Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-04-09
THE PASSAGE cF TIE GIVE REGEsza
BILL OVER THE PRESIDENTS gEgeS.

ClVll flights bill; and OF course IL WEI 81
through the House with q CELEBRITY, proper
toned to the anxiety which has held 1t aus-
pended and uncertain, sharpening the fears OF
its supporters in the doubts that for some time
existed whether it could be carried at all,
That it will he as potent however as party
machinery or a party triumph, as many Of its
advocates anticipate, we do not believe As
matters are working in the Southern States.
where things are adjusting themselves in de.
tiance of of1icious attempts TO prccipitate them
the patient will be cured despite the evils Of
either political quackery on the one hand. or
political neglect on the other; because after
the experience all down there have had of the
evils of war and revolution, they are going to
do what they can to insure quiet and security
for themselves, aside from the presence OF
national police of any kind, forced upon them
as conscrvators of peace.
Bearing in mind, further, that the President
is the one whose vocation it is to execute the
laws, and that in the scope given him by the
pardoning power he is the Judge Of whether
the law is oppressive, and SO can remit the
penalty where it IS extreme or detrimental to
the public good, and after all, the angry con.
testants for the passage of the Civil Rights
bill have not too much upon which to con
graduate themselves, and must wait patiently
to see the conclusion of all this, before they
can consider themselves as having won any
thing substantial in the way of party triumph
And if any doubt the force or soundness Of
Ii n IL
power exercised by the lamentcd predecessor
of the present Executive. in inauguratlng that
line of policy which in a single year, after the
most tremendous and relentless war on record
has caused the populations of both sections to-
lay down their arms, and TO bend over those
tasks in field or workshops, which more than
aught else, mean reconstruction and lasiina
peace. In this regard, whatever President
johnson has done, he has not come up to the
promised kindness and forgiveness Of Tic
great man he succeeded, as any and every
man in the country must believe. And since
he could not have pursued any policy what,
ever, either Of severity or kindness, which
would not in such critical times have angercd
and disappointed somebody, let him congratu-
late himself that he has achieved the good h.
has, retaining at the same time the respect
and regard of the people at large
That this is SO, looking TO the signs of the
times, who can doubt? fla savage opposition
has, been organized against him hv the poli.
ticians, the people as mass have not par
ticipated in the movement. After months OF
debate in Congress; Of angry denuncation Of
the President; Of rrognostics that the country
was going to destruction under rule which
promised US another rebellion, the people have
not raised their heads from the task of recon.
struction 10 ''see itjN and the fiery orators
have been obliged to beat the air in vain, as
the country has been steadily advancing to
better condition in the interests Of peace
Now remembering thai the American peop e.
do not lack either di cernment or resolution
to protect themselves or their country against
threatened evils, must not all this mean d good
deal as comment on the political situation
Does gold 60 up or down on the strength of
g,oomy platitudes and prognostics from sam
uer, or bitter anathemas from Thaddeus
Stevens? We insist again, that the simple
facts in the case as against the endes. gabhIe
of professional takers, is conclusive of Tie
true situation; and the President doe, wisely.
when in the main, he holds on his way quietly
TO the paciicalion Of the country, doing what
his high Office permits him to do, 10 check The
designs Of demagogHes-in perpetGating party
rule.
And if he IA accused Of interested motive,
IN the policy he is pursuing, if his views OF
matters South are coored by q desire FIR
power, are not nis opponents open 10 the same
charge and in 4 greater degree? Is It reason
able to suppose that this or thai Brigadier O,
Colonel comfortably easconced as an officer
OF the Freedman Bureau in pleasant To-
ca1ity South, provided with an ambulance or
carriage at the Government expense, a petty
prince with his retainers about him, man
who all his life before had perhaps not even
Paddy "one-wheeled carriage at homes
1T reasonablc--we say-to expect that he Is
going to give testimony which will send him
back to quill driving on 4 counting house stool
would not his wishes, nine times in ten.
color his views Of what is needlul to recon
ruct the South? Naturally meeting cold or
angry looks as he takes his evening airing
amongst an i'm diversified people, surprised that
when he is supplied with abundant rations BY
the Government, people are not particularly
thankful to him as if he were the Qiver. can
he make allowance for the disgust his DISPLAY
engenders, and should his testimony weigh
heavily against the honest and earnest efforts
OF the Southern people themselves to mend
their condition? These are matters for .laa-
unanimous foes, for true Union men, for those
who sustained the Government in It's late des-
perate struggle without reference to party tri-
umphs to remember, and believing that the
people at large take this view of the case. we
tor one shall continue to advocate that policy.
which trusting the masses, gives promise of
good result. If the country is to have the
bayonets OF one portion turned upon the other
through long years TO come, aud this, too. a
popular Government, why, whatever may be
said of it, liberty is endangered freedom no
longer exists. And SO, although Congress may
prescribe penalties, The Constitution gives the
President the power to pardon, and the people
who have watched the spirit which animates
men of the Thad Stevens school may we'll re
joice that this is so.