Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-12-07
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

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under the guidance Of madness an,
meanness. The document is well writ
ten, clearly setting forth the consti
tutional rights Of the oppressed State
and earnestly recommending the res
toration Of those rights. Upon tn
subject Of constitutional amendment.
it opposes all that are not submitted
in accordance with the provisions o
constitution-except the one forcet
upon the South, at the close of tn,
war, with the President s. reoommen
dation and approval.
The exhibit of the finances of tn,
government is somewhat full, ant
inspires faint hope that the heav,
taxation, now borne by the people
may be lightened without detrimen
to the public welfare.
Of our foreign relations, nothing
is said that was not already known
The French have not yet retired from
Mexico, but have been notified tina,
they must do 50. The mission Of
Sherman is to watch and report, and
that Of Campbell is to reside near the
Mexican Republic, if he can find it
and there represent the supposed Re.
public Of the United States. The
claims against Great Britain, growing
out of the depredations committed
by the Alabama, are being settled
with all the dispatch of the "circum
locution Office" and the details are
the business of Congress. The Pres
i1ent successfully defends his course,
in relation to the invasion of Canada
by the Fenians, and throws the re-
sponsibility, for his action, upon the
law, and upon Congress the response
bility for the continuance or repeal Of
that law.
At the time when the government
was administered in conformity with
the constitution, and by the light Of
experience, wisdom and patriotism,
the message would have been consid-
cred good State paper. But under
existing circumstances, we, of the
South, will search it, in vain, for any
thing tending to hasten restoration,
or to throw around US any additional
security against Radical usurpation
and oppression. The President now
stands where he stood a year ago, but
since his policy did not then check
the progress of Congress towards the
ABSORPTION of all the powers of the
government, and the destruction of
the constitution, it is folly to expect
that the same passive policy will af-
ford US either protection, or grounds
upon which to build hope Of relief.
The President is content to stand up
on the constitution, and, doubtless,
fatters himself that, in so doing, he
discharges his whole duty to the
whole country. But he forgets that
the Radicals have passed over, and
around that instrument, leaving it and
him far out of sight. If it be no
part of his duty to see that the con-
stitution is not violated, then his pol.
icy may be prudent, if not wise; but
if it be his duty, as his oath seems
to imply, to defend and preserve the
nothing is more clear
than that he has failed to dischrge it.
Again and again has he declared the
present Congress to be an unconsti-
tutional body. If it be true, he has
no right to recognize it as Congress,
and it is his sworn duty not to en-
force any Of its enactments-they
being null and void, as the illegal
acts Of an unconstitutional body.
The inference from these, his own,
premises, is unanswerable, yet he is
quiescent whilst Congress is subvert-
ing the government. To stand qui-
city by the constitution, and see it
violated, without an effort to stay the
hands of the usurpers, is about as
praiseworthy as the conduct of the
captain who, standing firmly upon
deck, without an effort to save ship,
or crew, calls upon the latter to bear
witness that he stands bravely amid
the the wreck which he might easily
have averted. Revolution, in the
South, was put down by force; rev.
olution, in the North, is resisted with
a tattered constitution, and the riot
act.
Elk Gov. MAGRArH, of South Car
olina, and ex-Postmaster Reagan, of