Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-06-09
To the Editor Of tie Tribune:


"The Presidents inaugural address and his
policy in respect TO the Southern question that
policy which had net been announced! recall
the counsel of Gov. Andrew. ss* In 1866,
Gov. Andrew gave, in his valedctory,
prophetic voice as TO the failure of the mode of
reconstruction which has been tried, and be sug-
gested the precise method by which President
Hayes now proposes to promote the roconcllia-
tion Of the nation. That precise method which
had never been givenl Let US read ilom that
philosophc and solemn legacy a few sentences
which bear upon the politics of TO day with
much force as if they had been framed for the
crisis"
This statement s, it must be confessed, not
little startling. If Gov. Andrew foIesaw and
foredoomed what we have all been try ing to do.
why did not the Advertiser tell US before Why
did it wait through the aDxetes OF Gen. Grants
admin istiation and the Peoples campaign, and
the Electoral Commissions campaign, and till
President Hayes had proposed his policy without
words, TO tell us that Gov. Andrew had suggested
it? Why has not its voice been lifted in season
aud out Of season against sending troops TO the
South TO prevent the massacre of the colored
people by the white people-he only purpose TO
which National "force' has been applied We
wait in as philosophc and solemn a silence we
can muster on short notice, 10 hear the Advertiser
deliver over this long-suppressed legacy. And
this it is:
I've should not be satisfied with the loyal
vote. We want the popular vote, and the rebel
vote is better than the loyal vote if on the right
side. - i am confident we cannot re. organ
lze political society with any proper security
First Unless we let in the people to co-opera-
tion, and not merely an arbitrarily selected por-
tion Of them. Second {: Unless give those who
by their intelligence and character the natural
leaders Of the people, and who surely will lead
them by and by, an opportunity to lead them now.
| am aware that IL has been favorte dogma in
many quarters, No rebel voters. But it is i'm
possible in certain States to have any voting by
white men, if only loyal men, i. e, those who
continued so during the rebellion, permitted
to vote.
This is ALL The whole question presented and
discussed by Gov. Andrew Is that the Southern
rebel population shall not be DISTINGUISHED; that
they shall be permitted TO vote. All the rest OF
the quotation is occupied by the Arguments in fa-
vor of th position. And no W our political Rip
Van Wnke rubs his eyes and gives the recent
intelligence that public opinion demands that the
experiment which Gov. Andrew so long fore
shadowed must now be tried The Advertiser OF
course cannot tell lie, and must suppose that
1t is not yet aware that the experiment has been
tried, and concluded and classed among things
accomplished, and passed out of the of de-
bate. 1t apparently fancies President Hayes TO
be queryng whether he shall let Southern citizens
vote II has not yet got tar enough down in CO.
temporary history TO have learned that consti-
| tntional amendment, no legislation by Congress.
no measure of policy by the republican party +,
ever deprived or ever attempted to deprive a sin
gle rebel-not even Jefferson Davs-of the rig ut
10 vote. Yet the Advertiser painfully digs up
this corpse Of a phantom, and solemnly bears IL
into public parade. and imagines that it has con-
tributed its quota of living souls to battle for an
imperiled republic!
Julia" said an energetic lady to her nervous
friend. who was consumed with anxiety lest she
might have omitted to invite some possible person
to her silver wedding, "Julia, make yourself per-
fectly easy. You have invited people who have
been dead ten years" The Advertiser may con-
gratulate itself a similar thoroughness.
If the Advertiser can take violent stride iuto
recent history, will it be SO good to point out
| the precise feature Of Gen. Grants mode of re-
construction, for which Gov Andrew prophesed
failure in his argument for rebel suffrage Will
| it give the exact point of Gen. Grants programme
that was nfringed upon by Gov. Andrews plea
| for rebel suffrage For, let it be borne in mind ,
Gov. Andrew was talking about the suffrage and
nothing else The intelligent and moral leader
| ship which he advocated was based upon suffrage
and upon nothing else. Gov. Andrew proposed
and defended universal suffrage. The nation
adopted universal suffrage almost before his words
had mingled with our free air. The North has
always been more eager to give than the South
has been willing to receive. Gov. Andrew ar
| gued that the leading minds of the South, "men
| Of great moral courage, who can renounce their
own past opinions and do it boldly" though they
had been in rebellion, should yet be allowed to
come to the front again and resume leadership by
popular suffrage. They came to the front long
ago The country went far ahead of Gov. An
drews recommendations. The leading minds
| resumed leadership without renouncing their past
| opinions ut ALL and we would have it so. They
are in the Senate and House of Representatives
aud did President Grant interpOSe an obstacle :
| Did any man connected with General Grant
administration ever put stumbling block in the
way of a repentaDt or even an unrepentant rebel :
return to Congress- Heaven forbid should do
80 unpatriotic, so uureformstoIy, SO partisan a
thing as to speak fair and fruitIess word for a
a man who has been three months without patron
age; but this is polht which touches the honor
| OF every man anu womap who composed the re-
publican party through the eight years of Grants
adm inisti alton. The magnsnimity advocated by
| Gov. Andrew was but II iaint foreshadow of the
magnanimity formulated in law ana realized ia
practice by the American government and the
American people. Villains from the North, aided
and abeited by villains at the South, have, as
their manner Isl rushed i1 and Sd far they could
prosttuted The public welfare to their own per-
| soDal and selfish ends but never were unrepent-
ant prodigals so endery treated and trusted "a
were her lebellious children by this nation that
they strove TO rcpd and destroy.
| But when the South undertakes to draw out
| leviathan with hook when 1t would put that
hook through the nose of the National ad-
minis and lead it TO and fro at will; wher
the South stands up on broken law, and violated
constitution and bloody iusun ection, ard dictate,
| terms to the National government, ii is not mag
nanimity but ruslanimity which counsels surren
der and calls il Cancellation.
why the policy of the Southern republicans up /,
this time has proved Il failure is that
"The edurated, property owning and infuen
tial classes in the South have not been trusted Of
consulted. They have been steadily ignored
ostracised and repelled, unless they would become
republican paftsans. Henry Wilson al
WAYS believed that more liberal policy, wthou
the sacrifice of any principle, might have organ
lied a strong native white republican element
under one banner. But this element was toe
, proud, aud had too much sell-respect to be con
! tent to hold subordinate position under adven
turers from other States. So long as the Nationa
, government would not trust them with authority
or responsibility, they held aloof. -'+ If We
, ca n maintain peace and promote prosperity in the
South by trusting Southern men, who will sa,
that it Is not a wiser course than by depending OF
the army to suppress disorder whenever it occurs :
, Two days afterward the same paper afirms tina
"The most respectable and best informed domes
!. tic journal in South Carolina, the Charleston
Q News and Courier, in a series of double .leade
articles, remarkable for their ability and judicia
calmness " and q majority of all the demo