Year: 1872




! The special dispatch from a trust


worty source at Washington which


We published yesterday, in referenc,


to the futu e treatment of the re


constructed Southern States resolv


ed upon by Gen. Grant, is exceed


ingIy gratifying. It thus appears


that the rigort US regime of the pas


is to be discarded for a more gene


rous and conciliato1y policy; thaI


the Presidents attention is mucl


given to the consideration of thi:


important subject; that it is be


lieved he fully comedies with the


idea that the time, the condition;
and the general results of the late
national election are propitious fol
reviying the same ''era of good feel
ing" which came in with President
Monroe's re election by an over
whelming popular majority similar
to that which General Grant has
just received; that he is in favor OF
every material notifications in the
Ku Klux laws of Congress as soon
as he can be satisfied that there Is
full protection for life and property
in the Southern States, and that he
will most probably recommend a
general amnesty in his forthcoming
annual message.


These are indeed gratifying as
surances, and they are perfectly
consistent with that generous char
acter and those conciliatory inclina-
tions manifested by General Grant
in many things, from the surrender
at Appomattox Court House to his
humane treatment of the Indians
Doubtless if, instead oft that remorse-
less Puritanical spirit of coercion
which has too much controlled the
legislation of Congress in reference
to the South-surely if, instead of
this police, the two houses had been
governed by the more amiable spirit
of General Grant all complaints of
the insecurity of life and property
in the lately rebellious States would
have ceased long ago. By his con
stitutiOnal oath the President is
bound to take care that the laws are
faithfully executed; but if in their
execution the laws relating to the
''Ku Klux Klans," for example, are
found, in his Judgment, too harsh to
reach the object designed, it is
equally his constitutional duty to
recommend their modification or re-
peal. We are glad to learn that this
is substantially his opinion, and that
accordingly we may look to Presi-
dent Grant for the inauguration Of
a new line Of action towards Vhe
South for the establishment of law
and Order-a policy embracing
complete obliteration of martial law
and rebel disabilities.


The revival of 'era of good feel
ing" which distinguished the second
term of the administration of Mon
roe is a happy thought. In this

case, we believe, history may so be
shaped as to repeat itself with per
feet security and complete success.
The occasion, in all its conditions,
invites the experiment. From its
to the war of 1912 the old
federal party, which had been for
many years gradually declining,
went down, so that in 1920
it dissolved and disappeared, and in
1.-The era of good feeling" which fol
lowed, though short era, the Amer
lean people were said to be "all re
publicans and all federalists." From
its opposition to the war, the issues
of the war and to the Congressional
measures for Southern reconstrue-
ton resulting from the war of 1861,
the democratic party, "fallen from
its high estate" has since been
steadily declining, till from this re-
markable contest of 1872, under its
new departure" it stands substan-
italy in the condition of the old
federal party in 1920, without a
ocal habitation or q name" There
we're two parties in the late coalition
against General Grant, the liberal |
and the democratic party; |
1ut these two parties were so blend
ID together that with the collapse Of !
he coalition it may be said, in q
national sense, that both have |
,eased to exist.


There Is, in short, nothing in our
political history which will so aptly |
compare with the second election of
Colonel Monroe as this second cleo
ion of General Grant. Nor can it /
De denied that the results of the !
contest and the political
situation are as favorable TO the in
'umbeDt in the latter case as they |
we're in the former. But when we
ook at the feebleness of these United |
States among the great nations in
-S20, as compared with our com
strength and resources as
he foremost nation of the earth in
-S72, and when we look at the great I
md bene6cent measures in our do
nestle and foreign relations now
within the grasp Of General Grant.
t will be seen that his opportunity
or a grandiy successful administra-
ION for transcends that of Monroe,
rom his second election. Assum-
ng that be has and will have no as
)irations for a third term, Grant, as