The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-04-08

Tn. civil Rights Bin-Ths Conflict Be-
tween tho Radicals and the Adminis-
tration.
The Civil Rights bill, by the required con-
stitutional two-thirds vote in the Affirmative
SO to 15-has passed the Senate, and will
doubtless pass tho House also by the required
majority. The constitution declares "thst
every bill which shall have passed the House
of Representatives and the Senate shall, before
it becomes law, be presented to the President
of the United States. IF he approve he shall
sign 1t; but if not he shall return it. with his
objections, to that house in which it shall have
originated, who shall enter the objections at
large on their journal and proceed to recon-
slider 1t. If, after such reconsideration, two
thirds Of that house shall agree to pass the
bill, it shall be sent, together with the objec-
lions, to the other house, by which 1t shall
likewise be reconsidered, and, If approved by
two-thirds Of that house, 1t shall become .
law" .~~ ..-- 'l''''
In anticipation Of this complete action on
the Civil Rights bill the Tribune throws out
this offensive nsinuaton:-"Well, it Is said
the President will not enforce the provisions
of the act. 1t is possible" The hint has also
been suggested by certain democratic jour-
nails, and upon the assumption that the Presi-
dent is not bound to enforce law which he
believes to be unconstitutional. There is no
authority, however, and no precedent on re-
cord to justify this assumption. If this Civil
Rights bill shall pass the House, as it has
passed the Senate, by two-thirds vote, assum-
ing the validity of this Congress, it becomes a
law notwithstanding the Presidents objec-
tons, and he is bound to "take care that the
laws be faithfully executed" This is his duty
until the proper department, the Supreme
Court, shall have declared unconstitutional any
measure which may become a law in spite of
his objections; and we know from the record
of his whole public course that Andrew John
son is not the man to evade or neglect o con-
stitutional duty.
But it is urged in certain quarters that the
President will not be bound in the case of this
Civil Rights bill, even if passed over his veto;
because this Congress is not a congress of the
United States, eleven States being excluded
from any representation in it. This was one of
President Johnson's leading objections to the
Civil Rights bill, that it most affected the local
concerns of States which are excluded from any
voice in this legislation But in the acts of this
Congress which he has signed he has recog-
nized 1t as competent to legislate in behalf Of
the general interests of the United States, not
withstanding the exclusion of the eleven lately
rebellious States. We infer, therefore, that with
the passage Of the Civil Rights bill by two
thirds vote Of the House it will be recognized
and executed by the President as law of the
lind until the Supreme Court shall have pro-
nounced against it.
In the meantime the contest between the
radicals and the President will be transferred
from Congress to the States and the people.
tnued exclusion from this Congress of the late
rebel States will become stronger and stronger,
until this game Of exclusion shall be defeated
in the elections for the next Congress. In this
connection the injustice of these radical mea-
sures of legislation for the reconstruction Of
the local affairs Of the States denied any
representation in Congress will be made appa-
Of the radical plan of Southern resto-
ration to the placing of whites, negroes, In
dams, Chinese and gypseys on the same level
of political and social equality will control the
reorganization of our political parties. The
Civil Rights bill is the entering wedge to the
division of the political elements of the
country between the administration and
tba No.
of TIE abolition utras, Senator Lane, of
Kansas, very forciby said in Fridays
debate in the Senate that "the repub-
lican party is crumbiing 20 pieces" and that
"every day We postpone The reception Of these
| States (the excluded States OF the South,
insures the destruction of the party and that
nothing can save it but harmony between Con-
gress and the administration. Hence Senator
Lane proposed that when any one of the la.e
rebel States shall present satisfactory evidence
that II has complied with President John
sons terms OF reconstruction, including a
limited negro suirnge, the Senator'S and Repre-
scntatives of such State, duly qualified as loyal
men, shall be admitted into Congress.
From this proposition from Kansas radical
II will be perceived that there is some alarm in
the republican camp, and an idea that they
have been pushing their extreme notions too
far In this Civil Ris hts bill they upset all The
me sures of local Legislation accomplished or
undertaken by the late slave States to adapt
their two races Of people to the abolition Of
slavery, without unduc violence TO the laws,
usages, customs, distinctions and prejudices of
hundred years of cultivation and legal pro-
lection, colonial, Stale and federal. 4 gen.
erous consideration Of these things had Its full
weight in the Presidents veto. Had the two
hol uses Of Congress bee, controlled by the
same comprehensive patriotism they would