Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1866-05-31
Again

And still further that this proclamation
is intended to present the people of the States
wherein the national authority has been sus-
D. ended and loyal State governments have
be, N subverted mode mot the model in and
by which the national and loyal State gov
ernl lcnts may be re-established within said
STATE :, or any of them : and while the mode
prcscri bed is the best the Executive can sug-
gest wi tn his present impressions, it must not
be unde. stood that no other possible mode
would be acceptable"
From these extracts it will be seen
that Mr.. lincoln entertained no pur-
pose of inangurating presidential
policy" and examining it down the
tbroats OF the Congress m0ieRs rOlens,
but, on the contrary, averred as his
deliberate Judgment and honest senti'
ment (he never had any other) that
the right. the power and prerogative
of admitting members sent to Con-
gress from any State rest ed exclusive
ly with Congress, and not to any ex-
tent with the executive, and that While
he was compelled to present /" .amode, f"
being the best that he could Suggest
at the time, ait must not be u.1der-
stood that no other possible mode
would be accepted"
This, Mr.. Speaker, is not the lam
guage of an imperious dictator, but
the exhibition of an honest effort made
by the modest Executive and wise
statesman to inaugurate aud set on
foot such incipient or inchoate meas
ures as might ultimately lead to the
restoration of distracted country. |
defy all his bitter enemies, North and
South, who now have the presumption
aud mendacity to be the pretended
supporters of any alleged policy Of
Mr.. Lincoln, to produce a single line
or paragraph of his, spoken or writ
ten, that will warrant the belief or as
sertion that the late President ever
entertained in the remotest degree any
purpose to admit disloyal men to
seats in the Congress of the United
States, as is now claimed by the sup
porters of this scheme and the preten-
ded, supporters Of the present Presi-
dent. ...
In the last speech Mr.. Lincoln ever
made on earth, and as his last will and
testament to a disordered country, he
said, speaking Of his acts as the Elk.
ecutive: ....-.
SIN this have done Just SO much and no
more than the public knows. In the annual
message of December, 1863 and accompanying
proclamation, presented plan OF recon-
struction las the phrase goes which promis-
ed if adopted, should be acceptable to and
sustained by the executive government of the
nation. distinctly stated that this was not
the only plan which might possibly be accept-
able, aud also distinctly protested that the
Executive claimed no right to say when or
whether members should be admitted to seats
i'm Congress from such States. This plan was,
i'm advance, submitted to the then Cabinet
and distinctly approved by every member of
it. One of them suggested Q - that
l should omit the protest against my own pow
er in regard to the admission of members OF
Congress"
| take this from President Lincoln's
speech after the fall of Richmond,
April IL, 1865, three days before he
was assassinated. In his proclama-
ton of May 80, 1865, President John
son fails to protest against his pow
er in regard to the admission of MEM
bers of Congress, and the fair infer.
ence is that the same member of the
Cabinet who tried to induce Mr. Lin
coin to omit the protest against his
power, &c, prevailed with Mr.. John
son. At any rate that important pro
test against the Legislative power o.