The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-07

: SATURDAY, APRIL z, 1896. - -.
The Source Of Nh. stevens Power.
Harper's Weekly and the Nation
have recently commented upon tn,
mischieVous effects of Mr.. Stevens
leadership in the House of Represent.
atives. They agree with what the
Evening Post has often said, that hi
incorporate manner and intolerant
spirit, his vehement language, and tbs
. vindictive character of his favoritt
measures, seriously increase the diff
culties of reconstruction" and need
lessly cause disputes and divisions in
the party to which the people wisely
committed the task of resrranging what
the rebellion had deranged,
What then, it will be asked, if these
things are notoriously true, what are
the sources of Mr.. Stevenss power2 II
he is unfit to lead, why has he the lead
ership2 If his measures are unwise
and often calculated to defeat the verJ
ends which Congress and the country
have at heart, how is it that these
measures have the'sympathy of large
party in Congress, and the applause o.
a great mass of the people in the
North2
The answer is not difficult to find
The great mass of the Northern people
are determined that lawful liberty shall
be secured in all the States of the
Union, and to all the people, white and
black alike. Freedom OF speech, of the
press, freedom of movement free &C
cess 10 the courts, and impartial protec
ton to life, person and property-these
are what they want to see secured be
yOnd a peradyenture in the South, as
elsewhere.
1t is because the people are very ear.
nest in their desire for these things,
and very much determined to have
them; that every measure proposed in
Congress looking TO these ends has
their indulgent sympathy and consid
GRAFTON. No matter how extreme OF
ill-considered a proposition may be, il
its purpose is to ensure liberty over
the land, to establish peace and Justice
on firm footing everywhere, to secure
the rights of the blacks, who were our
friends during the war, the popular
heart sympathizes with the intention SO
strongly that it overlooks any faults
the measure may have The people do
not look closely into its merits; they
do not ask whether it is constitutional,
or economical; they do not study deep
ly its future bearings and results; they
ask chiefly: Will it do the work, will it
actually secure impartial liberty, will
it protect the freedmen against those
who would Cypress them, will IL secure
to every man the right to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness? And if
it promises to accomplish thai, they
are satisfied, because that is what they
want, and the mass of the people look
to ends more than to means. They hold
that It's the.dutylof their delegates and
servants TO shape wisely the means; it
is theirs to insist upon the end to be
secured.
Now, Mr.. Stevens has had the shrewd-
ness to perceive this, which the people
want; to put himself forward as the
loudest, the most Jealous exponent of
their will and therein, and in the
further fact that others have seemed
to be lukeWarm in their zeal, lies, we
conceive, the secret of his power. And
mischieVous as we believe him to be,
we doubt if his ascendency will be
broken until Congress and the people
receive from another source unmistaka-
BILE evidences of equal zeal and deter
mination to secure the ends they de-
mand, by other and wiser measures
When they do; when they are con-
WINGED that under another leader,
equally sincere and equally Jealous, a
more prudent and more effectual policy
is devised and will be carried out, thsy
will drop Mr.. Stevens For it is a mis-
take to think that he is otherwise pop
ular than as the most energetic sup
porter of equal rights. He is one of
the originators of tax system which
bears oppressively on almost every in
terest; he attempted TO fasten upon the
country q policy which would have left
as for a century the victims of an ire
deemable and worthless paper currency
and of starvation prices; !. if all the
measures which he has introduced in
Congress had become laws, we should
now, a. everybody knows, be ruined
nation; and if his present policy on all
subjects could prevail, our statute book
would be by turns the contempt and
the horror of intelligent men.
Mr.. Stevens, then, is not a strong man,
except as he is permitted to be the
leading and most Jealous exponent of
what he knows to DO the popular will
on this one question. And here we
wish to say few respectful words to
the President, who ought to have and
might have just the place of leader
which Mr.. Stevens has snatched from
him. We fear that he forgets some
times the anxiety of the people to get
this thing done on which their hearts
are set When he vetoed the Freed
mems Bureau bill the nation agreed
with him-but at the same time it was
deeply disappointed that he did not
suggest some other measure to take its
place-to do, in wiser way, what that
intended. Next came up the Civil
Rights bill; that had the approval OF
the mass of the people, who saw in it,
aside from its own merits, even a proof
of the Presidents wisdom in Vetoing
the Freedmen's Bureau bill For, said
men, the Civil Rights bill will accom-
plish all that is necessary and in bet
ter way.
But the President vetoed also the
Civil Rights bill; and again the people,
who look TO him with great anxiety,
were made uncomfortable by the fact
that he proposed nothing in It's place.
The people are practical to the last
degree. They want certain thing
done; and they see that a succession OF
vetoes accomplishes nothing. They
are ready to support Mr.. johnson as
their leader; but they demand, very
properly, that he shall lead somewhere.
Let him propose something, they say;
and they turn to the Constitution and
read. "He shall from time to time give
To the Congress information of the
: state of the Union, and recommend TO
, their consideration such measures Gs
he shall Judge necessary and expe-
. dent
let him do this He is too old and
too shrewd a politician not to know
,bst If a man would lead he must
move. snd that the veto power, while
il Is important in many respects, is
worthless in shaping the policy OF q
country. unless its exercise Is followed
at once bv a proposition for another
course. We urge him respectfully to
bear those things in mind, and above
all not not TO forget that the loyal
American people demand, before ey-
erything else, to see made secure Eher
ever our flag flies, the equal rights Of
sl men before the laW.-Aa0 Iork
Post
-, We find this in an exchange: u
5 once met a man who made nerYe-and-
e bone-all-healing salve he was an en-
ierprising kind of a fellow, so he
thought he would experiment with it
He first cut of his dogs tail, and ap
Piled some TO the stunp-a new tai
/ -. - s,,,r,adiafalv He e.. -,