The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-02-27

Co., at Louisville, Ky, was totally destroyed by fro on
| the morning Of the 22d inst Two hundred thousand
dollars worth Of property burned which there
was an insurance Of hundred and seventy thou
sand dollars hundred and FIVE thousand dollars be.
| ing in New York city offices.
President johnson and tho Radicals
The Issue Before the Country.
The late unanswerable veto message of
President johnson so clearly defines his fixed
policy OF Southern restoration, and his late
emphatic speech against Thaddeus Stevens
and that school of radicals draws 80 distinctly
the line Of division between them and the
administration, that the rank and file of the
republican party must take one side or the
other. The double dealing game which has
thus far been 80 successfully played before the
people by the republican leaders, of noisy
professions of adhesion to President johnson,
while employing all their strength to coerce
him into submission, or "to do without him."
by the independent power of two-thirds
majority in each house of Congress, is q game
which in the first trial in the Senate has failed
and failed so signally that there is the end of
it. But the question still remains to be settled
whether the Southern restoration policy of
Andrew johnson or that of Thaddeus Stevens
shall prevail.
From present appearances there is nothing
to indicate coming compromise. The ma
jority Of each branch OF Congress- though
stunned and staggered by the veto and the
supplemental speech from the White House,
still maintain compact and belligerent 'front.'
still hold fast to the fanatic Stevens and his
committee of northumberland have def
antly declared for the indefnits exclusion of
the excluded Southern States, in view of the
necessity of their reconstruction upon the basis
Of negro suffrage or the exclusion OF the black
race from the basis Of federal representation
| In palmer terms, the issue joined between the
President and Congress is simply ths:-The
President contends that loyal representatives
from the Southern States reconstructed on his
conditions are now entitled to admission into
Congress. The radical majority of each house
say no, and are resolved if possible to keep those
States out Of Congress and our national poll
tics until after the next Presidential election.
This Is the issue-whether the Southern
States, complying with the satisfactory con-
! dtions laid down by President johnson, shall
be restored to Congress, law and order, indus
try and trade as fast as possible, or shall be
| kept back, under a mixed commission of mill
tary and civil laws and officers, and under the
pressure of distrust, stagndtion, bankruptcy and
generalization, till after the next Presidential
election of 1868. The President protests against
the policy OF Congress; Congress repudiates the
the policy of the President and consequently
there must be an appeal to the people. 1t is
understood that pursuant to late Congress
sional caucus Of the republicans, they have ap-
pointed campaign committee in view of this
years Northern State elections, and especially
those of next autumn, from New York to Cali
fornia The contest before the people, there
fore, will soon be formally opened.
| II will be the business of this Congressional
committee TO furnish the republicans through
out the country with electioneering documents
in support OF the policy Of Stevens and his re.
construction directory, us the new republican
platform. II ought TO be the business of the re-
publican endorsers of the Presidents policy TO
| fight this electioneerng system with the same
weapons, for here is the all-important point in
the case. President johnson has not gone and
does not intend to go over to the skeleton re-
mains of the Chicago democracy. His contest
| with Thaddeus Stevens lie intends TO fight out
inside the republican lines. He adheres 10 the
Union party and the principles of the Balti.
more Convention of 1864. He adheres TO the
Union programme Of his illustrious prcdeccs-
sor, Abraham Lincoln, and, holding this posi-
ton, he Is prepared to stand the test Of an ap-
peal from Congress TO the people. That this
Is the course which President johnson will
pursue we arc well assured. If the republican
party, therefore, as now organized, shall be
broken to pieces next fall, from a foolish adj
hesion to Thadleus Stevens, 1t is not the Chica.
go democracy, but the Union party Of the adj
ministration that will take its place In the next
| Congress-
The integrity Of the party In power depends
| upon its adhesion to the administration, and
this adhesion depends upon the Presidents
Southern policy, with which the country is sat
isied. As for the next Presidential election.
whether In the interim the outside Southern
States shall or shall not be restored 10 Con-
gress and to voice in that election, General
Grant, the idol Of the army, will be the choice
Of the people. The advantages and the proba-
bilities Of this present contest between Andrew
Johnson and Thaddeus Stevens are all In favor
ofthe administration in an appeal to the people.
|. Done BRowS.-The soi-dsdni aristocracy Of
this city have not been able to capture Gene
raj Grant He was carried off to Grace church
on Sunday, and performed his devotions like q
good Christian. But after service the FASH