Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-03-30
coNGREss -AND THE PREsIDEYT.
vIEWs b sEaATaa saEaMAH.

he said
1t was commonly said IN the neWspa-
pers that the President and Congress were
lquarRefing with each other; but he would
Esh0W that they stood with each other on
teverg material question. There were
four dIferent classes Of propositions upon
which It was said Congress and the Pres
Ideut dIsagHeed. The first was as to the
representation of the States IN Con-
gress There was a great deal of theoret-
Ical dispute IN regard to the condition of
the Southern States, but those theories
did not amount to much. Some alleged
that the Southern States were conquered
provinces, and some said they were in
the Union. Democrats conteDded that
they were IN the Union, and had a right
to elect to Congress WhOmsOeVeF they
saw TT, and tat 1t would be Unc0nstltu-
I tlonal 10 that body TO exclude Robert
/ T0om0s or JEFF. Davis. If elected. and
that no test oath could be prescribed TO
/ them, while on he other hand, there
we're those who looked upon those States
/ as conquered provinces, to be governed
! with obsolute power, just England gov
! erned ireland, with unhappy results to
/ both. that would continue to exist until
England did justice to Ireland Zap
! Dlauses As that was ST. Patricks day,
/ he felt inclined to say a good word for
/ "Ould Ireland, for the good men she
/ had given to this country He was of
4 the opinion that great many people came
! from Ireland who were caught by the de-
/ lusiVe name Of democracy, and who al
J ways fought against their own Interests
/ and agHnt their cOnsciences. The Irish
/ people ought to be the tFusst Union men
/ in the country The Southern States. IN
! his judgement, were States of this Union
I fv,sr rsE n&10 nd haH
I no right to choose Representatives to
/ Congress unless they could subscribe TO
/ certain specified conditions. A resolu-
I ton embracing those ideas passed by an
almost unanimous vote In July, 1868,
only Messrs. Salisbury, Garrett Davis
and Powell of Kentucky voting against
it. The President indorsed this prOpo-
sition even in his veto message, and also
IN the unfortunate speech he made on
the I'D of February. The Senator read
an extract from President JOhpsOn's
veto, which setfOrth that Representatives
in Congress must be men who never aid
ed IN the rebellion, and said if the Cop
perheads could indOrse that they had the
hardest dose to swallow that they ever
had before. The only question was what
terms aud qualifications, what tests Of 10y
atty should be applied to them. He Mr..
Snerman) wanted no better test than the
oath which was prescribed year or two
ago. That was the position Of Congress
aod Andrew johnson. The point Of di
vergency was that the President insisted
on complying with those tests that each
House shall be the Judge of the qualifiea-
tions OF It's own members, while Congress
insisted that while it had the constitution
al power each for itself to do 50, 1t lueV
itably has the power to act jointly upon
this question. aud be thought Ia that
Congress had the best of the argument.
The President had never said and IN his
Judgment never would say, that unrepen-
tanT rebels like Stephens, Of Georgia
thoug he was the best of them ail-shall
come back and take their places to make
laws for the. people of the United States.
The secon1 question was as to the ba
sis of representation, which the speaker
discussed al considerable length. BY the
Constitution of the United States repre-
sentation was based upon the number Of
inhabitants. and the result ofthe abolition
of slavery, which heretofore entitled the
South to the representation of three-hfths
of the slaves, u Ould be to give to the
Southern States increased political power.
IF this we're permitted, the white men of
South Carolina would have two and one
third more political power than the white
men of Connecticut. Democrats we're IN
favor of this because they know that the
white men of South Carolina would vote
for all the negroes, which would be SO
much butter In the churn of the Demo
cratic party. They we're opposed to any
change In this condition OF affairs and
wanted ''the Constitution as 1t is. Both
the President and Congress affirm that
there should be a change IN the basis OF
representation. The President was IN
faVor of basing the representation upon
the voters, leaving every State to say who
should vote There was a class OF men
IN Congress who we're in favor OF taking
this power from the people; but that
proposition did not meet with much ia
vOr. as each State was Jealous OF Its own
powers. In many Western States they
( did not allow rebels to vote, although
/ they IN Connecticut allowed rebels TO
vote. The Committee on Reconstruetlon
when examining this matter, found dlf-
/ fculties presented in the rule laid down
/ by the President, the representatives, Of
1 the Northern and border States, claim
4 ing that if the Presidents plan we're
I adopted their States would lose power
I Finally the committee bit upon the plan
which they thought would meet with uni
/ versaI acceptance, which was that repre-
seDtatiVes shall be apportioned among
/ the several States according to their re-
{ spective numbers, counting the whole
number Of persons IN each State, provI-
/ ded that the elective franchise shall not
( be denied or abridged in any State on ac-
count OF race or color. Every Union
man voted for this measure, and every
Democrat against it, because 1t took pO-
+ litical power away from the rebels, which
II Democrats might want to use some time.
F! That proposition came to the Senate, and
was debated, and because some feared
! that there might be buried IN the simple
words that a State might exclude people
I on account of race or color, 1t was deteat-
! ed, and the matter was postponed till
next week The difference between the
/ President and Congress on this point,
was that of tWeedledum and tWeedledee.
! He (Mr Sherman did not believe that
/ the people of New England would have a
1 right to complain if the ladies were coun-
4 ted out. because their descendants In the
4 Western States would be sure to vote
! New England principles. He did not
I think the people would cry about 1t very
I much If the uunaturalIzed foreigners tn
! New York City were excluded from rep
4 resentation. If people wanted TO abuse
Z Andy johnson on account of differing
with Congress on this point, they ought
4 rather TO denOuuce those Union members
4 of Congress who refused to help carry
out this plan. There was another polnl
upon which the President and Congress
differed and that was how far the electiVe
franchise should be extended to the ne
n gro population of the southern States. III
(the speaker) never could understand
why people might be excluded from tha
privilege on account of color. Il
his opinion the negroes of the South wer'
mere children ia intellect, and he though
it would not be wise now to compel tn
Southern States, as condition Of read
mission. to give the eolored people th