A French View Of Reconstruction

It in with pleusuro that wo soa our views boBoming omifirntcd in America upon tliü neceisily of a eoneiliutory ; policy. At a great ruass meeting Mr. Ckmunt luid Mr, Gefrit Smith address;d the muttitude snyuig tbat " ii the South luul comrnitled the gi'catest of crimuH ia taking up nrics for the purpcHo of breuking up the Uüion, tho North in its turn would coir.init lliü most detestable criiuo in puui.shing the' South as guilty of treason." It, is, i i ■our opinión, a happy symptom that such wordrt, so tnie, and eo full ot good policy, could have bi-cn pronounced beforo a multitude which had so many limes inaiiifeMti'd exeessive sontimonts of hostility and bittor feelings. lo civil war, more tlian in wars with foréiati countries, hatrêd outlives defeat, and uu unworthy vetigeanco but too frequently dishonora victory. But a wiseand powirf'ul govemnicnt when it hns succeeded in giving pastee to the country ought to devote itself to the bïiflgiug about of concord, whicli end is never achiovod by vioknt incans. The aeeusation of high treeson againsf JefF. Davis, md alsi that wh'ch the jnry of Ncrfolk bas just is sued üg.inet the illustrious (ienerol Lee mny be ooneessious to popular cffervesence, but surely thoy are acts impolitic and contrary lo the end which is to bo brought about at present. President Johnson has already broken down, ii Is Btated, the decisión of the jury of Norfolk, becauso that decisión outvvardly disregaided the oapitulation which coverod General Lee and his army. We think also that it would bo logical to apply to the iormcr chiof of the oonfedemtion the same principies of the law of the people ad is applied to the generáis who have aoted by their orders, as to give up a trial which can add nothiug to the security of the ro public, and only havo the effect of considerably loweririg its dignity. Much betler caá be dono at present than the takinar of steri-ta vongeanoe on a fallen foe. The deep wounds of tlie country ciused by the strugelo now over havo to be healed. That fe?,rful war vvhioh, during four years desolatod the republio, has robbed the Union of netirly four handred thonsand men, and lolt the state in debt to the amount of fifteen miliiaids Tho provinces of the South are a prey to misery. In Virginia alone, two Lundred thonsand inhabitants ol evory claas live ooly upon the aharity of tho governmaijt, aud at Ilichmond ara distributed one bundred and eloven thousand rations a day. A;rieulture, commerce, and trade, are all equally depressed. The uegroe.0, Puddenly made free by the war, have as vet roeeived no other privilege frora their new condición thari the liberty to do nothing; and no one can túrrame as to the effect of this seriotw chango in the Southern States. It can only be remarked that the vacuüm created in these oountries brings a crowd of omigrants from the provincea to the Norih. Thousinds of young fellowa set out for beyond the James river, iu order to try their fortune, souio to work tha soil that the negroos have abandoned, and others to estnblish a littlo trado and commercre m retail, almost ignorod up to the preaent by the jilanters of the South. At a later period we shall be able to appreciate the economical consequances of great transformation, when thcy phall begin to let themselves bo secn. We cannot do so to day without riskitig rash hypotheses ; but if the social question, so to say, is slill full of inosrtitude, it is not so with the politi cal question - that is to say, what they cali, on tho other sido of the Atlantic, tho reeonstruction of the Union. Herv right is clear and duty is evident. The sentimonts of tha rogretted President iiiacoln in this respect aro remernbered : "It is necessary,1' Baid bt, " to aid tho state i íbrmerly in rebollion to reconatruot tliempclves in conformity with the principies of tho American OüustituUon ; and the first of thoea principies is the popular Bovoreignty. EhcIi stute ought to bi ltself tho instrument of this rogeueration." Let us say, to the honor of President Johnson, that he follows out the.e liberal maxims, and that ho bas not yielded the porfidicus suggestions of a certain party who would treat the South as a conquerod country, and reduce tho former confederato siates to tho condition of territories, and rob them of the position which belonged to thom before the war. This polioy of the iiow President is clearly e.xposed in the proclamation that he has just publishsd for the re catabiishmont of the legal regime in the State of Blississippi. But these quesüons of the reeonstruction of tlie Union, of the condition of the freed uegroes, and of the laws to be accorded to them, are well worthy of reflection. We shalí examine into them prescntly. At preseat it issufficient for us to havo been ablo to show a happy cbange in the minds of the people, and a praiseworthy ardor to ro-organizo this great republiesosuddenly shaken, and go heavily tried.