The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-11-14
wba, will the Presiaen, do
PORTLAND.

what will the President doe
Mr.. Johnson's much talked of policy ranks
now with the rebellion of which it was sup
plement-among the things of the past After
many weary months, oceans of talk and acres
ofwriting, there is at last a prospect that We
may begin to hear somewhat less of the die
tation of the one man whose duty it is to exc
cute the laws, and that the men whose bust.
ness it is to make them, may proceed unim-
peded with their work. The Thirty-ninth
Congress was elected by men voting simply
for or against Southern Confederacy. The
Fortieth was elected upon the issue so tersely
presented by Mr.. Seward: "Will you have
this man President, or Dictator?" And the
people made answer, vote for vote, as they had
decreed against the Southern Confederacy,
"We will not have this man for Dictator-and
whether we will have him for President or
not, depends very much upon his behavior
In fact, the question is no longer what Will,
but what CAN the President do9 The body
hanging on the verge of the Government
seems to be most tenacious, prehensile body,
adhesive beyond anything recorded of Spald-
ing's Justly celebrated glue, not in the least
danger of falling off During the rest of his
term, Mr. johnson will have to face Con-
gressional majority of three OF four to one,
and the veto, under such circumstances, is a
weapon without edge or back, mere broken
sword, which the owner will not brandish with
much expectation offrightening anybody.
Under such circumstances, the question,
what will he do, means simply, how will he
accept the inevitable? Win he yield grace
fully, like man Of sense, or will he pout like
whipped schoolboyP The New York Times
assumes that Mr.. johnson will display the
discretion which might well be expected from
man of his years and station. We copy the
passage at length from the columns of the
Argus:
The President has done all that was posi-
BILE to carry out his own policy. He has labor
ed with Congress, and has taken his last ap-
peal-the last appeal he can take-to the peo-
pie. The decision has upon all hands been adj
verse to him. The people have given their
support to Congress and its policy as against
the President and his policy President john
son has o thousand times expressed his conf
dence in the people, his faith in Acknowledgements
and his willingness to abide by their decision.
On hundred occasions he has said: 'aThe
people are always right" 1t can, therefore be
no violence to his principles or his character
to listen to their voice and obey it. He held
out against Congress last session because he
believed the people were with him. He held
on in his course through the summer, because
he saw no sufficient reason to change it, He
held on after the earlier elections in the fall
because he believed the later and more impor-
tant ones would result in his favor But after
he has heard from the Eastern, Western and
,A~a1O 49, Ia hi A.
and New Jersey and Illinois, and the other
States that vote this month, he can have no
shadow of doubt as to the popular will, and he
will only justify his record in voluntarily rec
ogniEing that it is not the Executive but the
people whose right it is to rule.
This prediction the Argus calls 'advice," and
says it is Gust such as a moral coward, desti-
tute Of a single honest conviction, OF a mental
imbecile, would give" and goes on talking
about the Crank despotism" of twenty-six
States governing thirty-six, in terrible fash
ion. "To back down." our neighbor contn-
ues, "is to despair" and as if that were not
plain enough, adds, "to give up hope" for
which little fragment Of the dictionary we are
a thousand times obliged. And finally he
turns upon Mr.. Raymond and sends him in
the words and fgures-verbiage and meta
phors-following:
And yet Mr.. Raymond advises the President
and his supporters to abandon their ground
and accept the Radical rule and ruinli Not
muchli! not much, Mr.. Raymond You can
turn dozen summersets day if you like
You appear to have tondness for that sort of
performance-but you must allow us to tell
You that the Conservative bone and muscle
and backbone have never been trained in that
m n 1anvU 0fa inrzc1x
dertaking that which any monkey or clown
can do better. You have adv9sed otherwise
and set the example. That is all. You will
not be initiated, Your performances are not
admired, your motives are not respected.
"Not muchly!!! Mr.. Raymond" says the
Argus, with that fearful sarcasm of the three
exclamation points, which we often notice.
1t is crdel mockery to tell Mr.. Raymond that
he must "allow" this narrowing sort of writ
ing. If Mr.. Raymond had been consulted, he
never would have allowed it. Possibly if Mr..
Marble had been consulted he would have OBJ
jected, for the World has since fallen under
the same ban. The World has also been ten
dering just such advice as in the mild language
of the Argus, only moral coward or men
tai imbecile would give. Here is what the
World says:
He president Johnson) must now take the
situation as he finds it, and make the best oft
Posoerless during the residue of has term in all
contested questions of domestic politics. his only
chance of acquiring prestige is in connection
with our foreign relations. These are less sub
ject to the control of Congress. The steps he
fs understood to be taking to resuscitate and
maintain the Monroe doctrine will be warmly
approved by the country. Il aocuLd be futile
for him to contend longer .aoith the Radicals in
respect to the South, and he aoiH best consult the
dignity Of has office by letting has action cease
aoath has responsibility Against Congress there
was no appeal but to the people, and the pas
sions Of the war have not yet sufficiently sub
sided to permit them to judge with candor.-
The ratification of the amendment is not a
question for him, but for the States. He may
hereafter stand aloof from that subject without
any loss of dignity or of consistency. Against |
the unconstitutional exclusion of the Southern
States from Congress it was his duty to remon-
strate; but having appealed to the people in
vain, why should he sharpen acrimony by fur
Their opposition? The elections by virtuatIv de-
priving him Of his veto, haze relieved him from
all responsibility for the action of COnqress.-
While, therefore, he holds fast his oft repeated
views, he will serve no good purpose by an ami
mated and aggressive presentation of them
questions, and dignlfed abstinence from push
ing controversy an sohich he is poaoerless, is
the course which President johnson will
doubtless think it wise to adopt.
This Conservative backbone apparently HAS
been trained in "that school," to which the
Argus vaguely refers. Even President John
sons spinal column seems to be rather more
flexible than cart stake. We are told that
the President has received several so-called
Radicals with unusual cordially since the
elections. To one of them he remarked that
he "reckoned" things would all come round
right by next March. To another he said In
substance that he was glad the elections were
over, tor the campaign had been one of great
bitterness and personality, and such things
were not good for the country. To another
he expressed the idea that he expected to find
much less difference between the new Con-
gress and himself when it came together than
there now appeared to be.
al, hat he