The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-05-17
Let the People Decide.

That august tribunal, which in the
nature of the institutions under which
We live can alone give strength and va
lidity to any governmental measure, is
soon to pass upon the most important
subject that ever engaged the atten.
ton Of the American people. Tried in
every Vicissitude which befel nations
visited by every controversy which po
htlcal bodies can experience, the
people of this country have invariably
rendered that verdict most honorable
to the Republic, and most certain to
vitalize its ideas and enhance its vel.
fare. Three great periods of agitation,
through which we have successfully
passed, attests the predominance OF
the national sentiment and our abhor
renee to monopoly or the undue inhu.
ence of power by any class or section
or institution Of the land. In the ear.
lier political stages the people rallied
under the standard of jefferson be-
cause he interpreted government in a
liberal and republican sense. 1t was
in that school ana amid the fierce agi-
tations Of that period that the people
were taught those main democratic
ideas and that antagonism to usurpa-
ton which is fresh and real in their
hearts at this moment
When jackson assumed the mantle
which fell from the shoulders of Jeffer-
son, and made war upon vast money
ed corporation which had commenced
to WELD an alarming influence in public
affairs, and which threatened to un-
dermine the institutions of the ooun-
try by the subornation of the press and
the control Of eleotions, he was beset
with the whole eDginery of the money
power OF the country; the Senate Of
the United States became the theatre
of bitter animosity against him; the
gigantic forensic ability of Webster, the
flaming periods and horid eloquence of
Clay, the keen argument and subtle
logic of Calhoun combined to ruin him
before the community the press hurl-
ed at him its thuHders and panic
joined the formidable organization to
belittle him in public estimation and
wesn from him public confidence. The
old hero never ialtered; with an un.
faltering trust in the intelligence of
his countrymen he crushed the mon~
ster bank and went to the country !;
and az the people gathered around the
standard of Jefferson, so they rallied
again around the standard of Jackson.
When the institution of human
slavery, passing from the limits of the
State, aspired to national ascendancy !:
when it violated sacred compromises
and opened the virgin domain of the
republic to its hateful presence; when
it sought to involve thirty millions of
Americans with its innate evil and its
advancing power, the people revolted.
They took from the prairies of Illinois
a plain and simple man, with the faith
of Jefferson in democratic ideas, with
the frmness of Jackson in resistance
to the bloated tyranny and arrogance
of oppression, and lifted him to the
presidential Office, that human slavery
might be confined to its constitutional
boundaries, and in order to prevent its
desecration of the unuodden empire of
the West, and that it might not attain
to political supremacy in this free and
Christian nation. In what manner
this great people sustained their chief;
how they responded to his call to arms;
how they maintained him against the
mad coalition of political aspirants and
open-mouthed defamers how they
stood by his efforta to restore the unity
of country; how they vindicated the
life and bemoaned the death of Abra-
ham Lincoln, is both the brilliant re-
cord and the honest pride of American
history.
1t was the light of these glowing
facts that inspired Andrew Johnson,
upon whom Heaven has imposed bur-
dens weightier than those which rested
upon Jefferson and Jackson, and equal
ly momentous with those which sad
dened the years of Lincoln, to look as
they looked, and trust as they trusted
the people of America. And wisely
has he confidence in them. The foun-
dation of this Government, its rescue
from civil peril by the tolls of war, its
re-establishment on peace footing, is
their especial concern. They and their
children are to live under it long after
Presidents retire, and when Senators
and CongEessmen have passed away
from human memory; therefore their
interest is as vital as the happiness and
welfare Of NATIONAL life, and not the in
terest of an evanescent and unimports
ant political existence.
The Thirtyn Congress has de-
cided to carry to the country a policy
which in its spirit and its effect IS dia-
metrically in opposition to that of the
President. Had it been in our power
We would have had Congress and the
President in harmony. But Congress-
would not have it so. 1t appears To
have studiously labored to preiudioe
the public against him; it has EMPLOY
ed the most mischieVous agencies To
misrepresent and denounce him, and
it has now made up an issue against
him. This issue is not one of principle
for, strange to say, every principal fea.
ture in what is known as the presiden.
tial policy has been adopted by Con.
gress but the issue is ip the method
of applying those principles, and
the time and manner in which thew
are to be demonstrated. Both the
President and Congress deny the right
of Congressional interference with the
suffrage question. Both acknowledge
the crowning Importance Of restoration
But while the President relies on
amity, intercourse, and identity of
commercial and industrial relations.
Congress relies on a renewal of sec.
tional ascendaney; a continuation of
old animosities, and revival of former
feuds and ferocities. The President
would cease war everywhere, and re-
turn 10 the Constitution. Congress-
would continue the authority which
war involved, and would rule as CON-
querors. The President appeals to a
faith, q common origin, and a
common destiny; Congress to a sec
tional partisanship; to the passions Of
sectional hatred; and to destiny
which involves the degradation and in.
of one portion of the country
by the retention of power in another.
The President seeks the honor and ad-
of the country; Congress.
the success and reelection of a party.
On those issues the people are soon to
decide. We are glad they are distinct
and unmistakable; for unless the people
have forgotten their Christian impulses.
and lost their humane instincts, and
forsAken their republican education,
they will stand unEwervingly by him
who raises the banner of republican
principles, slaveless nation, and a
united government-W Washington Rep.
The coquettish little hats called cha.
psa,lr LarlbaHe, resembling those worn
BY the aristocratic shepherdesses of
Watteau, were seen in great numbers
~ fha ra~arf p.r.a pa-as IT. T.