The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-04
The Late Session of Congress.

From tie Nation.
The Thirty-ninth Congress OF the United States
has closed its first session, having submitted
its policy TO the country, after long consldera-
tion and debate. By its fruits it will be judged;
and the judgment to be passed upon it is the
main question at issue in the approaching
political campaign.
1t is comparatively easy to 'lay judgment to
the line and righteousness to the plumme" in
criticizng the actions of others. We have natu-
rally given much thought to the state of the
couutry, and arrived at very definite conclusions
as to the policy which it would be be best tor
the nation to adopt. 1t costs little trouble to
compare the action of Congress with the course
thus marked out for 1t; to praise 1t where 1t has
followed that course, and to condemn 1t where
iT has failed to do so. But when our criticism
was complete, its value would be neutraIzed Dy
hundreds of contemporaneous critics, all equally
sincere and equally i'll earnest, and no two OF
them exactly agreeing With us. Congress Is
body OF 240 persons, 100 OF whom have been
compelled to agree upon policy. Gould any
of its critics select l60 intelligent, active, we'll
known citizens, from as many different districts,
who would agree with each otner, and with the
person selecting them, upon every question
pertaining to reconstruction? We do not believe
tnat Mir. Phillips on the one side, or Mr.. John-
son on the other, could succeed in procuring an
honestly unanimous body OF l6O men, II either OF
them were entrusted with the nomination or
Congress to-day. Certainly we are not so pre-.
sumptuous as TO think that we could do better.
While, therefore, we regard It as essential that
thoughtful men everywhere should freely eX-
pIess their concurrence with, or dissent from,
the conclusions OF Congress, so that 1t may be
known how nearly they represent the judgment
OF the people, 1t seems to us that IN deciding
whether CONGRESS should be approved or con-
demned, the most important considerations are
whether as a body, it has fairly represented the
ovance OF public sentiment in the direction OF
Justice, whether it has acted up to its own con-
| & A.,k.- IRnkA has Vuhn IN
Judged from its own standpoint, and in view of
all the circumstances, done the best that 1t
could for the public welfare.
The new Congress assembled last December
under circumstances of peculiar difficulty.
large majority OF its members we're fully satls-
| fed that the Presidents policy could not safely
be carried out, and were convinced OF the neces-
sity OF securing some extension Of the suffrage
To the colored race. They were greatly strength
ened by the signal victories o their party at the
! fall elections which in several important states
| were more decisive than had been gained since
| 1861. But they were embarrassed by the atu-
| lude of the President, who quietly assumed that
| Congress had no voice In the matter OF recon
| stTucton by the unqualified endorsement OF his
action by the Union party conventions IN seYe-
raj States, and by the opposition in Connecticut,
| Wisconsin, and Minnesota TO an extension OF the
| right OF suffrage IN those States 1t is true, and
il was well known at tie time, that the sanction
given by the Union party 70 Mr.. Johnson's
| plans was given under the belief that they were
| mere experiments to be submitted to the hnal
| decision OF Congress, and that the maiorites
| against equal suffrage were not q perfectly
lair expression of the popular sentiment.
| But IL may be as truly said OF legisla-
lures as it has been of juries, that when a
| bare fact is set up against plausible eXplana-
| tion, ninety'nine times out of hundred they
will Judge by the simple fact rather than by any
adverse explanation, however logically COM
plete it may be. Moreover, the explanation was
one which, in the light of subsequent events,
gave little satisfaction. The people had, 1t was
said, only voted against equal suffrage in order
TO avoid making an issue with the President.
AS it became every day clearer that the Presi-
dent was more opposed to equal suffrage than
had been supposed before these elections the
probability of a change in the vote diminished.
The members from Indiana and Southern Illinois
we'll knew that their constituents had barely
overcome their prejudices sufficiently to tolerate
even the residence of negroes among them. and
that any greater hberality would be highly re
| pulsive to them. At the very outset, therefore,
CONGRESS hesitated TO carry out the policy which
at heart it believed TO be the wisest, from the
fear that it would not be sustained by the people
1t was evident, from very early day, that II
would be useless to pass any measure of recon
struction by less than twothirds vote. This
made il necessary to feel the way very carefully
and for this purpose the first act OF the House
. of Represent atiVes was to provide for a ioint
committee of the two Houses whose special
!. duty 1t should be to investigate the whole sub
1 | iecf. ard prepare general plan OF reorganiza
Q ton. This course was 80 obviously wise anC
:. coniormable to precedent--so far as there coulC
D be precedents for an occasion OF such import
. ance-that it commanded the unanimous sup
7 port OF the Union members, with one or twt
! exceptions from Southern States IL was plan