The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-09-26
English Opinion.
PRESIDENT JoIINsoN's ADMINISTRATION NOT A
FAILURE.

Whatever view may be taken of the DO
litical character Of Mr.. Johnson's admins
tration, nobody will pronounce it q failure.
There is assuredly no sign Of weakness or
decrepitude in his management of affairs.
In no empire in the world were the reins
of power ever grasped with firmer hand.
AS there is no vacillation in the conduct of
tho President, 80, let it be fairly admitted,
there is no evidence that his measures are
dictated by caprice. He acts on clearly
tain views Of the American Constitution,
OF the scope Of the Executive, the duty OF
Congress, and the rights Of the States.
These views are not peculiar to him; they
have, on the contrary, been held by the
most accomplished statesmen the country
has produced, from the dayS of George
Washington to the present time. What is
peculiar to the President is the firmness
with which he adheres to them III the face
Of opposition, and his determination to
make them the guide Of his policy to the
end of his official career. All parties have
been deceived in President johnson. On
his first accession to office, the radicals
expected from him heartior support than
they had found in Mr.. Lincoln. OF Mr..
Lincoln, they had but one apprehension.
He was gentle and placable. He harbored
no thought OF vengeance. He was anx-
ious to smooth tho way for the return of
tho Southern States, and might, it was
feared, be led to overlook the precautions
that svere necessary. From him, espe-
cially, the Southern leaders had nothing
to fear. He would act justly; but justice
in his hands might be so largely tempered
with mercy as to become imperative or
mischievously lenient. President Johnson
was man Of sterner mould. There was
something grim and almost savage in his
temper. From him, it was believed, the
Southerner would look in vain for any COM
passion; and some went even 80 far as to
fancy they saw the hand of Providence in
transferring the task to this severe and
unrelenting man. The South was equally
deceived.
Lincoln was hated as an emancipntionist
and conqueror; but johnson was loathed
as recreant; and his conduct in Tennes-
sec inspired every Southerner with the
keenest misgivines. They feared that
hanging and confiscation would be the
order OF the day, and that the South would
be completely crushed. Never was eXpccta-
ton moro absolutely believed, yet it would
be unjust to charge tho President with
having been party to deception. His
principles are the same-the change has
taken place in the facts with which he has
had to deal. While the Union was in dan
ger, and the cause of emancipation was
doubtful, he was one OF the most violent
and intrepid adversaries OF tho South
But at tho moment he assumed power, the
war was at all end; the South was everv-
where submissivc; the authorities of the
Federal Government was once more ac-
knowledged as supreme throughout the
length and breadth OF the Confederation
Probably his unexpected elevation awoke
q corresponding sense of responsibility,
and led him to exchange the passions of
the partisan for those broad and calm
views which bctit tho ruler of great
people at such an extraordinary epoch.
Certain it is that he at once marked out q
line of policy from which he has never
swerved, and has displayed, in the maintc-
nance of that policy, a courage and self
reliance which must ext0rt the admiration
OF his bltterest opponents.
The struggle, which has now gone On for
eighteen months between the President
and Congress, atfords Il spectacle which
When they hear the President denouncing
Congress, and the leading politicians in
Congress denOuncing the President, each
selecting the most forcible language they
can lind, and hardly stopping short of vio-
lent vituperation, they are tempted to think
that the Government must be in 4 state of
utter confusion, and the nation itself on
the verge of anarchy. When they see the
Legislature and the Executive taking dia-
metrically opposite views on questions Of
pubic policy, questions, moreover, of fun
damental Importance, and Of the widest
range, they jump to the conclusion! that
| the system which can lead to such results
is failure, and that it must almost be a
matter OF chance whether such q conflict
will not be settled by recourse to revolu-
| tionary violence. Americans take thcs G
things moro coolly. Their trained instincts
| enable them to gauge tho evil, and SEQ its
limits, which, after all, are not very cx-
tenslve. There are two or three facts
which may help us to survey the state of
affairs from an American point of view.
In the first place, neither the President nor
the Congress, nor both united, possesses
supreme power. The Parliament Of Great
Britain, consisting OF the three estates of
the realm, Is sovereign, supreme and abso-
lutte. There is no Legislative act to which it
ls not competent. 1t can do anything, to use
Biackstone's illustration, but make man
woman. We talk vaguely Of the Consti-
tuition, but the Constitution is just what
Parliament would make it. There is no
such supreme and sovereign body l.. the
United States. Sovereignty resides i'll the
people alone, and written Constitution
lays down precise limits, beyond which
neither President nor Congress may ven
turc. Then, by the Constitution of the
United States, Congress and the President
arc two separate powers, and are supposed
to act in entire independence of each
other.
If Congress wcro to become subscrvient
to the President, or the President to the
Congress, the balance Of the Constitution
would be upset, and one Of the guarantees
for wise Government, created by the found
ers OF the Constitution, would be destroyed
The veto, for example, was never meant to
be merely dormant power 1t was meant
to bo used, and the President, by his OATH
is bound to use it, to check the passing Of
any measure which he believes to be either