Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-05-18

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THE CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
..-..- SCHEME.
The House of Representatives on the 10th
INST BY a vote of one hundred apd twenty
/ eight to thirtyseven, passed the Reconstruc-
tion Committees Amendment TO the Coustitu.
tion, Republicans Of all shades voting in the
affirmative. The scheme was alike distas. eful
to the Radicals and the conserv atives. and the
discussion Of the measure elcted a very gcner-
al dissatisfaction "a to its details but minor
differences have been made 10 yield to eonsid-
erations of policy. and the measure hos been
adopted by the Republicans as the only COM
promise by which party antagonisms could be
reconciled, it's disruption avoided, and its sue :
cess occurred. Tho Committee, it will be recol-
lected, proposed an amendment to. the Consti.
tuition embracing Eve sections The lst is in.
tended to enforce the provisions of the Civil
Rights. Bill; the I'd restricts representation
when freedmen areexcluded from the right of
suffrage; the Sd disfranchses until the 4th
July, 1870, oil who participated in the late
war; the 4tl prohibits the payment of the
Southern debt. or payment for slaves; Tho 9th
gives Congress the power to enforce these pro.
visions. And the Committee further recon-
mend tue passage of a law declaring that
whenever the amendment shall be adopted.
| those States adopting it may be represented in
| Congress and another law excluding specific ed
! classes from holding office under the national
| government,
This plan is distateful to the Radicals of the
Wendell Phillips School, because it does not
distinctly secure the right of suffrage to the
black. Such is the position of The Tribune.
which nVows its preference for a simpler and
shorter observation-disclosures amnesty-im.
Partial suffrage. The conservatives on. the
other hand are opposed toexacling any further
conditions Of the South. mucI, lees 10 imposing
terms to which the Southern people will never
submit, and which will prolong indefinitely
their exclusion from representation in Con-
gress. Such is tile position of tile President a.
repeatedly aSowed and again reiterated at =
late cabinet meeting, The President as, re-.
ported was earnest and emphatic in: his oppo.
elton to the report Of the committee, and de-
cared 'himsclfIagainst all cond ondilonsprccedent TO
the admission, of loyal representatives from the
Southern States in the shape OF amendments 10
the constitution. 2or by. the passage Of lava.
lie insisted that under the constitution no
State could lie deprived of its equal suffrage
10 tho Senate apd that Senators and RE pre-
sentati1es ought to- be at once, admitted into
the respective houses as presented by law and
the constitution. Tie was for rigid adher-
enee to the constitution: as it il; and remark ed
that, having sustained ourselves under it during
ntsrrible rebellion, lie. thought that the gov.
.erament could be. restored without:a resort to
anendpefts. He remarked. in general terms,
that # the organic law is to be changed at all
it should be at a time when all tie Stafes and
ALT people: :oan+p +pnrticipate in tho alteration
The scheme of The Committee, however ,far
short il may; fall of satisfying the >ext#slne
Radical .vievs. is designed to scare 10 the most
polite way all the great >snds Of the. party.
Tomske negro suffrage on issne at This: time
'wolJd be to divide the pa:ty, and lead Z TO its
Defeat and the recent political movements Il Ia
connec inht,, Psnnsylyanis. Ohio ,snd: dtIiet
States; hays:indueed asmajoEity of the, Com
-mttee to:agree upon, O. aproposition; which il Il
does NOT give; power Is tho Southern blacks,
viii at last take Il from the Southern whites,
SO far:as repreaehss Congress and sths
;Elestofsl College IS ;eoncernsd: lThs plan of
,theeC Comm ties j. a copprolhiss $upons which
they. Hope to rallys tha strspglh Of fthe party
and ,go. befpts the conntrY Eithssan ;unbfnken