The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-08-28
4 PRESIDENTIAL couP D,ErAr.


The Atlantic Monthly for September discus.
ses the logic of the Presidents position, and
the effects Of the coming elections, in times
ly and we'll written article. It says: II
It i. computed that the gain in the ap.
preaching elections Of twenty-five districts
now represented by Union Republicans will
give the johnson party, in the next Congress,
a majority of the House of Representatives;
should the Southern delegations be counted !;
and it 10 proposed that the johnson mems
bers legally entitled to seats should combine
with the Southern pretenders to seats, or
xanize as the House of Representatives of
the United States, and apply to the Presi
dent for recognition. Should the Presi
dent comply, he would be impeached
by an unrecognized House before
an incomplete Senate, and, j, il
convicted, would deny the validity of the
proceeding. The result would be civil war,
in which the name of the Federal Govern.
ment would be on the other side of the revo-
lutionists. Such is the programme whi9Ais
freely discussed by the partisans Of the Pres
ident, considered to be high in his favor; and
the scheme, it is commended, is the logical re-
suit of the position it has assumed ~ to the
rights Of the excluded States to represents.
ton. It is certain that the present Congress
is as much the Congress of the United States
As he is the President of the United States;
but it is well known that he considers him.
self to represent the whole country, while be
thinks that Congress only represents por.
ton Of it; and be has in his character just
that combination Of qualities, and is placed
in Just those anomalous circumstances, wheA
lead men To the commission Of great politics.
crimes. The mere hint of the possibility IF
his attempting . corp d. etdf is received BY
some Republicans with n look Of incredulous
surprise; vet what has his administration
been to such persons but succession of sur.
prises? gs@ go ~
But, whatever view may be taken Of the
Presidents designs, there can be mo- doubt
that the safety, peace, interest," and honor OF
the country depend on the success Of thai
Union Republicans in the approaching eleor
tons The loyal nation must see to Il that
the Fortieth Congress shall be As competent |
10 override. Executive <esoes as the Tint.
ninth, and be equally removed ff0m- tk13
peril of being expelled for one more in har-
mony with Executive ideas. The same ear |
nestness, energy, patriotism and intellf- !
gence which gave success to the war must
now be exerted TO reap ite fruits and prevent
its recurrence. The only danger u, thAt, in |
some representative districts, the people mayf
be svindled by Probabilities and rr
probabilities; for whom, in political contests,
any great villainy is contemplated,
there are always found some eminently res
spectacle men, with fixed capital of csrsaia |
eminently conservative phrases, innocentlyf
ready to furnish the wolves Of politics With
abundant supplies Of sleeps clothing. These
digni6ed dupes sre more than usually active |
at the present time, and the gravity Of their |
speech is ~ edifying o. IL emptiness. 1m.l
mersed 10 words, and with no clear psrcep-t
ton of things, they mistake conspiracy fort
conservaiism. Their pet horror IL the term
RADICAL" their ideal Of heroic patriotism !
the spectacle of great nation which allows |
itself to be ruined with decorum,. aud dies
rather than commit the slightest breach of
constitutional etiquette. This insensiblity |
TO facts and blindness TO the tendency of
events, they call wisdom and moderation. |
Behind these political dummies are the real
forces of the Johnson party, men Of insolsntt
spirit, resolute will, embitteksd temper, and
unscrupulous purpose, who clearly know I
what they are after, and will hesitate at no I
sinformsli,y" in The attempt to obtain it. !
To give these persons political power will be |
to surrender the results ofthe war by placing
the Government practically in the hsnds of
those against whom the war waked. No
smooth words about ssthe equality Of the
States s'the necessity Of conciliation,'
1.-THE wickedness of sectional conflicts" will
alter the fact that in refusing TO support
Congress, the people would set reward on
treachery and place bounty on treason.
1.-THE South says Mr.. Hill. of Georgia, in
q letter favoring the Philadelphia Convention,
''songht to save the Constitution ont
of the Union. She failed Let her now
bring her diminished and shattered, but
united and earnest counsels and energies to
save the Constitution in the Union" The
sort of Constitution the South sought 70 save
by warning against the Government is the
Constitution which she now proposes to save
By administering it. Is this the tone Of par
doned and penitent treason? Is this the spir
it to bnild up "National Union PartyT'
No; but it is the tone and spirit now fashions
able in the defeated rebel States, and will not
be changed until the autumnal elections shall
have proved that they have as little 10 expect
from the next Congress a. from the present,
and that they must give securities for their
future conduct before they can be relieved
from the penalties incurred by:thsir pask