The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-01-24

rne plan-..rne Restored Republic.

The plan--Tne Restored Republic.
It is gratifying indeed to any citizen who
properly appreciates the plan OF settlement
Oh the presidential election to consider 10 IN
its effects on the Government under which
we live. He cannot fail to see that it has
two grand merits LIST. 1t is the nrst soma
and unyielding obstacle in the path OF tue
steadv march OF that usurpation which, IN
obssructcG must permanently subvert our
liberties. Cd. It places civil authority anu
law above force and military power.
We know how fearful have been inc
strides OF arbitrary rule, sustained py all
manner Of outrages ana violence. we Know
how i;sastrously this has operated upon an
.he interests OF the land. AS long as op-
nression and outrage were continued 81 tue
south, and operated directly upon the
son,b. northern and western people were
not aroused to proper sense OF the DANGER
which threatened them; nor, indeed even
to the great injury visited indirectly upon
fbem. Yet when, through the system OF
usurpation and fraud in the presidential
election. they, too, were reached, ana are
comnel,ed in self-defence to resort to meas
urcs for the preservation OF the rights OF
the whole country. Sooner or later TINS
stand for the protection OF all sections ana
al, the States must have been made. How
ever long it may be said our northern lei
low-citizens can bear our nisfortunes, they
could not fight off that wave OF equalization
which carried the wrongs OF the soetn TO
the uttermost parts Of the land.
The presidential election it was that In
yolyed ell in the common storm that erased
the interior boundaries OF peril and re-
o,ired common effort to avoid common
danger. That oppression which rioted in
the South and put our system OF govern
ment in the greatest peril provoked the
general execration and summoned the gen.
era] resistance when it invaded the national
exercise OF popular right in the election OF
President.
Fortunate for the South, and yet more
fortunate for the North, that it should be
so. 1t il quite time that the North should
be awakened to the public danger, and
more than ripe is the period for the occur
renee OF the positive issue between the
civil! power and the arbitrary authority
backed by military force.
There was every prospect that the COM
mon act OF the people OF the Union would
be wound up in the assumption Of power
by unauthorized persons to make the deci-
sion as to who should be President. The
whole nation was intensely anxious and
profoundly impressed that the danger OF
the subyersion OF the Government from one
OF opinion to one Of force had become i'm
minent and immediate.
At this point the plan OF settlement is de-
vised which clearly proposes to provide for
counting the electoral vote for President
completely and according to civil regulation
and law. The plan at once dispefled all
sense OF apprehended danger, and sets up
the civil power as above the military, and as
absolutely excluding it altogether. The
triumph of opinion over force-of law over
arms-of civil regulation over arbitrary in
terserence-oi the people over despotic
agencies-is complete, and the ship OF State
anchored and saved from drifting upon the
rocks and shoals Of despotism.
We say it is a grand event for the nation,
and restores in the most conspicuous and eff
fcient manner the public liberty and SOW
ereignty OF the people.
The next Administration, established
through this process OF peace and law, must
be subordinated to the power which created
it. It cannot presume to hector over the
people and maintain the measures ingeni-
ously and unconstitutionally devised for
the perpetuation Of party power. It will
be compelled to respect the public authority
and the Republican laws and usages,
leaving the people to live and pursue th cir
civil occupations in peace and security.
This Is what the plan will secure for the
nation. And no such boon has been youch.
safed to the republic since its foundation.
We therefore hail it as triumphant defence
against the final success OF the usurpation
which has so distracted the country, and as
q measure by which the public liberty, the
supremacy Of the civil over the military
power, and the authority Of the people are
erected on a firm basis again in the land.
We must not forget, too, that while this
plan thus saves the Government from final
perversion it gives to the South peace, and
ingures the establishment Of the southern
States on footing OF equality with all the
States. There can be no public peace and
national harmony without this equality.
This bill will do more to bring that about
than anything which has happened since
the war. Well indeed may the South re-
joice; but not less should North and West
hail the plan as the national deliverance-
as the beginning Of a period Of prosperity
and harmony that will bring blessings to
every house and every being in the land.
Our good friend Of the Petersburg Post
deyotes over column Of its issue Of yester-
day to the task Of trying to sustain his pro-
position that the plan proposed by the joint
committee Of the two houses Of Congress to
A. - u r.