New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-11-12

or AnnHi Tue ITbSluSuLS pON0i VI FAStANAAAAS'
Now should be glad to have any lawyer Or
statesman tell me how government IS to be car. |
ried on with two pardoning powers, one Vesteu ~
the executive, the other in the legislature, anu
both of them pleuary as to the ohenses Tor wMch
this Ell post facto law is to be enacted. suppose
the President pardons q late REBEL and Congress
does not see fit to remove the eG post Jdcso as
franchisement in his case. wish to see some OF
the learned casusts Of the radical college cut the
knot of that difficulty. l wish to see them when
the whole South is filled with men who nave mus
been disqualified from holding office even IN their
States determine the constitutional relation OF tne
hardening power of this federal government 70
the whole subject of offenses against the United
States. Can anything show more clearly than tnls
does the character of the design that hes az tne
bottom of this seheme-a design to draw wltmh
the control Of Congress- and away from the CON
sttutional depository of the pardoning power, the
personal condition of every man in the south VINO
has had anything to do with the late reoelllon'
Why did not this Congress content themselves win
asking us to enact the disfranchisement ana le9Se
the harmony and uniformity OF the pardoning
power undisturbed? The motive appears TO me
10 be only too obvious Congress is aiming at the
absorption of all the powers of government; ana,
if there were no other reason for reslstlhS taeih
this one encroachment cn the symmetry oil the
1 Constitution would be reason enough.
The people of New York are well aware that
President johnson, in the exercise OF power
clearly invested in him by the Constitution and as
wise and human magistrate should nave done
| has already granted a full pardon to many nun
| dreds of persons who were concerned in the late
rebellion. This amendment is an invitation to us
in our sovereign capacity, to enact a tundamental
| law that shall annu the effect of these pardons
| create punishment that did not exist when the
| otferses were committed, and violate the pupnc
| faith towards large classes of men VINO, admitting
their error, have had it condoned by the naQoh
| acting through the very organ which the Constr
tuition has provided for the express purpose OF re.
| leasing all consequences of wrong-doing against
the United States. And what is the excuse tor
| this violent and wholesale prescription, that must
! comprehend nlne-tenthS OF all the men ~ the
| South who have ever held the position OF state
| governor or State judge, or member OF state
| legislature, or justice OF the peace IL IS, that
these men, or some of them, may possibly agam
sit in Congress- and in reference to that supposed
danger their felow-citizens are to be prohibited
forever from having the benefit OF their services
III any office Of their own States Ii any man sup
poses that this is the way TO cure the evils, or to
| close the wounds resulting from the great civil
| war [ can only say that differ from him. 4 wise
and practical craftsmanship, whether the form Of
government be republican or moDarchical, will
content itself, after great national scism, with
| accepting the frank submission of gallant pee
| pie who frankly offer it, and will neither strain
existing nor manufacture new penalties for pur
i poses Of a revengefuI oppression.
/ We hear aud read great deal respecting tht
probable future course OF the President in Teg3rC
10 these amendments. There is much speculation
concerning the probability of his recommending
their adoption. suppose it to be true that thest
amendments are opposed by the Democratic part
on principle, because they diSoCate and sEbver
the system Of the Union and introduce methods o
action towards the Southern States which are IN
Just and oppressive. suppose, also, that tht
: President has made up his mind as to the cours
which his duty to the Constitution requires of him
and that ne means to fulfill that duty in th
whole extent Of his executive functions. | takei
for granted that he has investigated carefully th
4 great questions which have arisen cut OF the sup
I preston OF the rebellion and that he means, 81
ia to II
of the Southern States and people, TO recognize
, them as being now fully ia the Union, in all re
spects equal to the other States and their people
, under the Constitution. He cannot force thei
! representatives into Congress- he cannot compe
either house of Congress to do its constitutional
duty, by acting separately on the qualifications
] those who present themselves as claimants o
seats. But, so far as the executive relations Il
the people Of those States and to the Constitution
! and people of the United States extend, | take
for granted that the President never can treat tht
rebellion as anything but the unlawful act of indi
Yiduals; that he can never admit that the Southern
States were withdrawn by it from the Union, ant
that he never can find Justification for demand
ing amendments of the Constitution as condition.
precedent to the execution of the Constitution il
, and over those States, or to the enjoyment By
those States of any privileges under it. do not
therefore, think it respectful to entertain the sup
position that the President can change a c0urs
which must be founded in convictions of duty,
, it be founded on anything, What may be the con
. | sequences OF q pbTSlSLelCY Uy congress III
theory that regards the Southern States as out o
, the Union, and in command of complete socia
reversion and revolution in those States befor
, they are to be regarded as States of this Union
no man can foresee.
/ The personal consequences to the Presiden
: arising out Of the threats that are made to in
/. peach him, may we'll be disregarded by all Of Il!
v as l doubt not they are dsregarded by him. Blu
8 where are we drifting in this confusion of Opini0
G respecting the principles on which the late wa
q was carried out? If the people who sanctone
G that war on the part Of the federal government o
f the ground that the Southern States had not let
:? and could not leave the Union, will not adhere
their own theory, now that it has been maintaine
/ and the result has been accepted by those VIII
resisted this, the only possible foundation for tn
t supremacy of the Constitution what hope re
E mains to US for its preservation? There is bu
one attitude for us, namely that mass of peopl
and States called the North y conquered a mas
: Of people and States called the SouthH and ar
. now proceeding to impose their social theories
. their customs. and their ideas of social quatie
d upon those whom they have subdued. In th
= moral and political crusade against the Souther
# States, with which we are threatened, it is prot
!, able that whatever survives, the Constitution
e the United States will be the chief monument
/. our destructive capacities.
d Yet dark as is the future, certainly woul
i not counsel despair while there remain to |
/. opportunities of appeal to the intelligence an
n patriotism Of free people. | trust that ii
8. demonstration on Tuesday evening will be worth
d of the cause, the candidates and the city and
Il GREETING my inability to be present, remain yol
q dEoRaE TIoKNoE CURTIS.
T. We find the following in the Paris gossip of
~ ~ contemporary:
Literary men, it seems, die like everybody els
10 Roger de Beauvoir, who, about fortnight ag
d. passed to the other world, was followed last wee
Is by Leon Gogan, dramatist, novelist and poet.
d. was not known until few hours before his buri
is whether that ceremony was to be in conformi
,e with Catholic or with Jewish rites. Happil
in some papers were discovered among his MS
q which made it very cear--to those who desir
te to think so--that he was a Catholic. He die
m suddenly, while writing in his study This kind
il demise with ones harness on, reminds me of th
a. Of Dongelot, who was probably the most earne
ct journalist that ever lived.
al One day, when the Place de Pantheon was Il
as scene of riot, Dongelot installed himself in Il
in midst of shower of stones and other missile
s pen in hand, to note the incidents, as faithful
s. porter Amid the yells and groans of cOmbf
v. ants, and the clatter of cavalry over the ha
" pavement into the ranks of the seditious fren
Il espying the indefatigable reporter hailed him:
to Man! are you mad?" he shrieked; run fro
Il there or you will be killed."
in Dongelot, without needing his advice, retain
a. his position watch in one hand and pen in L
other, recording, minute by minute, the aspects
in the conflict.
d "Do you not hear 2" cried the friend agai