Year: 1874




Reconstruction - has hitherto prov
en- so excellent bate to keep alive the
hree OF sectional hate and animosity
and afford sustenance for Republican
leaders, that some Of them dislike to
confess it an accomplished fact. Hence
the encouragement to Kellogg in
Louisiana, to Davis in Texas, and
perhaps Powers in Mississippi.
Peace at the south would rob the party
in the ascendant of the policy by which
it has been mainly held together, and
victory for the Democracy at the next
Presidential contest be easy Of accom-
plishment. Men like Morton, reeogniz.
ing this, cannot, without a desperate
struggle, surrender tJ the southern peo-
pie their heritage, so long usurped, and
permit them to manage their States
in their own way. Hence his
recent contemptnous treatment Of the
telegram OF the legally ele;ted legisls-
ture Of Louisiana, and his opposition to
President Grant because that gentleman
refuses to Kellogizs Texas and ruin the
splendid prospects of that State, whose
growth in population and wealth, in the
past two years, under the conviction Of
release from Radical rule, has been unex-
ampled. The President acted wisely and
well in the case of Texas, and in his
telegram to Davis refusing him the use
of the federal power, laid bare in few
we'll chosen words the infRmy Of the
creature who for his own base purposes
would remand his State to the anarchy
and confusion incident to the re-
construction days Of 1866 and 1857
Ames, and the Legislature elected with
him in Mississippi, are masters of the
situation, backed up as they arc by the
general voice OF those who voted against
them, snd it is fair TO presume that if
Powers applied to the President he
would receive the same answer as Davis,
go there is no chance for trouble in Mis-
sissippi. Thus barred in that State and
in Texas, and with the prospect Of new
election in Louisiana, whereby Kellogg
may be ousted, Morton stands
in dismsy, fearing that return to set
tied ways and constitutional methods
viii bring with it to him, and all like
him, cartsin political death. Hence
the vehemence with which he turns up
on General Grant, whom he defended
so ardently during the canvass Of
1872. 1t is said, too, that in addition to
these causes he is Jealous of the friend
ship OF the President for Conkling,
and thinks he sees in that a plot to
place that gentleman first in the sue
cessiOn with the Republican party.
Then there is the rumored threat
Of the President to veto the civil-rights
bill unless shorn of the educational
clause compelling white children to sit
in the same rooms with those Of negro
blood; and also to veto the salary bill
with a request that the executive salary
be included in the repesl. There are
also, as additional aggrsvations to break
with him, the declarations Of the Presi-
dent that he cares nothing for
the caucus 50 long as ne is
right with the people. Under
all this Morton and others have grown
restive, and, it is asserted, have deter
mined hereafter TO pursue the same line
of policy toward Grant IS toward John
son, believing that by so doing they can
ne-cement t ne disintegrated elements of
their party and be ready fol a triumph
in 1876. Meanwhile the imperturbable
executive is headstropg, and refuses
10 be turned from the path he
has marked out, confident that
the people will indOTse him. The Demo-
Gratis Of both houses stand sloOf, patient
and amused spectators Of scenes that,
unless something unforeseen occurs, may
prove the precursor Of a general uphesval
that, let US hope, will result in the final
overthrow Of the enemies of the peace
and prosperity Of the south, men to whom
we owe much, if not all, of the distress
the people Of our States have endured
and are now suffering from.