National Republican., 1876-01-14
LOCK 10 The SENATE.

The debate on the amnesty bill IN the
House Of Representatives has broken the
silence ujcl the Confederate leaders have
so carefully maintained since Lees sur,
render. irTI the day of Abraham Lin
coin 5 ass7 .,.EatiUD, and the Confederate
Democratic policy inaugurated by Andrew
johnson, down 10 the present tim", the
political leaders of the Confederate rlrjy
at the South have preserved the pOlicy Of
silence in regard to their real feelings upon
the issues involved in the late war, and
their real purposes in regard to the Amer
ican Union. This silence, maintained with
such diplomatic skill, has enabled these
leaders tO cain a position within the Gov
eminent Which now emboldcnS them to
throw off the mask so long worn. The
Confederate power now dominates in each
one of the late slave States of the Union.
1t controls one hundred and thirty eight
votes in the electoral college. 1t has abso-
lute control OF the lower House of Con-
gress. Ii holds a balance of power in the
Senate. 1t wields tremendous financial
and commercial influence in every North
ern State, and its representatives are the
welcome guests in every Northern drawing
room. The leaders Of this tremendous
power have had ample opportunities FOR
coming in personal contact with Northern
Republicans. They believe these Northern
Republicans 10 be veual, hypocriticll aud
cowardly. These COnfcderates believe that
the race Of brave, political leaders at the
North died out with Stanton, Bur-
lingamc, Thad. Stevens, Sumner and
others They believe that the present
representative men of the Republican
party are afraid of their own constituents
and ashamed of their own principles
They believe that the great majority of the
people of the North are also "sick and
tired of the emancipation experiment,
and that, snJacr or later, a reaction will
set in which viii oveTwhclm the par Of
humanity and make the United States a
white mans government, with the Con-
federatc South The determining balance of
power in that Government Under these
circumstances the Confederate leaders,
being sure Of tho allegiance of.their Demo-
cratic allies at the North, have determined
70 "devclop' the Republican party, and to
develop il in the two issues which these
Southern politicians believe represent the
fatal weakness Of the Republican party.
One of these issues is represented in the
policy cf reconciliation; the other in the
cry OF Il white mans government. 1t is
believed that these two issues, if pressed
before tic Southern people, will prove
stronger than the war cry and the Aboli-
ton cry on the side of the Republicans.
Hence the leaders Of the Confederate
pcwer il congress were quite as ready for
Mr.. Blairc's amendment as Mr.. Blaine
was to oiTtr it. Whatever Of aIdacity
there may appear to be in the open and
courageous cOuIsc of Ben. Hill IN this mat
Ter, is only part and parcel of the same
audacious spirit which has defied the author.
ity of Congress and of the Executive for the
last four years, which has revolutionizcd
Louisiana and Mississippi with Republi-
can Congress and administration in power
at the National Capital, and which replied
to each election of General Grant by
the murder of his political supporters in
the Southern States. The Confederate