Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-05-04
JOHNSON AND sTEyENs.

JOHNSON AND STEVENS.
Those journals which pervert history by
declaring that John Tyler was driven out of
the Wing party by the incorrigible obstinacy
of Henry Clay now express fear lest Thad
deus Stevens should perform the same expul
sorry operation upon A. johnson! We fail to-
see the evidence or the analogy. Is it owing
to Mr.. Stevens that not single traitor has
yet been brought to justice? Is it his fault
that Union men have been depressed, and
rebels exalted throughout the South Is it
his fault that the Moses of the colored peo-
pie has espoused the cause of the Egyptians?
Is it his fault that the Freedmen's Bureau
Bill and the Civil Rights Bill have been veto
ed? Is it his fault that each of those yetoes
were crowded full of Copperhead stump
speeches of very mean sort Is it his fault
that the President made a disgraceful har-
angue on the 22d of February, with the coun-
sci cf Mrs. Surratt as his supporters Is he
responsible for all the Presidents yacillation
and double dealing in respect OF the Con-
nectieut election, ending finally with his half
way declaration in favor of the Democratic
candidates Or was it his fault that in the
election in New York last autumn Mr.. john
son secretly assured the Copperheads that he
desired them to succeed? Or that months
ago, and long before any breach was thought
ton were compelled to pay the reasonable
Constitutional Union" for advertisements
whose publication was not of the slightest ad-
vantage to the public business.
1t is nonsense to charge the treachery of
the President, and his desertion to the party
of the rebels, to the account of Mr.. Stevens
or any other Republican. Mr.. johnson is re-
sponsible for his actions and his friends pay
him very poor compliment when they at
4 { -. 1 I 4 -
geucy te any promptings but those of his own
heart end judgment. Besides, what has Mr..
Stevens said or done, that could justify the
President in abandoning his party, and turn
ing back upon his own declarations aud ac-
tions of three eyentful years Nothing. A
sharp word uttered by Member of Congress
in debate, aud followed by no action of the
House, is not a cause for such monstrous re-
cusancy. Moreover, let these apologists for
the President remember that since the yetoes
and the ranting speech of Feb. y, Mr.. Ste
Yens has said nothing in condemnation of Mr..
Johnson;s behavior except we should eonsid-
er the pleasant, jocular remarks in which he
denied that any such speech had been deliy-
cred by the Chief Magistrate, to have been
designed as an attack.
We are rather weary, too of a sort ofapol5
egetic, regretful tone Of remark which pre-
walls among some Of the milder Republicans
when they speak Of the distinguished mem
ber for the Lancaster District. While they
canoteonceal their admiration for the genius,
earnestness, and force of the old man elo-
quent, they are careful to regret that he should
have become a leader of the Republicans in
Congress, aud 10 depreeate his occasional
wrongheadedness and indiscretion. We ap
prehend that this sort Of dishwater might as
well be withheld from public display. Mr..
Stevens is pre- eminently a person on his ow n
account He speaks often for his party and
for the country, often, too, for himself. In
the latter case he is not a leader; at any rate,
at such times, he is without followers to obey
his directions. His peculiar notions are tre-
qaently rejected by the House but his pre-
sentation of them does no harm either to his
party or himself Nobody need quarrel with
him because he is notabsolutelyperfec But
when he is right and wise, and he is so, let
us say, quite as often as his critics, tho House
follow him gladly, and so does the country
and it is well for both.
Mr.. Stevens is a man of strong viii, no
doubt, and cf ardent feelings but no energy
of purpose and no warmth of passion have
ever led him to assume the attitude of die
tator. He has never proposed or undertaken
to ruin his party because he could not rule it.
He appeals to reason and his appeal is fre-
quently effective aud is always lighted Hp
with a wonderful play OF wit, anda trenchant
faculty Of sarcasm but he never descends to
the base arts of the demagogue. No oppo-
nent can accuse him of misrepresenting his
ideas, or falsifying his argument. What pow
er he exercises is the power of truth and of
intense conviction. This lofty honor pre-
vades his character, end gives dignity even to
his errors, Bat, best of all, it win ever be
said Of him that his constant aim was the
promotion Of equal privileges among men;
that he cherished without wayering the no
blest ideal of political justice; that his voice
was loudest and clearest when demanding the
rights of the weak and despised and that
when well stricken in years aud nigh to the
grave, he still labored with all the vitality and
more than the perseverance Of youth to bring
the policy of his country into perfect har-
mony with those democratic ideas which are
the foundation Of its institutions. Chicago
Tribune.
* SouTHERNER' S OPINION OF BEECH
ER. "A letter writer from Alabama, in the
New York Watcbpsah tS9nthernl has a
neighbor who has been on visit recently
to the great metropolis, and thinks sell Of
Rev. H. W Beecher He says:
II went half an hour before the time,
aud barely was in time for a scat. Boecher
win do Beaeher has religion The people