The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-17 00:00:00

repot is been current since the result of

the elections Las become manifest, and much
curio city Las been felt and expressed as to

the tone of the forthcoming Message. Now we

have it, it will astonish some, disappoint others, and
satisfy those who always believed that Mr. JOHN-
SON'S policy was based on conviction, and that he
was not the man to abandon it for intrigues or
intimidation.

The subjects which he deals with are momentous
in their character. He takes in succession the
Alabama claims, the Fenian trials, the condition of
Mexico, and, finally, the reconstruction of the
Southeru:States. Respecting the Alabama claims, he
takes of course the American view of the question, and
regrets that " no considerable advance has been made
to wards an adjustment of the matter, and declares
that no goodwill and friendship can exist between the
two nations until a reciprocity in the practice of
good faith and neutrality shall be restored between
them." Certainly this may be read both ways, for
the Americans themselves have not a little to learn,
considering their conduct towards the Fenians.
As for those gentlemen, Mr. JOHNSON reminds
Congress that citizens were warned against taking
part in unlawful proceedings, but that, nevertheless,
some of their citizens were said to be engaged in the
raid into Canada, and were captured in conse-
quence. He recapitulates the steps taken by the
American Government to obtain their release and to
protect their interests, and he hopes that they will
be made the recipients of "a judicious amnesty."
The disturbed condition of Ireland ought, he thinks,
to modify the opinion which the Americans might
otherwise entertain in regard to an expedition ex-
pressly forbidden by their neutrality laws, which, so
long as they remain upon the statute book, ought
to be faithfully observed. It is plain that upon the
topic of Fenianism, at all events, Mr. JOHNSON is not
disposed to quarrel with the Radicals. Perhaps he
knows that in this matter they represent the feelings
of the majority. He softens down affairs as much
as possible ; and even with regard to the neutrality
laws he only says they ought to be observed so long
as they exist, plainly hinting at their possible re-
moval from the statute book.

Coming to Mexico, he says that repeated assur-
ances of the evacuation of the country by the
French expeditionary forces next have been made
by their Government, and that with that evacua-
tion no cause for serious difference between France
and the United States would remain. Being deeply
interested in the cause of liberty and humanity, it
seemed, he adds, an obvious duty to the American
Government to exercise whatever influence they
possessed for " the restoration and permanent esta-
blishment in that country of a domestic and Repub-
lican form of government." It will be no very easy
task to secure a " permanent" government for
Mexico unless a very remarkable change takes
place in the population of the country.
Of his reconstruction policy the PRESIDENT
speaks plainly. " Upon this question, so vitally
affecting the restoration of the Union and the per-
manency of our present form of Government, my
convictions heretofore expressed have undergone no
change, but, on the contrary, their correctness has
been confirmed by reflection and time." If it was
wise and expedient, he adds, to admit loyal mem-
bers to seats in Congress a year ago, it is no less
wise and expedient now. No measure is more im-
peratively demanded by every consideration of
" national interest, sound policy, and equal justice"

than the admission of loyal members from
those States which are now unrepresented.
In concluding his Message, he says, truly enough,
that the American Government is now undergoing
its most trying ordeal, and that the interests of the
nation will be best promoted by " the complete
obliteration of past differences, and the reinaugura-
tion of all the pursuits of peace."

The truths thus spoken appear to impartial ob-
, servers indisputable, but, so far from satisfying or
calming the Radicals, they seem only to have irri-
tated them to still further excesses. Many persons
in this country blame Mr. JOHNSON for refusing
to be taught by experience, or to accommodate
himself to the temper of his time. Such
phrases sound plausible enough ; but if we come to
test them practically what can they mean but that
the head of a great nation is to act against his con-
victions and join one party in the State to oppress
another party, simply for his own ends. Whatever
the personal cost to Mr. JOHNSON himself, what-
ever the ultimate triumph or failure of the Southern
cause, it is well that in this great crisis of the national
history there should be one man bold enough and in-
dependent enough to raise his voice in protest against
those two great dangers of republics—the tyranny
of the many and the dissensions of parties. To
these causes almost every successive Republic, from
the rivalries of Athens and Sparta to the reign of
Robespierre and the 18th Brumaire, have in turn
succumbed. Looking back over the history of the
Old World and forward to the future of the New,
no wonder Mr. JOHNSON should raise his warning
voiee and declare that the treatment of the South
vitally affects the permanency of the American form
of Government. One of his New York commen-
tators flippantly remarks that his reference
to the great issue of Southern reconstruction
" reads like a chapter from the world before the
deluge." The simile may not be an unapt one, for
there is too much reason to fear that the Radical
party are ready to bring another deluge upon their
country. Unheeding any warnings, even the practical
caution of the Secretary to the Treasury, that, to
improve and consolidate the national finances, they
must rehabilitate the South, they are pushing furi-
ously on. They are apparently aiming at nothing
less than the complete subversion of the American
Constitution, and the conversion of the PRESIDENT
into a mere lay figure. Congress has passed a bill
withdrawing
the pardoning power of the PRESIDENT
in respect of those persons who were engaged in the
rebellion. The House of Representatives has also
instructed the Judiciary Committee to report on
the mode of proceeding to be adopted for trial and
impeachment before the Senate. They have re-
moved from the Chairmanship of Committees three
members who supported the policy of the PRESI-
DENT, and at a Republican caucus it was resolved
to recommend the Senate to reject the PRESIDENT'S
appointments. Further, we learn by the Atlantic
Telegraph that Congress has granted the suffrage to
the negroes of the district of Columbia; so that
they have commenced the session pretty vigorously,
and have, moreover, adopted a plan to provide the
Southern States with territorial governments. As ,
yet they have it all their own way, but no rational
man, whatever his opinions of their proceedings,
can believe that they will go unchecked. Is
America, then, to be again plunged into the chaos
and desolation of a civil war ? Are parties to be
ranked against parties until the arbitrament of the
sword has to decide ? Are trade and commerce and
all the arts of peace and progress to be sacrificed
in order to retain for a few men a power which no
free constitution in the world allows ? Here are
problems to be solved by the forthcoming year, and
all wise and patriotic Americans must address
themselves to their speedy solution.