversion Of social order might have
been averted by wise foresight and
timely action on the part of Presi-
dent Grant His mistaken views of the
situation and excessive solicitude lest he
should overstep the limits of his authority
have left the State to be tossed by tempest
which has wrecked its most important inter-
ests. Could this have been prevented?
Could it have been prevented by the President
without passing the limits imposed upon him
by the constitution and laws? As no attempt
was made it is impossible to answer with GER
tainty but thare is reasonable probability
that if time had been taken by the forelock
few ounces of prevention would have saved
the necessity of troublesome cure.
President Grant has taken too narrow a
view both of his duty and his powers. He
has seemed blind to the possibility of any
middle course between absolute inertness and
military vigor, as if the moment he ceased to
be King Log he must forthwith become King
Stork. s'The beginning Of strife" wrote the
wise old Hebrew, sis as when one letteth out
waters that is, the best time for repairing
the embankment is at the earliest moment
when the water begins to find its way through
If the laws made it the duty of the President
to protect the jewellers on the Mississippi
against desolating foundations it would be
| good management for him to strengthen the
yielding levee at the first symptoms Of
crevasse, thus preventing destructive en-
largement of the breach. few well driven
piles or few carloads Of stones or earth may
avert catastrophe which would overwhelm
and submerge whole counties. Timely pre-
cautions may be equally efficient against let
ting out the waters of civil strife. If it be
asked what the President could have done in
an early stage of the Arkansas trouble, the
answer is not difficult with the great number
of precedents which exist for his guidance.
Our earlier Presidents set q proper value
on the moral authority of the federal govern
ment as well as on its physical force during
the first half of the present century. It was
their practice to 80 employ the former as to
forestal any necessity of recourse to the
latter. We will cite few instructive exam-
Piles. In the period Immediately preceding
the negotiation Of the Ashburton Treaty, by
which the northeastern boundary was settled,
threatening difficulty arose between the gov
ernments Of our State of Maine and of the
British Province Of New Brunswick, in which
both parties took up arms in defence of their
right to cut timber in the disputed territory.
The federal government did not stand idle,
but interviewed in such manner as to allay
the evaporation and bad feeling and prevent
not long previous, in connection with the so
called sspatriot war; in Canada. Our whole
northern border was in fame. Thousands
of citizens in our frontier towns were arming.
eager to rush ACROSS the Niagara and the St
Lawrence to aid the rebels. It was the clear
duty of our government to lay restraining
hand upon this threatened and formidable
violation of our neutral obligations It did
restrain and quell it effectually, but without
employing Q soldier or shedding q drop of
blood. The removal Of the Cherokee Indians
across the Mississippi, which seemed likely at
one time to be attended with wild slaughter,
was accomplished in an orderly and peaceful
manner by substituting moral authority for
physical force. The Dorr rebellion in Rhode
Island was suppressed by the same salutary
means, without employing federal soldier.
Even the South Carolina notification was put
down without bloodshed and with much
larger employment of moral agencies than the
general public at that time were aware. We will
not extend this long list but it is an incon-
testable fact that, although there were many
lawless uprisings during the first half Of the
present century uprisings which would have
justified military suppression by the federal
authority-they were in every instance quelled
by mere pacific measures and dexterous use
of moral influence and authority.
For the nature Of the means employed in
several of the most noted of these cases we
refer to the interesting autobiography Of the
late General Scott, who gives their secret
history with full details He was sent South
by President Jackson to watch the nullifers
and prevent an outbreak; he was sent to
exert o healing moral influence in the re-
moval of the Cherokees; he was sent to the
border by President Van Buren, ON simila,