The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1865-06-21

y
involved in them. We Judge Mr. Andrew
johnson is getting in such position as..fast
as he knows how. His sAmnesiy and Re-
construcuonn policy has now been before
the country two weeks, and lhe.more it is
exam ined the worse viii il appear. Be-
sides it has not the merit OF pleasing any
body The out>and-ou Abolitionisis dislike
il, and every man protesting 10 be Demo.
erat must utterly repudiate it. 1t looks like
weak attempt to carry wafer on both
shoulders, one of the most difficult feats
that any public man in this country can al
tempt Besides. people have an abiding
conviction that Mr.. Johnson is sinning
against light and knowledge. II was often
dIfticull 10 decide, positively, whether Mr..
Lincoln knew the right from the wrong, but
with Andrew Johnson the case is totally diff
ferent. No better practical statesman lives
in the United States, not one more convers.
ant vi b the genius and character of our gov.
eminent. We have, therefore extended 10
Mr.. johnson the utmost liberaIiiy, prefering
not 20 judge him by his acts during the past
tour years,b bot BY the record of his lifetime
IL Is evident, however, that he is following
IN the crooked and devious ways OF his pre-
desessor. His two Proclamalions, one of
ANN esty" and the other OF "Recons,ruc-
tion," are but combination of the mon.
sirous usurpations OF Executive power which
have now transformed this government into
military autocracy. II Mr.. Johnson had
the candor TO announce that he intends 10
hold the southern States as conquered prov
lnces, We could appreciate at least The frank.
ness OF the avowal, but TO pretend that he is
guaranteeing TO them Republican gov
ernment," while ovenhrowing their State
Constitutions, and demanding that thay shall
change their form of society 10 suit his views,
or the views of the infamous gang of John
Browniies who now pasture in Washington,
is, and can be, nothing less than a cowardly
trucking 10 Abolition dictation, or sublime
mixture of audacily and hJ Jpocrisy. Mr..
Johnson knows better. We repeat it, he
knoD' better, and here is the proof OF il. from
a speech Of his delivered in Nashville, Tenn.
in 1865
The Federal GOUernnent derives all lis poper
f. ON The States, and ii is limited and defined
a1d II cannot inpari sovereignty 10 the peo-
pie OF territory, which is necessary to con.
siitu Stale. Congress has the power
conferred upen il by the Constitution 10 ad-
nit new States into the Union, but has no
P1lCer 10 make them. II mnsi be Stale, in
the proper sense of the term, before it can
be aGmiiied into the Union and lhe power
10 make State must emanqte from the people,
u1nd a,.of IL T.
remarked this is the dividing line between
the Democratic party and all oher parties
sprnging up in opposition TO it, since the
days OF Alexander Hamilton, or the origin Of
the Federal Government.
Is this The part OF Mr. Johnson's record
that he told Us he was going to stand by
We will not, however, gravely discuss the
terms OF MIR. Johnson's policy as embraced
in the Proclamation referred TO- We lake il
that Come things are 10 be considered as
settled, so far as argument 10 concerned-
That two and two make four, is no more a
fixed principle in mathematics than that
each Sale has The right 10 manage its own
domestic affairs. The only valid reason,
therefore, that Mr.. Johnson or any of the
supporters of his policy can give for il, u.s.
that that they have the poper to enforce il
Conslituiionally, legally, morally, it is, in
one word, monslrons!
What can be more reprehensible than 10
demand that every person, before he can
have any civil rights, shall swear 10 sup.
port executive Preclamaiions, as we'll as the
Constitution He is thus compelled 10
swear 10 uphold and 10 break the Constitu.
ton in the same breath Mr. Johnson also
takes part of the Abolition creed and re-
lecls the remainder. He insists upon max.
ing the negro freeman Then, too, if he
can change Stale Constitution in one re-
sPect, he can in another. II he can make
freeman of negro he can make a slave of
white man, or take the ballot from one and
give il TO the other. The right 10 do the one
implies the right 10 do the other. The only
question is one of force and power
We feel convinced, now, lha; we under
stand the exac: drift Of Nr Johnson's policy
We have waited long enough 10 see the pro-
gramme, as laid down, cropping out in var
ious forms and places. He evidently hopes
to form party out of the Shoddy RepubI-
cans OF the Weed Seward School and the
Shoddy Democrats of the New York World
and Albany argus persuasion. This is a
very nice programme 10 look at, but il WON'T
work. Ia the first place, the iUs Democrats
of the North will not touch The unclean bas-
tard with forty loot pole. They demand
their Constitution (not Andrew Johnson'sj
back again. They want their laws, their lib
critics and their Union, as they were made in
time of peace, and not as they have been
transformed and deformed by the bloody and
despolic war which has DESTROYED "lhe best