Year: 1865




The Richmond Election NuHified.
A misstep has been made by the admin
istratiOn, which arrests, and threatens to
turn backward, the wheels of reconstruc-
tion, and "casts ominous conjecture DER the
whole success" of President JOhnson's ,eX-
pertinent. -..u.r.. ...'r.


The municipal election held few days
since at Richmond has been set aside by
military order, on the ground that the Off
GERS elected were persons of rebel antece-
dents. 1t is not alleged that they are unre-
pentant rebels; there is no charge against
them OF present disloyalty; on the contrary,
they are persons who have submitted to the
Federal authority and taken the oath of al
legiance. If the precedent here set is to be
followed in other cases, we apprehend that
anything resembling real reconstruction is
very far off. The southern people have so
generally participated in the rebellion,
that, if no space is to be allowed for repen-
tance, local self-government cannot be re-
established till the present generation Of
adults has died off. r.iy... ..t ,0t


The rule adopted with reference to the
Richmond officials, would oust certainly
three, and we know not how many more,
of President Johnson's provisional Cover
nors, who have not only participated in the
rebellion, but held offices under it. Cover
IlOluCL, VI SdTOllud, opOhe anu
voted for the ordinance OF secession, and
held the Office of State printer under the
rebel Government. Governor Perry, of
South Carolina, was arebel State judge and
q Confederate commissioner for the i'm
pressment of supplies for the rebel army.
Governor Parsons, of Alabama, was a Bit
ter secessionist, the rebel judge of a Con-
federate district court, member of the
rebel State Legislature, and has at least
twice taken the oath of allegiance TO the
Confederate Government. THERE'S neither
fairness, equity nor consistency in nullity-
ing local election on account OF the Con-
federate antecedents of the persons elected,
at the same time that persons are appoint
nor, whose record is equally Objectionable.
The appointment of Governors likely to
command the confidence and gain the CO.
operation of the Southern people has been
commended as an act OF wisdom. 1t is less
costly to govern by moral influence than by
physical terror and brute force, to say moth
| ing OF the importance of recementing the
Union by the habit of willing OBEDIENCE
1t surely does not tend to the pacifcation
and contentment of the South to keep tear
ing open the old wounds. Now that the
rebellion is dead, why should the Govern
ment keep fighting its carcass? a'


1t is an insulting mockery to open the
polls and call upon citizens to come and
vote, and then set aside the election if the
Government candidates are not chosen. If
it is foregone conclusion that the federal
authority is to dictate to the people of the
locality whom they shall select for local
officers, and the ballot-box is to be a mere
machine for registering the DEGREES OF the
Government the pretence of an election is
a transparent farce. This business of re-
constructing the local governments of the
| South is undertaken under the color of that
provision of the Constitution by which the
United States guarantee to every State in
the Union republican form of Government.
1t is a queer sort Of repubhcantsm which
| permits the people to choose only in obe-
dience to outside dictation!
"But would you have rebels hold office?
The question is irrelevant; there are no
| rebels. The people OF the South have sub
| nitted and are universally disposed to make
| the best of the situation. The completeness
| of their submission is matter of universal
surprise and congratulation. 1t surpasses
all expectation. There has been no time
within the last forty years when the Union
was in SO little danger OF disruption as at
present. The people of the South should
now be treated, not as slaves dragged at the
chariot wheels Of their conquerors, but as
repentant fellow-citizens whom it Is our
duty and interest to treat as republican
| freemen.


The method now adopted seems likely to
keep the South for a long period under mil
itary rule. The evil will ultimately cure
itself for the Federal Government is not fit
ted to administer the local affairs of that
extensive region, and will certainly fail in
the attempt. The South will lose less by
| this peryersion of federal authority than
the North; and when the North realizes
how it affects them, they will apply rem
edy through the elections.


This wretched business of administering
local affairs of the South by the Federal
Government will break down by revolt of
the tax payers. Under the normal system,
local government in all the States is sup
ported by local taxes. The aggregate of
State, county, and town taxes greatly eX-
ceeds those collected by the Federal Govern
ment. But under the system now inaugu-
rated, the people of the whole country will
have to pay for the local government of the
| South. The Federal Government is prohib-
tied by the Constitution from laying any
taxes which are not uniform throughout the
United States. 1t accordingly follows that
the South will be relieved from taxation for
the support of local officers, and that the
expenses of their local administration will
be thrown upon the people of the whole
country. The permanent maintenance OF
an army Of two hundred thousand men in
the South, and the support of all the local
officers necessary for administering local
affairs, will prove a burden to which the
voting people of the North most GER
tainly will not submit. ''' r.9,ia'''
L