The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-11-01
The Republican Mistake.

The fact that large section of this
country, the Southern States, have
been, since the late civil war, Democrat
ic, and have furnished great political
strength to that party in Congress, as
well as heavy popular vote in Nation
al elections, has never ceased to worry
and annoy the ultra partisan leaders of
the Republican party. They lament
that the Southern States are not held as
conquered provinces, and things so
shaped that their grasp on them might
have resulted in the formation of a
party there powerful enough to render
was had to the ballot. That this was
the aim and object of certain leaders
admits of no doubt; but Andrew John
son and the Cabinet, who took up the
the work of restoration when it fell
from the nerveless hand of Abraham
Lincoln, did not entertain such views.
There is good reason to believe that had
Lincoln lived to complete the work to
which he had begun to address himself
when the war ended, and had given
rein to that love of justice and wealth
of patriotic spirit with which he was so
generously endowed, the party leaders
would have broken with him, as they
did with his successor, who did nothing
more than attempt the measures of res
toratiOn which he had doubtless APP
proved. 1t is we'll in these times of po-
litical disputation to know Alright the
current of belief at that period among
those charged with the duty of restoring
the Union, that the subsequent action
of party plotterS and. adventures may
be more clearly understood and defined.
Hon. Hugh McCulloch, who was Secre-
tary of the Treasury under President
Johnson, in an address at Fort Wayne,
Ind. October Is, 1865, said, speaking
of the hostility of some portion of the
party touching the policy of Andrew
Johnson:
Il know that they are not the views of a
majority of the people of the North. The bet
ter opinion is, that the States which attempted
to secede never ceased to be States in the
Union: that all the acts OF secession were of
nc effect; that during the progress of the re-
volt the exercise of the Federal authority was
merely suspended, and that there never was
moment when the allegiance of the people of
the inSurrectionary States was not due to the
Government, and when the Government was
not bound to maintain its authority over
tnem, ana eXte1u prOteCtlOn TO those VINO
required il. When the COnfederacy collapsed
all the rebel State Governments collapsed
with it. so that with few exceptions there were
no persons holding civil office at the South by
the authority of any legitimate government.
Now as government is ut all times necessity
among men, and as it was especially so at the
South, where Violence and lawleSsness had
full sway, the question to be decided by the
President was simply this: Shall the people of
the recent rebelliOus States be held under
military rule until Congress shall act upon
taken by the Executive to restore to them
civil government? After mature considera-
ton the President concluded it 70 be his duty
to adopt the Latter course, and | am satisfied
that in 30 doing he acted wisely"
This WAS the much-ab,,sed position
taken by President johnson and in
dorSed by all the members. of his Cabi-
net, Stanton at that time included.
That this action had, or would have
had, the sanction of President Lincoln,
had he been then living, is evident
from the fact that the Cabinet agreed
with President johnson in the views
taken. The subsequent action of the
men who, in their fury, sought to i'm
peach johnson, and plunged the South
in the horrors of the reconstruction
era, are familiar to all, and if the South
since that period reSolutely refuses to
share the fortunes of the Republican
party, it is the fault of the men who
undid the work President johnson and
his Cabinet set about doing. With the
States OF the South peacefully restored
to the Union and their civil govern
ments' set up and protected by the arm
Of Federal power, the current of polit-
ical sentiment there might have run
differently. But mild measures and
patriotic purposes were kicked aside
by the men who were in power in the
Senate and House of Representatives
and plans presented and carried out
which forever alienated all support
from that section, and has even now
divided and lost that enfranchised ele-
ment from which everlasting gratitude
and allegiance was expected. The
grand mistake of Republican party
legislation was that Reconstruction act.
Had wiser counselS prevailed and more
patriotic methods been followed. the
scandals which began there and the
corruption which it fostered and taught
might not have SO early eaten out the
heart of the party and left it a byword
and disgrace along the path of Ameri-
can political MISREPRESENTATION Regis
ter.