The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1866-01-13

procliviEies Of the followers of Thad. Ste
ysns & Co. We give It to our readers that
they may know the deep, damnable plots
that are being conceived and promulgated
from the headquarters Of fanaticism and
political dissention. It is like its promul- /
gators-lOw, dirty, and eOwardly
A MEMORIAL.
TO the House Of Representatives Of the !
United States IN regard to the In /
parchment Of President Johnson
Prior to the war of the Rebellion, many
friends Of the Republic were of the opinion
that the President was too great, and too IN
dependent Of the control of the people or
their representatives, During the war the
exercise Of this power has led to the most
dangerous errors and eOFrupting abuses
which the best Republicans and patriots had
previously apprehended 1t has compelled
Congress to give up one of its most impor-
tant acts, and to behold its will supplanted
by an opposing Executive order. Since the
close Of the war, it has been 50 exercised by
the present incumbent of the Presidential
Office as to make the people and Congress
appear altogether unimportant and insignif-
cant and to remind the rejecting observer
rather Of the institutions and the power of
an absolute monarchy than Of those of
Democratic Government To such an ex-
tent has he carried his arbitrary acts that
even a Senator, always moderate IN his
| modes of expression has felt himself com
PEELED to remind him that he could not yet
SAY of himself, like the French autocrat,
81 The State, am IL " To be sure, Presi-
dent johnson has not yet employed this Ian
guage of absolute power, but he has sought,
4 by the whole tenor and spirit of his official
conduct to make it true, even to the last let
| ter.
The people of the North, by the exertions
of their utmost strength, and the offerings
upon the altar of their country of hereto
fore unheard of sacrifices, have at last, after
| four years of war, succeeded IN crushing the
rebellion, which, armed with abundant
means by the aid Of a double treachery,
/ both from within and without, succeeded in
rendering doubtful for long time, not mere
| " the existence of the Union, but also, of
| the Republic itself The tremendous efforts
required to extinguish this dangerous rebel
lion, have shaken the nation through every
] limb, and to its remOtest extremities. The
| course Of this great contest, and the necessi-
| ties it imposed, produced changes in the
| opinions and conditions of the people which
| had not before been thought of Old organ
| izatiOns persisted, and new principles of ma
| tiOnal life, develOpmentand civilization arose
| to claim the attention and control the action
Of statesmen As from the war of indepen-
/ dendence the nation dates its birth, so from
the great wax for the Union must it hence
| forth date its regeneration If ever any
people were interested in building for their
country better future, those of the United
States should now be So As no true Demo-
crat, after the war of independence, thought
of surrendering into the hands of the Chief
Executive Officer the whole power of the
people, in order to enable him to dictate a
| constitution and laws so it is believed no
true friend of popular government and free
institutions will not regard it as at all COM
patible with the government then established
to permit the President to assume to himself
the power of recOnstructing government in
the late rebelliOus States, and of prescribing
according to his own mere will the terms
upon which they and their rebellious people
shall again be admitted into the Union, al
lowed to enjoy the protection of its laws,
and the privileges of its government
A sense OF duty arising from the nature of
his Office, the Importance of the occasion,
and above all, the fact that the constitution
has conferred upon Congress the right to
suppress Instructions, and, as incidental
thereto, the right to determine the result of
{ such suppression, should have taught the
President that the work of reconstruction
belonged to Congress and if the urgency OF
| that labor did not admit of its being post
poned until the next regular session, should
have impelled him at once to call an extra
session, that the interests Of the Union
might not suffer no delay on the one hand
or by his unauthorized exercise Of despotiC
and arbitrary power on the other
But instead of following this safe and
constitutional method, he has pursued sys
tematic plan for the adjustment of these
most important matters, the manifest effect
and object of which are to exclude Congress
from having any lot or part in the settlement
7 He seems, indeed, to have determined to &C
eomplish it in a spirit at once opposed to the
, interests of the people who, by their cOur
: age, perseverance, and sacrifice, have crush
ed the Rebellion and preserved the Govern
ment, and to the principles of the Govern
, ment itself With a busy activity he has
labored to complicate the work of recon
structiOn by laying so many hindrances in
: the form of accomplished facts, in the way
. of the action Of Congress toward the accom-.
plishment of the final and proper adjust
ment of cur national affairs, on its own pre-.
ViOusly announced principle principle
securing the right of freedom to all In
this way he seems to have aimed at placing
: beyond the power of Congress to establish
on just principles what he has thus already
spoiled. By pursuing his own impractical
BILE and ruinous scheme, he has given the
( nc 10 al MS lOEAHOt professions mas mGckcO
at and insulted justice and law, degraded
the dignity of his great Office, and is, as fan
as he can, restoring to all their former rights
, the still unrepentant enemies of the Repub
lie, and arming them anew with power as il
it were his purpose to reconstruct not the
Republic but the Rebellion. The pardon
ing power designed as a means to mitigate
justice, for the public interest, has, in his
hands become a means to abolish justice fol-
the public ruin. No rebel, however black
his treason, or atrOcious his barbarity, has
Z been excluded from his favor, while the ne
gro, whose faithful attachment and courage
Gus and self sacrificing spirit has contributed
greatly to save the Republic, is, so far as the
President has been able, still kept down in
q parish condition, more oppressive even
than slavery itself To secure the interests
Of treacheFous landed aristOcFacy he ex
erts his entire energies, while the freedom
? loving people Of the North behold them.
selves cheated of all the legitimate fruits oil
their enormous sacrifice, as if the fearful
war had only been conducted 20 show which
= section could ell the most graves. That foE
which a million Union soldiers fought In a