The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1866-01-04
tFrom the N. Y. Herald, Dec. 22.l =
The President and General
Grant ON Southern Res
tOPati0n---The Radicals
FlaRked.

Elahkeu.
President johnson, supported by
General Grant, that great master
of the art of flank movements, had
handsomely talked of the radical
leaders Of the Senate, and cut off
their retreat. The special message
to that body, in response to a reso-
luton calling for certain informa-
ton in reference to the condition
Of the Southern States, furnished
information which will be very
gratifying to the country at large,
but which was gall and wormwoOd
to the implacable radical Sumner.
The President speaks encourag-
ingly of the loyal temper and incli-
nations of the Southern people, and
4 Jntertains no doubt "that they will,
at a very early period, be in con-
dition to resume all their practical
relations with the Federal Govern
ment." Most Of the reclaimed
States have ratified the Constitu-
tional Amendment, sand in nearly
all OF them measures have been
adopted, or a new pending to con-
fer upon the freedmen the privile-
ges which are essential to their
comfort, protection and security"
General Grant, from his personal
observations, during his late South
ern reconnaissance from the Poto-
mac to the Savannah river, cordially
sustains these views of the Presi-
dent. It's evident that the general
effect upon the Senate of these
encouraging reports was good; but
instead of softening the warth of
Sumner they inAamed it into an
uncomfortable fury.
owe have" said he, "a message
from the President, which is like
the whitewashing message of
Franklin Pierce with regard to the
atrocities in Kansas" Called to
account by Senator Doolittle for
this outrageous expression, Mr..
Sumner had "nothing to qualify,
nothing to modify, nothing to re-
tract" But when another Repub-
lican Senator, Mr.. Dixon, of Con-
sneeticut, having faith in the
Presidents patriotism and policy,
remarked that he could not in
silence hear this remark, that the
Executive had presented a white
washing report - that, in other
words, he had, by falsehoods and
mistatements, covered up certain
facts-there was a change in the
mind of the unfortunate Sumner.
He saw that there was a limit for
his folly, even in a Republican
Senate, beyond which he could not
safely pass. His charge of white
washing was not intended in the
offensive sense understood by other
Senators. He had no reflections to
make on the patriotism or truth of
the President; but he remembered
the whitewashing message from
Franklin Pierce, and that they all
called it whitewashing document.
Thus the highly vaulting Sumner
was suddenly bsought to with his
face to the ground. This, of itself,
is a trifing incident; but, in con-
nection with the fact that it puts a
check upon the mad career of Sum-
ner as the radical leader of the
Senate, it becomes an incident of
some Importance. 1t indicates the
strength of the Presidents policy,
and that the Republicans in Con-
gress begin to appreciate the
necessity of cooperation with him,
if they would maintain their posi-
ton as the party in power.
The check upon Thad. Stevens,
the Radical leader of the House, is
still more remarkable. On Monday,
upon the question of referring the
Presidents Message, he enlarged
upon his theory that the late re-
bellious States are now legally in
the condition of unorganized Ter
ritories, and that, as such, they
must be reconstructed by Congress.
On Tuesday the Secretary of State
officially announced the ratification
of the constitutional amendment
abolishing and prohibiting slavery
by three-fourths of all the States,
including in this ratifcntion such
States as Virginia, North and South
Carolina, Georgia and Alabama,
thus recognizing them as States in
the Union, and legitimately acting
as such through their Legislatures !;
and what has Mr.. Stevens to say /?
He can say nothing against the
proclamation without putting him
self in a very bad position, and he
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