The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-02-24
COLUMBIA.
Saturday Morning, February "a, 1858
Tho Veto Message.

The Veto Message.
We give this morning much of our
space to the veto message of the
President ON the Freedmen's Bureau
Bill-a bill, at least, extending the
powers of that organization. We
also give, elsewhere, the various. state
ments of Northern journals as to how
it has been received.
The veto is one of the most impor-
tant that has ever been issued from
the Executive chair. It initiates the
warfare between the radicals and the
President, but, as the vote in the
Senate indicates, it also demonstrates
that Andrew johnson is 'smaster of
the posiEon.'' He might have de-
layed this veto for weeks, and post
poned the rupture that was sure to
come. He might have temporized
with the radicals, and the bill might
have been modified; but he has come
up to his work manfuhy. He is op-
posed to the. bill root and branch.
He is opposed to it on constitutional
grounds, and holds that there is no
authority for the measure-no justice
in it to the States directly interested,
and no necessity for it.
Our readers will agree with us,
that the message is calm, dispas-
sionate and able paper AS cotem-
porary remarks, avoids an army of
commissioners, each with supreme
authority in his bailiwick, and the
whole backed by an army of soldiers
to enforce their DEGREES. It avoids
the expenditure of $25, 900, 900, ac-
cording to the Presidents estimate
more than the cost of the Federal
Administration forty years ago-and
this at a time when we have an enor-
nous debt, and must strain every
means to diminish it. It prevents
the feeding, clothing, and educating
a race of beings on account of color,
out of the Federal Treas,1ry-when
the orphans of the white soldiers and
the millions of whites sswho are hon
estly toiling day and night" says the
President, have never been educated,
nor fed, nor clothed, nor their rents
paid out of the Treasury! All this,
together with the infringements of
the rights and liberties of the people,
and the concentration of the enor-
NOUS power in the Executive, pro-
posed by this bill, will be avoided by
this veto.
The ueis at length made between
the Administration and the radical
faction In Congress. Patriotism and
heroism are the essential elements of
this message. The President has taken
his position fearlessly and regardless
OF the apparent odds against him
and as the vote in the Senate shows,
he has t'iuaapAed. One feature of this
message strikes us as being indicative
OF the stern patriotism of its writer,
and that is, that he has ignored no
point, advocated no argument, and
has defined his position thoroughly
IN every respect. AS the New York
Herald says, che enters into full ex-
position of his reconstruction policy
and contends that the excluded
Southern States, in meeting his con-
dltlons of restoration, are sufficiently
reconstructed for q recognition by
both houses of Congress.
One thing is certain, the President
has drawn the line boldly and dis
tinctly between his policy and that
of Stevens, and calls upon Congress
to make their choice. The branch
OF that body in which the bill origi
mated has refused to condemn the
veto by the necessary Constitutional
yetolng, and from this action we au
CUR well for the future of the coun
try.
The demonstration of the citizens
of the District of Columbia in SUD-
port of the Presidents policy, on the