The national Republican., 1866-07-27
NED OF BACKBONE-LE Us
DARE TO DO RIGHT.

Done. we need, in the true friends OF the
Constitution and the Union, the courage to
do right. To borrow an expressive phrase
from one Of the late President LrNooLN's
speeches, "Let us dare to DO RIGHT" Let us
dare to do right at this crisis, when II costs
something to do so. There is no considera-
BILE merit in doing right when public senti-
ment blows in that direction-when every
body around us whispers the same senti-
ments and utters the same opinions. 1t is
when, as now, the popular mind is tempora-
rily becrazed, and the voices around us are
extravagant, incoherent. and delirious, that
moral and political courage to stand by the
right is meritorious
b Here is IN Administration in power which
has succeeded to that Of President LINCOLN,
and is . continuation Of the same. 1t
administers the Government just as Pres
ident LINCOLN did, and upon the same
cardinal principles; for, as we have lately
taken the trouble to say more than once, he
dropped his partisanship rs o Republican
when became to the Presidency, and made
the preservation Of the Union the cardinal
purpose Of his Administration. The rebels
had laid down their arms at the time Of the
accession of President JOHNSON to executive
responsibilities; but the practical work of
restoration Of the Union remained undone.
He took up that work where and just as
President LINCOLN left II, and has carried 1t
forward with judicious hand. His Admin.
istration has been in all respects just
what President LINCoLN's would have been
had that patriotic statesman lived. Like
President LINCOLN, and, il possible, with
more Of Roman firmness, President JOHNSON
dares to do right. The members Of his Cab
met have dared to do right also.
But it has suited the ambitious purposes
Of a majority in both Houses Of Congress to
abandon the national Union policy of the
Administration, and to chalk out a new one
which The PRErDENr does not approve, be-
cause the Constitution does not. Upon this,
On issue has been raised, upon which the two
coordinate departments of the Government
are divided. Speaker CoLrAx, in letter to
his constituents, says it can be condensed
iuto single question: which shall govern in
the councils Of the nation, loyalty or disloyaly.
When statesmen like him go back upon the
record Of the lamented LINCOLN, brand his
policy for the restoration of the Union with
the name Of disloyalty, in order to make
point Of difference with President JOHNSON,
1t ought to admonish every genuine patriot
that there is mischief on foot. But some Of
our welLmeaning friends hesitate and falter.
They do not stand by the Administration
and what they know to be right with sufli.
cient frmness. Men fit for such emergencies
should stand in their tracks like the sturdiesi
oaks, until the gale passes by.
And the courage now needed should be an
intelligent daring, one which is not afraid to
contest the claim for loyalty with Congress
or any of its members. If body of men
who refuse admission to their seats merely
because they have the numerical force to do
so, the loyal representatives Of eleven States
in the Union have better claim to loyalty
in the estimation Of the people than THr
President, who insists upon a full compli
ance with the terms Of the Constitution, il
is mainly because the friends Of the Admin
istration allow the masses to be deluded witt
the idea that black has suddenly became
white and all our former notions of loyalty
become reversed. But it is not so; and were
it not for the strategy Of the radicals in OBJ
tanning temporary possession of the news
papers Of the country there would be very
few men of ordinary intelligence SO greatly
deceived as to think SO.
If Admiral NELSON had the right to say
that England expected every Engishmar
to do his duty, surely the President of the
United States has the right to expect tha
every friend of his Administration, and es
pecially those who are enjoying its honor
and emoluments, shall do his. We are no
authorized by him to say anything whatever
upon the subject, but we venture to say
upon our own responsibility, that iShe has
not in different sections of the country friend
Of courage enough to dare to do right il
every locality and in every presence, it is hi
duty to the country to find them. 1t is no
President JOHNSON and his Cabinet alone
who are affected by this question. For him
self and his he is as Indifferent as any unselfsl
statesmen in the country. But when q CO
ordinate branch Of the Government-tht
Congress-presumes to arragn in one breatl
the loyalty Of himself and his predecessor
and charge as disloyalty now precisely tha
which was called loyalty during the war, i
is imperatively necessary that the people a
large should understand that he does not re
ward persons holding Office under him 70
saying SO.
The remark imputed to Coy. RANDALL
that all who eat The PRESIDENTS bread ar
expected to support the Administration
whether made by him or not might hav
been made by him.on the authority of one 0
the most devoted Executives to the Consti
tuition the nation ever had-President JACK
SON. Nothing can be more fit and proper il
and Of itself than that holders Of Office unde
an Administration who are opposed to it
cardinal policy should promptly retire.
Gov RANDALL did not make that remark, h
might have made it with the greatest polit
icai proprety, especially as the point OF dil