Year: 1874

1
cerned, at least since the close of the war, has
been one of self-preservation. We have been
anxious to preserve the fruits of that struggle
without risk or persdventure. This was
natural, prudent anxiety So much treasure,
SO much blood, SO much effort SO many ex-
traordinary and unparalleled sacrifices. the
loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the
addition of thousands of millions to the
national debt, all had been freely given
for union and emancipation. Were we to
nullify all by surrendering union and eman-
cipation, or by what would have been their
virtual surrender-the premature return to
power of the leaders of the rebellion Fears
like these have always disturbed the judgment
Of the calmest statesmen in the republican
party Behind them also was a truculent
public feeling which had not forgotten the
war, and, remembering only the anger and
apprehension of that time. insisted that the
leaders of the rebellion should be grateful and
content because they had not been hanged
This feeling paralyzed the reconstruction
policy of Mr.. Johnson, drove him to the verge
Of impeachment and thus far has prevented
any measure Of substantial justice to the South.


Consequently We have had timid, hesita-
ting policy in dealing with the South We
have taken counsel of our fears and our fears
have generally been stimulated by bold men
in the Confederacy who gloried in disturb
ance Whenever generous sentiment toward
the South blossomed into life some angry
cruel secession wind would be sure to kill it.
President Lincoln would have carried out a
policy Of reconstruction, singularly liberal and
comprehensive if he had not been murdered
President Johnson would have succeeded in
his generous plan but for the massacre at New
Orleans in 1866. The murder of Lincoln and
the massacre of Dostie and his associates have
from time to time been followed by acts of
kindred violence, all contributing to the un-
rest of the South. Only the other day we
had Governor Ames, Of Mississippi, asking
for troops to protect the negroesHin Vicksburg
from the whites. The letters we print from
Tennessee show that even in that State there
is no peace. We have conquered the armies
of the South, we have dissolved the once
mighty Confederacy, we have driven its flag
from the land and the ocean; there is but one
authority in this land, the authority Of the
constitution; we have sent into retirement and
exile the leaders Of secession; but there still is
no peace, only trouble, sorrow, crime, dis
turbance, murder everywhere. Anarchy in
Arkansas reputation in Louisiana, confsca-
ton in South Carolina Wherever we look
there is chaos.


We do not overdraw this picture. The
telegraph sadly enough gives us newer and
darker tints from hour. to hour. Our CORE
spondents confirm the news in painful,
gloomy letters. Nothing is clearer to
every patriotic mind than that the problem
should be solved. Every day it seems
as if we were about to solve it, when
the memory of some fear rises and affrights
us. There Is no feeling towards the South in
the innermost Northern heart but one of kind
ness. The bitterness of the war no longer
remains Nothing would more crafty New
York than to see Virginia again the Old
Dominion and New Orleans once more the
metropolis of the Gulf of Mexico. But how
is it to be done? Some Southern men tell us
that there can be no reconstruction that does
not assert the dominance Of the white over
the black. To this it is wisely answered that
no law can establish such dominance-that
it must come from superior energy, enterprise
and thrift. Some tell us that civil rights to
the negro means war of races. The answer
is that to deny the negro civil rights, which are
inherent in the proclamation of emancipation,
is to declare such war. Yet all this time, while
we linger between two opinions, the Southern
country drifts into that strife which history
never records without shuddering-a strife of
race with race. The doctrine of repudia-
ton rapidly becomes question of public and
accepted policy in many sovereign Southern
States States like Massachusetts, and New
York, whose credit is untainted and whose
honor is dear to every citizen, find them
selves bound to other States who declare that
they will not only repudiate their own debts,
but do what lies in their power toward the
reputation of the national debt. The in
tegrity of the Union, therefore, once assailed
by secession, is now more seriously menaced
by reputation and ST. Domingo war between
men of different blood


There is surely remedy for all this, but
our statesmen are not brave enough to grasp
it. We should either regard the South as
military conquest and govern it by proconsuls,
or as q sovereign element Of the Union and
worthy of fraternal sovereign rights. If we
cannot trust the Southern States let us restore
the military departments and send our gene
rails down to command them. Such change
would be welcome in some respects, for
there would certainly be no war between races,
no Legislative reputation. II, on the con-
trary, we can trust the Southern States as
sister sovereign commonwealths, then we
must show fraternal and courageous feeling.
1t will not do to say that reconstruction began
upon the theory that the utmost mercy was