Wilmington journal., 1876-02-04
II H Il RICH MOND ENQUHRER
AND COLONEL WADDELfl


upon a portion of Colonel WaddeiPs
recent speech, in advocacy of the Cen
tennial appropriation, is SO kindly In
it's tone as almost entirely to disarm
us. We assure our cotemporary that
it's courteous expressions are most
highly appreciated even though it may
bs that the qualities of our head are
made to suffer somewhat by compari-
son with those of our heart.
The Enquirer says that nothing was
further from it's thoughts than to say
that Colonel Waddell had "made a
compromise with the Radical party.
The precise language OF the Enquirer
was, as will be seen by reference to
it's files, that Colonel Waddell's spec III
included an unhappy and perhaps
uninterded compromise with the other
party" and supposing that the party,
"other" than the one to W hich Colonel
Waddell belonged, was the Radical
party, we fell into an error for which
we take upon ourselves all the blame,
without stopping to enquire whether
it arose from the fact that the Enquirer
was "more earnest than deliberate" in
it's structures upon Colonel Waddell's
speech or from our own inadvertence.
And so, too, when the inquirer,
after declaring that Colonel Waddell
had made "the lam entable mistake
through the heat of debate and per-
haps the warmth of feeling, of concod-
ing the very principle which the Rad
icals claim, a'd on which they rest not
only the wrr for the Union but the
whole theory and fabric of their pro-
cess of reconstruction" goes on to call
bis attention to the differen e between
secessionists and rebels and to protest
that Confederates would never consent
to stand in the category Of traitors
nor admit that any such stain belongs
to the brows of their Lees and John
stona, We fell into error again, suppos-
ing the Enquirer regarded these things
against which it protested as corolla-
ries from the "unintended compro-
misc" it CRITICS. d. We oheerfully and
frankly confess our error, assuring our
cotemporary that like Colonel Wad-
dell's compromise" it was entirely
''unintended."
But the Enquirer is by no means
prepared to withdraw objection to that
portion of Colonel Waddeu's speech to
which this discussion has reference.
1t still thinks it can fairly be construed
to imply more and concede more than
is consistent with the viudication of
Southern history and Southern char
acter and in support of this opinion
makes two points: first. that there is
no force in the discrimination between
"the benefcence of free institutions
to which Co,onel Waddell attributes
the Sub ,ime spectacle and the mercy
and magnanimity to which the Radi--
cal party attributes it; and secondly,
that Colonel Waddell's designation OF
the Confederates as men who made
eOar on the government five years be-
fore their readmission to Congress-
conveys an imprudent and injurious
admission to the Radical side.
1. According to our apprehension
there is a vast difference between say
ing the readmission of Southern men
to Congress is due to ''the benefcence
of free institutions, and saying it was
owing to the mercy or magnanimity of
the Radical party-just about the diff
ference there is between the want OF
power to keep them out and the want
of will to do SO. So long as the
Federal Constitution was recognized
there was an imperative necessity
upon the Federal authorities that the
permanent governments provided for
the Southern States should be repub-
lioan in form and with governments
republican in form, in the Southern
States it was Simply impossible to keep
Southern men out of Congress for any
great length of time. This is what
the JOURNAL understands Colonel
Waddell to mean when he talks about
"thc bene ficence of free institutions. -
Surely that is beneticence that con-
trolls and renders harmless the angry
passions of malignant mon. In a word
the reappearance of Southern reple
sentatives in Congress was due to the
want of power in the dominant party
to lesp them out and not to the want
of will to do so, as would have been
the case if they had been re.adn tilted
through mercy.
The Enquirer asks us what we have
to say of Colonel Waddell's designation
of the Confederates as '.neen aOho made
a0ar on the goUer7anaent. In reply to
the question of it's cotemporary the
JOURNAL has to say simply that when
Colonel Wuddell uses such a designa-
ton of the Confederates it will be full
time to criticize it. We have just read
carefully the report of Colonel Wad-
dell's speech in the Congressional
Record and have been unable to find
the words quoted by the Enquirer.
The words used by Colonel Waddell
are. men who "aOere arrayed in battle
against government, language that,
we respe ectfully submit, conflicts with
no theory of either North or South
as to the constitutional or the legal as
pect of the inception or conduct of
I" thh late unpleasantness." Instead
his language seems to have been
chosen to avoid such a conf ct.
A special dispatch to the New York
World says the resignation of Mr..
John M. Ban clay, the Journal Clerk of
The House of Representatives, who has
occupied that p osition for twenty-nine
years, has not yet been accepted, and
was not desired by MIR. Adams, the