Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-16
wAsu1NGTOS ToPIos AND GOSSIP.


WASHINGTON TOPICS AND GOSSIP.
MR. SUMMERS SPEECH.
The spcechof Mr.. Sumneri is undoubted-
ly a great one-one of the few really
great Ones delivered in that chamber-yet
it is the opinion of nearly all his best
friends here that 1t is a mistaken effort
that he is doing the very worst thing for
the country and his party so far as i'm
mediate results, at least, arc concerned.
If this amendment is not adopted by the
Senate there is no hope for any other, and
as for Mr.. Summers alternative proposition
it can't count a dozen voters in the Sen
ate. Already some of the moderate press
are calling upon Congress TO admit the
loyal Southern claimants to their seats and
it is generally admitted that they cannot
aI,Uays be kept out. There must be a
square issue before the people, and the
Sumner idea that We can go on forever
denying to the Southern gentlemen repres-
e~ntation inCongressis an immense blunder.
We shall be badly beaten on that Issue. So
says the correspondent of TIE Boston
TrdUsLer.
PENDING ARRANGEMENTS.
The Conservatives continue in fine fea-
ther over the strong re-afirmation of his
constitutional principles by the President,
and have determined to strengthen
all the means in their power. II
talk of getting up meetings in af@nhe
leading cities, in order that the voice of
the people may be Enthusiastically heard
in support of the position which the Ex-
ecutive has assumed.
Meanwhile, there is said to be a move
ment on foot to over-match the johnson
men, and take from them the immense ad-
vantages they profess to have gained. This
is TO be done by coming to an understand
ing with the President, in order that any
threatened veto may be avoided, and q
consequent rupture averted. Efforts to
that end, I am told, are this moment in
progress.
POSITION OF II PRESIDENT.
The opposition members of Congress are
iubilant over what they call IN assurance
they have received from the President that
he will veto the Freedmen's Bill. I do
not credit the story, as nearly all similar
ones have turned out to be untrue. 1t
cannot be possible after such a vote as
was given in the House-l38 to 33-that
the President has any such thought. He
does not intend to make war upon the
whole Republican party. Of course he
dislikes Thad. Stevens, and he makes nc
coneealment Of the fact, and if he could
infict some penalty on him in his distri-
button Of offices, no doubt he would not
hesitate to do it. But Mr.. Stevens is an
exception. He has attacked the President
with great bitterness, and no man can be
expected to submit to them with good
nature, or at any rate, no man with Mr..
Johnson's pugnaeity. Some of the Massa-
ehusetts members continue to keep on
good terms with the President, personally
at least.
Mr.. STEVENS AND his PECULIAR IDEA.
The developments in the debate on the
bill giving consent of Congress 10 the
cessiOn of the counties of Jefferson and
Berkeley by Virginia to West Virginia,
which involved the recognition of the old
State of Virginia and its loyal govern
ment, were exceedingly significant. Mr..
Stevens was drawn out SO far as TO deny
that he had ever held thai the States were
dead; they had always been States, but
States of the ~Confederacy, not of the
Union. This declaration surprised many
who thought they possessed sufficient
intelligence to understand what Mr..
Stevens has so often asserted in the plain
est language, viz: that the States lost
their character as States by the act of re-
bellion, and that they were now nothing
but "dead States" or conquered terri
But this admission from Mr.. Ste |
vens is indicative of an abandonment of
the ground which he and a few Others
have so s%trenuously advocated since the
of the session. MIR. Bingham, of
Ohio, who is certainly a very able lawyer,
went still further and denied that we
conquered the States; we had conquered
the rebellion, and the States were left as
before the war; he voted for this bill be-
cause he recognized the loyal government
Of the State of Virginia, and the right Of
that government to give the necessary
TO the eession of these counties to
the State of West Virginia. Thus it
seems that the moment that the test of
absolute fact is applied to this theory of
Estate suicide" it vanishes into thin air,
and its most strenuous advocates are
to resort to subterfuges, or to ac-
knowledge frankly that the war was
waged only for the restoration of the
Union, and that the rebellion having been
the suspended relations of the
States are again resumed, subject only to
such legislation as the changed and dis
ordered condition of society and the future
of the Republic may demand.
ON HI RIO GRANDE.
Military men express the opinion that
our force on the Rio Grande will be in
at once, and everything put on a
var footing in that quarter. Others,
.gain, among them such personages as
Wilson assert that the whole Mex
can territory would not compensate US
or the loss of one life, and that any com-
which threatens hostilities should
% avoided. Secretary MeCuiloch is also
understood to be opposed to the adoption
# any resolutions or policies looking to-
yard war until we have weathered the
financial squall now besetting and threat
US. One high official expressedit as
lis opinion that Napoleon's address was
Unsatisfactory, and, therefore, much worse
han meme at all.
THE BANKRUPT BILL.
An effort will be made in the House
his week to put the Bankrupt bill on its
Mr.. Jenckes, its author, leading
a Nth aDrtbo, .roaoL 3, ,Ne fo,-,,