Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-30

paper would circulate are not patrons to oul
office, and therefore, we were unable to pro
cure a copy. The Nashville Union has beer
furnished with a copy by gentleman en-
dorsed by that paper as 'of high character
and responsibility" We give it below a.
one of the curiosities of the times. Those
engaged in getting up signatures in Nash.
vile will oblige us by furnishing list fol
publication:
To the House Of Representatives Of the UnitedSates
an regard to the Impeachment Of Presid.At John
son.
To THEHoUsE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Prior
to the War of the Rebellion, many friends
of the Republic were of the opinion that the
President was too great and too independent
OF the control of the people or their repre-
sentatives. During the var the exercise Of
this power has led to the most dangerous
errors, and corrupting abuses which the best
Republicans and patriots had previously
| apprehended. 1t has compelled Congress to
give up one of its most important acts, and
to behold its will supplanted by an opposing
Executive order. Sine the close of the
war, it has been so exercised by the present
incumbent of the Presidential Office as to
make the people and Congress appear alto
gether unimportant and insignificant; and
to remind the rejecting observer rather of
| the institutions and power of an absolute
| monarchy, than of those Of Democratic
| Republic. To such an extent, indeed, has
he carried his arbitrary acts that even
! Senator, always moderate in his modes of
expression, has felt himself compelled to
remind him that he could not vet say of
himself like the French autocrat: "The
State, | am it! To be sure, President
johnson has not yet employed this language
of absolute power; but he has sought, bv the
whole tenor and spirit of his official conduct,
to make it true, even to the last letter.
The people of the North, by the exertion
of their utmost strength, and the offering
upon the altar of their country of hitherto
unheard of sacrifices, have, at last, after four
years of war, succeeded in crushing the re-
bellion, which, armed with abundant means
by the aid of double treachery, both from
within and without, succeeded in rendering
doubtful for long time, not merely the ex-
lstence of the Union, but that, also, of the
Republic itself The tremendous efforts re-
quired to extinguish this dangerous rebel
lion, have shaken the nation through every
Il
course of this great contest, and the neces-
sites it imposed, produced changes in the
opinions and conditions of the people that
had not been before so much as dreamed of.
Old organizations perished: and new prin-
ciples of national life development and civ
ilization arose to claim the attention and
control the action of statesmen. As from
the war of independence the nation dates its
rfh from hn e., H.
must it henceforth date its regeneration. If |
ever any people were interested in building
for their country better future, those of the |
United States should now be so. As no |
true Democrat, after the war of indepen-
dence, ever thought of surrendering into the
hands of the chief Executive officer the
whole power Of the people in order to ena-
bic him to dictate a constitution and laws,
so, it is believed, no true friend of popular
government and free institutions will now
regard it as at all compatible with the gov
ernment then established, to permit the
President to assume to himself the power of
government in the late rebel
hous States, and of prescribing, according to
his own mere will, the terms upon which
they and their rebellious people shall again
be admitted into the Union, allowed to en-
joy the protection of its laws and the privi-
lege of its government
A sense of duty arising from the nature of
his office, the Importance of the occasion,
and above all, the fact that the Constitution
has conferred upon Congress the right "to
suppress instructions" and, as incidental
thereto, the right to determine the result of
such suppression should have taught the
President that the work of reconstruction
belonged to Congress; and if the urgency of
that labor did not admit of its being post
poned until the next Regular Session, should
have impelled him at once to call an Extra
Session. that the interests Of the Union might
not suffer no delay on the one hand, or by
his unauthorized exercise of despotic and
arbitrary power on the other.
But, instead of following this safe and con-
'titutiOnal method, he has pursued system
,tic plan for the adjustment of these most
matters the manifest effect and
object of which are to exclude Congress from
having any lot or part in the settlement. He
seems, indeed to have determined to accom-
plish it in a spirit at once opposed to the in
erests of the people who, by their courage,
and sacrifice, have crushed the
and preserved the Government,
md to the principles of the Government
tself with busy activity, he has labored to
,omplicate the work of reconstruction by |
aging so many hindrances, in the form of
accomplished facts, in the way of the action
If Congress toward the accomplishment of
he final and proper adjustment of our ma /
ional affairs, on its own previously an
lounced principle-a principle securing the ,
light of freedom to all. In this way he seems
o have aimed at placing beyond the power
# Congress to establish on just principles,
What he has thus already spoiled. BY pursu- [
ng his own impracticable and ruinous ,
cheme, he has given the lie to all his former
Professions has Knocked at and insulted {
ustice and law, degraded the dignity of his '
-reat office, and is, so far as he can restoring {
o all their former rights the still unrepen- t
ent enemies of the Republic, and arming {
new with power, as if it were his purpose
o reconstruct, not the Republic, but the Re c
ellion. The pardoning power, designed as s
means to mitigate justice for the public ]
interest, has, in his hands, become means to v
bolish justice for the public ruin. No r
ebel, however black his treason, or afro G
ious his barbarity, has been excluded from e
is favor, while the negro, whose faithful at n
lchment and courageous self-sacrificing v
Dirit have contributed greatly to save the v
,epublic, is, so far as the President has been h
bic, still kept down by him in pariah con- o
ition, more oppressive even than slavery e
self. To secure the interest of treacher-
rs landed aristOcracy he exerts his ener- s
les, while the freedom-loving people of the v
-orth behold themselves cheated Of all the |,
,gitimate fruits of their enormous sacri- II
ces, as if the fearful war had only been e
,nducted to show which section could fill h
le most graves. That for which million n
nion soldiers fought in hundred bloody v
lttles, the Commander-in-Chief destroys n
ith single stroke of his pen. He seeks to n
ppease traitors by granting them privileges ii
nd betrays the friends Of the Republic W
= abandoning them. 1t is as if treason, at g
rst called "the greatest Of crimes" had | g
zen suddenly transformed into the greatest Q,
merits, and loyalty, by striving for uni II
srsal freedom and justice, had become a a
ime. In view Of his conduct, we have a e
ght to ask, if any rebel had been placed in I,
IS position would he have ventured TO do n
ore in the interests of his companions in OF
ime than the President has done? a,
Congress has enacted law concerning o,
e confscation Of the property of rebels. m
he President annuls it by returning them o
cir property. Congress has, by laws, e1- p'
uded traitors from Office. The President NJ
eats it with contempt by appointing trait OF
$ TO the most important offices Yet, il is tv
IL. a.