Litchfield enquirer., 1866-12-06
On Monday Congress re-assembled

very Mucn SUCH a uocuniSHt ia, We expected. | So far from having learned any thing from [ the late decisive manifestation. of tho willi of the people, MT. Johnson says s91Ty ! convictions heretofore expressed have un- dergone no change; but, on the contrary, their correctness has been confirmed by red aeetion and time ,,.-e.
 What. we cannot help enqriring, is MT. i Johnson? representative of the people, or an independent potentate, possessing q three years lease of power over the lAmeri- i, can people. responsible to no one?:i;With his accustomed arrogance he reiterates his often repeated assertion, that he, of his own gracious motion, has reconstructed the South that all Congress can eonstita- tionally do, is to admit the twenty Sena- tors and fifty members of the House, he has caused to be elected that delay, even, is unconstitutional Since Charles strng- gled with the Long Parliament; since James II carried the doctrine of passive obedi- ence to even greater lengths than his father, no such blind obstinacy has. been seen. Stu arts and Bourbons will no longer hold their bad eminence in public estimation, undis- puted They had, at least, the excuse of a belief in their divine, hereditary, royal. rights. President Johnson can plead no such plea. He either represents or mis- the will of great people For more than year he claimed that his plan was also their plan he broke with the party which elected him and appealed to the. people against that party the appeal was tried and decided conclusively against him. Yet this unfaithful servant now re- fuses to recognize the decree of his mas, ter. Abraham Lincoln was much com plained of, in his day, because he chose oft, ener to follow than to lead public opinion.
 We. wish his successor had "a 1.-The of his patient wisdom. . -- ...t -@lH i1.
 Neither can we acquiesce in the Presi- dents foreign policy. After speaking of the Mission sent to Mexico, he adds:-as : 'sIt was also thought expedient that it should pc altendeQ Tn tLe FclNlIy or MeXlcO by the lleu
 tenant General of the Army of the United States with the view of obtaining such information as might be important to determine the course to be pursued in re-establishing and maintaining reces-' sary and proper intercourse with the Republic Of Me2ico.' 1,'.. dg .. '5.L . ' After complaining of Napoleons non fulGlment of his engagement to withdraw his troops from that country, he says
 1t is believed that with the evacuation of Mex ico by the expeditioIary forces no subject for sa- rious differences between France and the United aFeaad remain. The expressions of the EYi
 peror and people of France warrant a hope that the tra{Etionary friendship between the two coun-i tres ,mlgntI n that case De renewed ard perma- nenfly restored. 4, .. r. -..-... 2 Here, we think, President Johnson makes, a most grave mistake. The fstraditionary friendship between France and America
 has never been broken. An adventurer on
 the imperial throne of France, has, it is
 true, attempted during our war to bring
 Mexico under his control. The French
 people has been, throughout, hostile to. his.
 design, and, convinced of his mistake, he
 is abandoning his false position. The Ian
 guage above quoted, the dispatching of So distinguished soldier to. be near the scat of active warlilze operations, may be view
 ed as a menace of immediate military. ,in-
 tervenhon, may enable Louis Napoleon to
 persuade his people that the honor of France
 is concerned, and to plunge us into a war,
 not simply with the French Empire, but with the French people, sa2u 4..a aao'
 Nor is the Presidents language towards
 England more decorous. Speaking of
 their refusal to settle the Alabama claimsI
 he says ar 's.- ''s' .-i' '. '15h74
 FsThe importance of all early disposition of the question cannot be exaggerated. Whatever might
 be the wishes of the two governments, it is mani
 fest that good will and friendship between the two
 countries cannot be established until reciprocity,
 in the practice of good faith and neutrality, shall
 bc restored between the respective nations" '''" {, The mistake made in regard to France is
 here repeated. There is no anmity between
 the English and American nations. oAn,ar-
 istocracy, nowruling the BritishSEmpireA hates us. The people, on the csntrary, are
 not only OUT friends, but, professedly in i'm
 itation of our great example, they are try ing to force the reluctant upper ciasses to
 lH grant them the suffrage, to establish re-
 ally popular government; and long before
 we can pay our old Trent and Alabama
 grudges, we expect that not only kindred blood but kindred institutions will make
 war most'impossible To call a regene-P rated England to account for the faults of her present aristocratic masters would not be justice b4t blind revenge. d4a'n..4lH 9l , :, This bullying of foreign powers, the dist1- grace of our diplomacy under, Slavery, ought to go down with the system to whose influence it has been attributed. Yd
 The most we can say in. favor of this nies4- sage, is, that it is moderate and dignifed in tone, and above all, short. i Y
 i The Reports of the Secretaries.
 ? The financial part of the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, we should judge from the limited time We have been able to f devote to its perusai, is candid and able In politics, from which Mr. Mccullooh cannot quite restrain himself he eers tainly does not shine ? It is very sat. 1 issactory to think that his former estimates