The New York herald., 1874-09-09
The True Centennial celebr stton-The
National Convention OF Peace and Re-

construction.
When our orators come to celebrate the
hundredth anniversary of the independence
of the United States, the one fact which Will
certainly point every period Of resonant eio-
quence will be that we proclaimed emanc'Pa-
ton" Material growths the increase OF poPuia-
ton from four millions to forty, the acquis''ion
of vast dominions, the century sachieV enen's
in science. literature education and war, Will
all he subordinate to that one event whicn
stands out from our history as our supreme
contribution to liberty and CIVILIZATION. Nor
would we in any way detract from the majesty
and wisdom of that deed. Rather than that
another negro should return to the slavery
from which he was rescued We should advise
any extremity of resistance. But before the
act of emancipation passes into history, or at
least before we enter upon our centennial
fluctuations, let us see how much merit be-
longs to the North and what results flowing
from emancipation should be considered III
our work of reconstruction
Emancipation was q war measure on our
part. We did not free the slaves because we
believed in freedom, but because we felt that
it was a blow at the war strength of the
Southern Confederacy If the preservation
of the Union had depended upon the
maintainance Of slavery Mr.. Lincoln
would not have issued his proclamation.
Emancipation WAS a fine, q punishment
military penalty, and as such we must con-
slider it in any measure of reconstruction.
No one questions the wisdom which imposed
this and other penalties upon the South during
the war. They came from the necessity of
self-preservation. We only advance the ques-
ton now because we are convinced there can
be no reconstruction in the South that will
insure the permanence OF the Union that does
not consider all the war measures OF the rebel
lion, our legislation, our financial expedients,
the relation of State to the nation, the division
of States like Virginia, and, in fact, our
whole scheme of government. We ourselves
are not unconcerned in this discussion. The
effect Of the war was to drive us far away
from the original plan Of the fathers; to bring
new ideas and problems to life. In one small
fact, the disposition to renominate General
Grant for third term, fact that would have
been equivalent to treason before the war, we
The growth Of gigantic and overshadowing
| corporations which exercise feudal power
more absolute than the Plantagenet barons is
another fact Of the gravest importance.
Reconstruction in the South, railway
dominion in the West, finance and
tariffs in the North, the labor and
emigration problem on the Pacific, our rela-
tions with Canada and Mexico, the unusual
powers which have crystallized around the
Presidency and the Senate, weakening the rep
resentative independence Of the House. the
melting of Safe rights and immunities into
one general central power-civil service debt
and taxation; all these questions have assumed
new and morbid Importance since the wal
and because OF the war. They should be de-
termined in a national convention.
We consider emancipation now, because il
is question more directly concerned with the
troubles in the South, and because it is more
completely an illustration of our argument
in favor of this proposed convention. We
imposed emancipation as fine upon the
South-a fine that may be rudely estimated in
money value at from two to four thousand
millions of dollars, or from two to four times
as much as that imposed upon France by
Germany. This was only one of the fines
thus imposed fragment of what the South
was compelled to pay. There was the loss of
thousands of lives, the destruction of trade
for four years, the suspension of the
cotton crop, involving loss of hun
dreds of millions, and of rice and
sugar and tobacco, involving other millions;
the extinction Of the Confederate debt, of the
local war debts, of the whole volume of Con-
federate currency, of the obligations given by
the Richmond government for supplies, the
paralysis and virtual destruction of the South
ern railway system, the devastation Of the
Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and
Mississippi-all these were so many phases of
the indemnity imposed by US upon the South.
When TO them we add the emancipation Of
the slaves and the annihlation of the enor-
nous wealth they represented, the result is
that We not only conquered the Confederacy,
but entailed virtual ruin upon its citizens
Our theory seemed to be that so long as we
did not execute the rebels in arms they could
not complain AS an act Of craftsmanship we
now see that it would have been better to have
satisfied the spirit of vengeance by hanging
every leading man in the Confederacy if we
could also have shown magnanimity and
generosity to its people.
The world stood aghast at the indemnity
imposed upon France by Germany. That in
demnity was one thousand millions of dollars.
But suppose that the Germans had blockaded
French ports and suspended all trade for four
years; mad confscated or destroyed the wine
crop for Che same time, and not wine alone,
but all other crops had virtually uprooted the