New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-23
noEGREss.

To those who are disposed 10 1oIloW TO
lust conclusion the deductions of logic ther
can be no palmer proposition than that tn
BODY which recently sat as the Congress c
the United States was not, in reality, con
stifutional body. The time has probably nc
yet arrived when the people Of the eountr
are willing to form dispassionate opinion 0,
question Of such moment, but we think onl
few years viii have elapsed when the..impal
tial Judgment of the whole country will pro
nounce its procee aings altogether revolution
airy, and in direct opposition to the cIearl,
established principles of the Constitution
The proceedings Of this body have recently
been reviewed with great ability in speed
delivered by the Hon. S. S. Cox in New York
His remarks are the more worthy Of attention
on account Of the antecedents Of the speaker
who was formerly member Of Congress from
Ohio, and fully sympathized with the wal
spirit Of the North in its crusade against tht
late Confederation. But like all Just minded
statesmen who regard the general interests O
the country as paramount to all feelings o
individual revenge and personal malignity, h,
is unwilling, now that the war has closed, tt
pursue vindictive policy. which viii perpet-
nate il-feeling and endanger the permanency
of the Union. In alluding to the composition
of the recent body Of men styling themselves
the Congress, Mr. Cox says
By the law OF the 4th Of
March, 1862, It was declared that after the I'D Of
March, 1868, the number Of members Of the
House of Representatives should be 24l.'' Could
this law, passed since the war be carried out after
peace came Why not! It was as much a
law as that which gave to the clerk Of the House
the right to ignore the States in making up the
roll. Itremained unrepealed The al members
never all took their seats. Only fraction Sc
cured them. Hence it is called rump. Tomake
up this number OF al {mark the enumeration y
Virginia was allowed 8; Tennessee, 8; Georgia,
2 North Carolina, z South Carolina, A; Ar
kansas, 8; Louisiana, 5; Mississippi 5; Alabama
g; Florida, / and Texas, a Here were SIS
members ready to ait in the federal legislature.
They were anxious to serve the interests of great
peoples to be affected by its legislation. Two
Senators were ready, or soon would have BEEN to
represent each of these eleven States They
were not excluded for disloyalty; for no inquiry
ton.
body thus composed could not fill the
constitutional requirement which prescribed
that no State shall, without its own consent
be deprived Of its equal representation in the
Senate. Its organization was equally in. vio-
lation Of the principle Of representation pre-
scribed for the House of Representatives.
The action of the majority of Congress being
thus in direct contravention TO the Consti- |
tuition as well as to an existing law made in
pursuance of the Constitution was simply
revolutionary. They placed themselves as a
body Of usurpers above the requirements of
the fundamental law, disregarded their obi
cations to the republic and launched forth in
a career Of oppressive legislation almost
without parallel IN history.
Mr.. Cox describes very graphically some of
the principal actors in thisremarkable drama:
Theparty ascendant, were led III tile Senate by
men Of the French revolutionary type, like Robes
pierre, the incompatible, and Camille DesmouIins,
tns s st1sorney general OF the lamp post They
we're full OF tine theories which they illustrated in
bloody Instructions" They lacked the conrage
q Marat, Danton and Miraheau, and the purity Of
me s5lrondist chiefs. Sumner, Fessenden and
Stevens Boutwell, Bingham, Washburne. Wilson. ]
Dawes, Goltax, and Wentworth, furnish SAMPLES |
o. the unconscionable, vindictiYe incongrong. {
pletIsde parllamentarians, who, without needing
W. warnings q history the sanctions Of law or I
Lne interests OF Union, pursued their course for
party success, regardless of their countrys needs
But the ruling spirit of these Jacobins was q
thaddeus Stevens He is man of iron will, strong
teAFAotoArs uutdllHB sdTGAA, and FII1dlctiYe feel-
ng, HIS familiar speeches consist in references g
2 the abodes Of the damned, as il familiar with 9
helr ruler. he has been likened to that prince. 2
~ he resembles not the Satan of Milton, whose Y
aoilae courage We respect and whose intellect Y
re admire. Nor the MephistopheIes of Goethe 3
yhose insidons DISCUSSES and tempting lures led Il
herman scholars like Faust and lovely GretcbenS y
lke Margaret to ruin Rather be resembles fhe 1o
,eVl q Dante, who BIS represented as a three II
aceu devil: one red with anger. one pale with th
nVY, end the third black with vengeance havinr N
hree mouths Bl
ana q sveiy month his teeth sinner clamped VI
iter which, be swallowed his colleagues in dia. -
oAc gee. This was the genius who presided ~
xer tne Juqta q Fifteen, and gave impression to ar
e mlsdeeds Of The Thirty ninth Congress To-
The eloquent speaker makes also a brief SCI
urinary Of the works Of evil accomplished,
7 sought to be accomplished by this strange ve,
ssemblage Of evil spirits under the lead Of j,
" Stevens & From the 4th of December to cle
ne last OF July, there have been offered BY b
AZ radicals, constitutional amendments. NJ
orty-nye bulls and resolutions for keepina br
lp disunion, seventy three bills ana resoIu. ~
ions e. to the negro exclusively, forty-nine. No
Let Us hope when Mr.. Stevens reeounts IL q
rs constituents, as Satan did after ayino ac- ;t
the fall Of man, the deeds which =,
le wrought out during his last visit to Tie 3,
that his reception by his people viii n
'e IN one respect like that which greeted the -
ccount Of the first sinner who when IL i,
istened for the sounds of grateful applause 10 II
rect his attentive ear was astounded 81 hear 6 {,
ng hiss. j j
A universal hiss.
The sign Of public acornls oy