The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-09-04
Ler Us Have National Convention
OF Peace and Reconstruction-Both
Sides Of tho Southern Question.

summon Congress together for an extra ses
sion to consider the condition of affairs in thu
Southern States does not seem to be con
hrmed We do not regard it as o probable
rumor. President Grant is not the kind OF
Chief Magistrate who Graves Legislative adj
vice. The relations between the President
and Congress at the time of the adjournment
were not harmonious enough to lead him to
look hopefully upon the prospects OF another
meeting Among the last acts OF the Senate
was to throw into the face OF the President the
nomination of his we'll beloved Shepherd
With Senate in that humor what might not
be expected? Experienced politicians have a
fear of extra sessions. There is the
legend that san extra session is
generally sure to ruin an administration,
and President Grant has enough Scottish
blood in his veins not to be insensible to
legends. Long Branch and its endless speech
of wave and tide is much more pleasant
than Washington and two roaring Legisla-
lures. The administration is now in the sixth
year of its existence and not in the sturdiest
health. Whether the President means to
allow it to drift into silence satisfied with
what it has DONE and feeling that its place in
history is made, or whether, as some of his
friends believe, he will make another appeal
to the confidence of the people. nothing is to
be gained by an extra session.
But the fact that such an expedient is
generally discussed shows how deeply the
public mind feels as to the Southern States.
We do not dwell upon the events that now
take place in South Carolina and Mississippi,
the riots in Kentucky, the threats of civil war
in North Carolina, the feverish movement Of
the popular heart in Arkansas, for they ind-
cate now what they have indicated at any
time since the war. They show that instead
of an honest measure of generous and pacific
reconstruction we have reduced the conquered
States of the South into the condition
of Poland and Ireland. No known sec
ton of conquered territory, not the
most lawless districts of Westmeath,
nor the most impatient communes in Alsace,
are as disturbed as many of the Southern
States. This cannot be attributed to the pres
sure of war; for the war is over, and the
harvests have long since EMBODIED with living
verdure the bloody fields. Nor does 1t come
from failures of crops, that frequent cause of
discomfort, for all accounts tell US that cotton
and sugar and rice promise an abundant
yield Nor does it represent the fermenting
ambition that would rise in new rebellion, for
no Southern leader-not MIR. Tombs himself
has limited the thought of war. The cause
lies deeper. 1t has become disease-a slowly
growing, irritating disease-what might
be called an liberation of the whole
political system. Unless we remove it there
can be no end but death. Already in Arkansas
and South Carolina we observe the first tokens
of death in the shameless Reputation which
has become an accepted principle Of legisla-
ton. Such examples should not be over
looked. If the Union cannot be destroyed by
war it can be destroyed by reputation. There
can be no wholesome union betw cen Massa-
chusetts and South Carolina, between New
York and Arkansas, on the financial con-
ditions that exist to-day Already the North
laments its existence, and tomorrow, if re-
pudiation continues to be the controlling SEN
timent of the South, we shall have the solvent
patriot States of the North crying, 'Who
shall deliver us from the body of this death ?"
Some of our empirical statesmen tell us
that the cause Of this is slavery. We are
weary of this refrain about slavery. Fifteen
years ago, and our most respected citizens
were only too glad to applaud the violence
which greeted the orators and writers who
opposed slavery. Now there is no rhetoric in
/ the language strong enough to express our
horror of it. Well, slavery was an evil, just
as the next generation in England will per-
haps regard the crown, the aristocracy and
the Established Church as evils. But it was
an institution and so puissant as an element
of political influence that it enabled COM
paratively small portion of the people to rule
the Union. For nearly two centuries, under
our colonial and federal forms of government,
we treated slavery as an institution. For ten
years we have treated it as a crime. The
question arises, and it is question Of SUI
preme magnitude, as our readers will see
when they dwell upon it, whether it is the
soundest craftsmanship to deal with any insti-
tuition as a crime There is the danger of
reaction and inviting strife. This danger
Cromwell incurred when he pronounced
monarchy crime by sending Charles L to
the scaffold far greater danger the French
people invited when they denounced royalty,
religion and rank as so many grades of crime
The same, in lesser degree, fell upon the
republicans in Paris and Madrid when they
denounced property, capital and law as crimes.
The logic which animated Cromwell in his
dealings with Charles Stuart, the logic which
breathed through the French Revolution, the
Commune uprising and the Republic Of
Pi Margal was perfect. 1t was unanswer-
able, soul-stirring, sublime. 1t was not the
craftsmanship of common sense. 1t recalled
the eloquent periods with which our own