Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1869 — The Need of the Hoar. [ARTICLE]

The Need of the Hoar.

p-mo of the American pcopTe~rrmTTTds inTuFltob-' «rt Browning's couplet: “So with h sullen ‘all’s for best,’ The land seems settled to its rest.” “The fifteenth article, like a lame man, goes limping toward its goal, and wiii have a rough journey before it cat) finally enter the gate of the constitution Of course, we look forward to an ultimate adoption; but the day is further in the future than some over-sanguine people predict. “The ghost of the negro, •titering the state-house at Indianapolis, has frightened the Indiana legislature out of a quorum. Ohio—mother ol patriots and chief heroine of the •war —-stands now like a rebel, and will nbtratify v Georgia—fickle, obstinate* tod * disloyal—conspires once more against liberty, equality, and fraternity. - “It is quite evident that President Grant does not want the negro question to cast its Ethiopian shadow on his administration. He hoped it would be out of the way before he ascended his chair. For months before the inauguration, he privately urged its speedy and final settlement. His inaugural very plainly said: “I wish to devote my time to punishing the whisky rogues and topayingthe nation’s debt; sodon’tletme be troubled with the everlasting negro.” “It is equally evident, that the negro question is not yet settled. Nor, from present appearances, is it likely to be settled during the first or even the second year of the new administration. “We have not known a time since 1860 when the a wronged man waiting for juterfee, has been less an object of interest and sympathy, or when an appeal for his rights would not awaken a warmer response than now. ~ “This apathy is due in great measure to the general conmtion that the question is already practically j settled —a conviction as short-sight-ed in white men as it is disappoint-! ing to black; but due in stillgreater measure to the ieeblc pulse of moral feeling which the republican party baewanifested ever since Grant became its leader. This illustrious map (*sF?9> we have no wish to disprap **fk V 'f,* siaj*m, Amerie' r pie— Personal# /• Allen sap p, 8 t i satarr': bitft A | 24fl Be&t CAttltPo

power to communicate n kindling heat to other heart*, lie ha* none ol that beautiful magic of great men by which they fuse a wit mo nation iuto one glowing fervor of patriotism. Plain, alow and awkward Abraham Lincoln, in spite of liis plainness, sloWness, and awkwardness, made the whole nation love him devotedly, and even inspired the Inost radical critics of his conservative policy to a genuine admiration for the good man’a, kindly-aUeetioncd and childlike ways This is the most irresistible and enviable quality which mi American statesman can possess. It was nature’* gilt to Henry Clay. If Grant possessed it ho would find it at this moment of greater practical value than hi* entire military reputation. Hi* administration is every day sliding into deepening peril for lack of it. The ’stoic ar*d passionless West Point officer, who i* now experiencing the dillorvuce between a civil magistracy and a military generalship, needs for the success of his administration ju*t such a moral support as ho is peculiarly unfitted to inspire. Of course, as ho cannot change bis nature, we must take him lor what he | is; but wc doubt if he or his iinme- | diatc friends are aw are that his own lukewarm, hall-chilling personality is to bo the chief obstacle, in the way of his civil cjm-er. .“The democratic party (ever lying in wait) have now a greater opportunity so regain their lost leadership than they have had at any period since they first lost It. “Coder tlio present auspices at Washington (unless we greatly misjudge the signs ol the times), the republican party wiii grow weaker and weaken ar.,i their opponents steadily stronger apd stronger. The j moral sympathy which formerly united tb.d republican ranks into an ir- * resistible phalanx is now becomiug dull and chill in each maii’s breast. The elected leader carts for no great idea, and does not seem to suspect that his party is at this moment beginning to fall off from him because he is lifted to a station which is one piano too high for his genius.

“Then, too, like a bail on a fountain, congress keeps alternately tossed up ! and down. The omen was ill when congress so far forgot justice and duty as to admit the vote of Georgia in the electoral college. The omvu was ill wfien congress refused, to pass a law making suffrage uniform throughout the land. The omen w as ill when congress, by an express vote. struck Tml from the 15th article ! the right to hold office. “It is hard to hold this ficklo nation steadfastly to a moral purpose when its chief magistrate has no genial sympathy for moral ideas, and When its chosen representative* are constantly compromising their own oou--1 victions. “Both president find congress ought to unite in advertising a joint proposal : ‘Wanted—a Moral Purpose.’” : —New Yofk Independent. [ I,ike a boar with a sore head, or Wendell Phillips when he baa his own way, Theodore Tilton, of the New Tork Independent, ia everlastingly growling.

During “plain, slow and awkward Abraham Lincoln’s'’ administration the army didn’t “on to Richmond” fast enough to suit that gentleman’s military enterprise, ortiie executive was “too lenient” to meet the desires of this champion of "moral purposes, ’’ or lie was not fast enough in promulgating the emancipation proclamation, hut as soon as Mr. Lix~i"‘i in mm -id ttrn,:Jpmphn of,moral purpore’poliries find well fitted for his station in tlic affairs ; of the government, lie was -the hero ! and statesman of tiro times and was | well calculated to “inspire the most ' radical critics of his conservative pol- ! icy to a genuine admiration of the ' good man's kindly aflectioned and • childlike ways.” Now, witli less than a month intervening since ilia inauguration, and witjmut allowing time for General Grant to develop the policy of ilia administration, Mr. Tiltox is growlI ing because the President “has no i jipwer to communicate a kindling heart to hearts” and because he “docs t not want the negro question to cast its Ethiopian shadow upon his administration,” and finds lie don’t wahEJphc” “troubled with the everlasting negro.” Wo can not see how General Grant could-very well he stronger on the negro question than he expresses himself in his inaugural address. In that he fallv commits himself in favor of the 15th amendment, which embodies the most radical views ujk>u the subject yet presented to the people.— We are sure this is as much as could have been expected of a nift.n so eniinently practical as all the public acta gs the President have shown him to "fe Lit Congress pass Itrlaws, em»bodying the most “moral purposes” that may be, and they will be carried out iu good faith. Theodore Tiltox is either exefuciatlngly gushing or elec rabidly -.-hypercritical. lie is like a balky horse that wants to pull ahead or won’t pulL at all and the way to work him is to either tie pebbliw in his ears or catch him by the muzzle and tail and swing hlm around till he is dizzy. “

f3F“Ancly Johnson who has been i dangerously sick at Greenville, | Tenn., is reported out of danger and is announced to speak at Knoxville on the 3d ot, this month at Nashville on and from ’there he will go to JldKphis and distribute such | small portion* of the Constitution , as he lias been able to save while he i was President. The Pennsylvania. Legislature has j ratified th# Fifterntl? Ainfndnwat,