de evident by the action of the people wherever
our forces have penetrated, and by the enlistment of a good number
of its citizens in the armies of the Union. One of the Senators
from Arkansas, Senator Sebastian, whose term of office is as yet
unexpired, is, and always has been, we believe, a sound loyal man;
and Mr. Gantt, who was elected to Congress just before the outbreak
of the rebellion, has recently given proof of his repentance and
devotion to the Union in the remarkable address which we published
last week. We do not see why the process of reconstruction might
not be at once commenced in Arkansas, and why, before the close of
next session, the State might not have a full congressional
delegation in Washington.'

Not a word is here said of the important question of Slavery. The
proposition is pure and simple to readmit the rebellious State of
Arkansas to the Union, upon precisely the same footing as that upon
which we retained the allegiance of Missouri--to treat, in other words,
loyal and rebellious States in the same way.

In a subsequent article of the same able journal, one of the organs of
the Republican party, this easy-going policy, the _laissez-faire_ of
statesmanship, is expanded at large, and explicitly adopted and
recommended. The appearance of such an article in such a quarter is such
a remarkable index of the existence in the public mind of the delusions
we are exposing, that we transfer it bodily to our columns, for the sake
of commenting upon its positions. Calhoun's famous expression, 'masterly
inactivity,' is significantly adopted as a caption:

'CIVIL POLICY TOWARD SLAVERY.--There is a class of men who
stick to the idea that something positive must be done by the
Federal Government to end slavery. Even the issue of the
Emancipation Proclamation, a military measure for military ends
solely, does not satisfy them. They want civil power exercised, and
would gladly have even a breaking down of State lines and a
reconstruction of the Government itself, as the only effectual
means of destroying the institution of their special abhorrence.

'Now we, too, claim a good hearty hatred of slavery. We are as
anxious as any to see it under the sod, beyond resurrection. But we
don't believe in making any superfluous sacrifice to get it there.
Seeing that it is dying, we are quite content to le