The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-07 00:00:00

THE LAST CHANCE FOR THIS CONGRESS.

Mr. Stevens did not get a vote of the house on
his Military Government Bill on Saturday. Mr.
Banks made a speech, and Mr. Raymond proposed
to send the bill to a special committee of seven, but
no action was taken. Mr. Banks opposed both the
military Government plan, and that of universal
suffrage and amnesty, and advocated such a recon-
struction of the Southern State Governments as will
place them in the hands of loyal men, beginning
the experiments with Louisiana. His plan is much
less objectionable than that of Mr. Stevens, but it
is equally exposed to the Presidential veto, and if
passed over the veto, will have the President's op-
position, as in his opinion unnecessary, unconstitu-
tional, and oppressive. It would practically be
worth nothing unless the President should first be
superseded, and General Banks intimated that
this must be done if the President does not give
the action of Congress his support. There is
no need of argument to show that it is desir-
able to complete the work of reconstruction
without conflict. The true reconciliation of the
South and the welfare of the whole country de-
pend upon it. Aud it would seem to be possible.
For the protection of the white and black Union
men nothing is required but the enforcement of
existing laws. We do not know that the President
has interposed any obstacles in the way of the
Freedmen's Bureau or the enforcement of the Civil
Rights Bill, but he has probably made no special
exertions to help either. If General Howard needs
more military support, it is his duty to say so, and
of Congress to provide for and order it, if the Pre-
sident will not do it without such prompting. There
is machinery enough already ; the motive power is
what is needed, and this can be supplied without
doing violence to the Constitution or bringing one
department of the Government into collision with
another. The second and most essential thing is
to establish equal suffrage throughout the Union.
Everybody sees that this can only be done surely
and radically by a Constitutional Amendment.
The President and his Southern friends have al-
ready given in their adhesion to the principle in
their new scheme. Surely the Republican Con-
gressmen cannot allow themselves to be distanced
by the Johnson party in this genuine Radical mea-
sure. Let Congress now propose this amendment,
and make it the condition of the admission of the
condition of the Southern States to Congress, and
the work is done. We can conceive of no excuse
they can render for neglecting this most auspicious
opportunity to secure the great aim of all their
efforts and struggles. These things achieved, there
is but one thing more to be desired by loyal men,
and that is the exclusion of the rebel leaders from
office. Let Congress provide for this by law. There
is no danger that the law will ever be repealed. No
party will ever dare go to the people with such an
issue as the restoration of the rebel leaders to power.
These are the three vital measures, and they will be
carried if Congress has but the courage and faith to

say the word—Equal suffrage in the constitution
of the United States. The exclusion of the rebel
leaders from office. Enough troops in the South to
enforce the laws.—Springfield Repubtican.

The passage of Mr. Stevens's Force Bill, una-
mended, by the House, illustrates the facility with
which a minority may be the lords of a majority by
legislative process, and compel their assent to mea-
sures they disapprove. At least half the Republicans
of the House, probably a majority of them, desired
to vote for the amendment proposed by Mr. Blaine,
which offered to the South representation in Con-
gress on their adoption of the Constitutional Amend-
ment and equal suffrage. This would have mitigated
the project of military rule by offering a way of
escape from it. Its adoption would have given the
lie to the assertion that the Republicans are plotting
to perpetuate disunion, instead of seeking restora-
tion on just principles. But Mr. Stevens, by a
series of shrewd legislative manoeuvres, put his bill
into such a position that it could not be amended
by the usual process. Mr. Blaine endeavoured
to extricate the majority from this dilemma
by recommitting the bill to the Judiciary
Committee, with instructions to report it with
his amendment. This would have been carried if
the Democrats had not voted en masse with Mr.
Stevens and his friends, and so overpowered the
majority of the Republicans. Having thus cowered
his party, so that they must either take or reject his
bill as a whole and unamended, or defeat it alto-
gether, Mr. Stevens carried his point and his bill
by a nearly two-thirds vote. Thirteen Republican
representatives refused thus to be dragooned into
supporting what they did not approve, and voted
against the bill on its passage. They were Messrs.
Banks and Baldwin, of Massachusetts ; Davis, of
Kentucky ; Defrees, of Indiana ; Dodge, of New
York ; Hawkins, of Tennessee ; Kelso, of Missouri ;
Kuykendall, of Illinois ; Raymond, of New York ;
Stillwell, of Indiana; Francis Thomas and John L.
Thomas, juu., of Maryland. When the bill comes
back with a veto there will be more dissenters, and
the bill will not probably obtain a two-thirds vote.
—Springfield Republican.