Daily Davenport Democrat., 1866-01-08
From the Chicago journal.
WAssssorox, Decc,nber ~.

WAsHss6r0x, Decc,pber ~.
Probably the wudest man that ever sat in
au Executive Chair, hardly excepting Lin
cole, d Andrew johnson. At all events he
recent disclosures that were MOTTO Use no
harsher word-very pretty to make, cspe-
cially % being made by the parties who
should have kept them sacred, have given
people here that opinion Of our President
We refer to the reported interview OF
1essrs. Wilson and Price, Of Iowa, with
President johnson, which has caused here
eons talk, not however, on account Of any
importance attached TO the story Of true),
but TO learn that cool and impudent PROPOSE
tons TO form leagues with enemies agains,
ftisnds aad insinuAtions Of contemplated
bribery, should be made to thu President CT
the United States, and then b. ralded through
the eountry BY the parties, or newspapers
in the interest OF the parties making such
overtuSes, 10 considered ths climax Of polit-
ieal chichanery and indccency. Heretofore,
you received . verv brief review Of ho"
the ranting radicals were utterly fankei
and routed by the Prcaident on the recon
struetion question. II vas supposed that it
would require few days time, at least, be
fore these politicians could rally in sufli lent
force TO renew the attack. Such WAS no,
the case, Is We are advised by correspond
ent from this city to one of your morning
papers. 1t appears that the two gentle
men Of Iowa arose one fine morning in this
gay aud festive capita, where unalloyed great
ness without malice aforethought is liable
n stalk forth IN brosdcloih and disguise,
from every boarding house, tnusing the I'M
sophisticated TO look with fear aud tremb-
ling upon their fellow men-feelng some
how or other, they hardly knew why, are
markable responsibility resting upon their
shoulders. Why not, thought they, We, a.
. matter of experiment, guide and shape,
individually, the destiny Of the nation.--
With, probably, faint r, collections Of how
they and their friends had been ontflankei
and routed, thought to themselves that with
one grand Napoleonic charge they might
create . surprise, and with dash break the
Presidents centre, countcract the flank, rc
cover loss suffered, and, at least, gain suiIi
cient time to carry off the wounded. We
will not follow them. or their ,naginings as
they wendcd their way with mystic tread
and deep thought, these "seversl Western
mcmbers," consisting probably Of the two
bA1OutlUuCu, III uOuOtc IllC uUI IOW tucy
were ushered into the presence Of that
good. plain, honest, straight forward man.
President johnson. The published pro
ceedings Of this meeting, M sc may well
judge by the first question propounded,
gives VA at once to understand that this au
gust, self>constituted committee
"Of dignity seemed composed and high es
ploit.
for nothing short Of that and large stock
Of brass could ever have carried them
through. After no small amount oI pa
tronizing advice, and assurance OF their cx-
tended knowledge Of how Congress stood,
and presumptions as to the ignorance oil the
President, Mr.. Wilson urbosomed himself
with the very modest request that Mr..
johnson should give him "a clear definition
Of the line Of action he meant to pursue TO-
ssards Congress 7"
impudcncc, it would be without a parallel,
had the parley ended here Blu, it did not d,
30 We have that which surpasses ii, Messrs-
Wilson and Price desire you, MIR. Presi
dent, to bold yourself in readiness to deliver
to them, At moments warning, a ANAL.
condensed message on the state Of the
Union, and also full, explicit account
Of what you may do under any clrcumstan-
ces that may arise. II is not enough, Mr.
President that you give such information in
your annual mcssengcs. No sir You
must unbosom yourself to each and every
member Of Congress that may appoint him
self committee for that purpose.
This modest request, however, was but a
drop in the ocean Of fimpudencc that these
gentlemen displayed on this occasion. They
Every candidy" aud sweetly proceeded to
inform the President that his efforts to rc
organize the rebel States and restore them
to the Union, after an uninterrupted trial of
some seven months, have not proved sue
cessful y
There wasn't that damper! Docs it
not sound very much like the -four years
war failure plank in the Chicago copper
head platform: In fact, it has very re-
marknbe likeness to the whole batch OF
charges brought against President Lincoln
by Democrats and radlcals-for there were
radicals in those days.
Mr.. johnson may have received this little
piece Of political information with an in
credulous and cruel smile; but we can well
imagine the deep agony with vi ich his
Secretary of State may, Mt this very moment
be wringing his hands IN vain regrets thai lic
should be laboring under the hallucinat,on
that he was assisting III restoring SAFE, to
their constitutional rights, when he was
really performing no such service Not
satisfied with the irigid propositions quoted,
these gentlemen 60 on to inform the Pres,
dent how pre- eminently greater is their
patriotism than is the patriotism Of the
more conservative portion of their Amcri-
can citizens how that. though they may
seem to oppose him, they are his friends
(come into my parlor says the spider 20 the
fly, that almost all the Republican Con
gressmen will vote just as they do; that
the conservatives arc y horrible set OF
wrctches, and are not hcncst, as they sal
their radical friends arc.
And yet. after all this puyring. coaxing,
oiarney End snarlng, do you think, reader,
tue .esdent seems to have been as stoical
Is jackson, in his palmiest days? Cheek.
however, was pnt to its fullest capacity and
strongest test on this occasion by the COM
mittee of" Western members
Listen to the following extract from the
reports Of this extraordinary interview, and
sou mid man-so much so that he did not
suggest to the committee that there was an
aperture Of egress as well as ingress to the
Presidential mansion. This, it will be
seen, is an open and impudcnt charge Of
contemplated bribery against the President
not to mention the fact that other gentlemen
had the audacity to speak for the majority:
"The majority Of Congress expect and
ask that, while engaged IN investigating the
whole subject of reconstruction, and devils
ing some new plan, it may be left free to
act 40 it may deem best, and that no at
tempt be made by the Executive to inter
fere with and influence its action by the dis
tr,buti"n of patronage or in any other way.
II thus left free by you, there can be no
possible difficulty between the Executive
and Legislative branches Of the oogern
ment. But If YOU arc disposed to interfere
With Congress, by patronage or other wise,
ETC., ETC."
Well, that sicy!
Do you think, reader, after all that. the
Presidents heart soTtened no, par,;cI, .
No. indeed. But in rcply ne .ro,,.,;,,