Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-03-02
8eofofo enquirer.
BEDF0RD. PA., FRIDAY MlReH :. Isse.
THE VETO.

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Bureau Bill has been severely commented on
by almost the entire Union press, and quite
as unanimously praised by the organs of the
rebels and copperheads. That the President
has the right to veto any bill is not to be de-
MED, bus that he should veto this one, the
necessity feg which was foreshadowed N his
message, and the authority for which was au-
thorized in the second section Of the amend
ment abolishing slavery, is probably not 50
psueh matter ofsurprise as regret. It is not
d matter of surprise, because he has been for
some time courting the favor Of those who
have never been accused of friendship for the
Union, and making intimate friends Of North
ern men, who, one short year ago, eoaId find
no epithet foul aad vile enough to express
their hatred Of hin, and Of Southerners who
still later would have esteemed the power to
take his life their highest privilege. Ii is al
matter Of regret that he. who short time ago,
wished traitors punished and treason made
odious, should now, Tyler-like, betray his
friends and his country, and be foremost in
casting the brand OF discord into the Union
ranks and giving encouragement to treason
and traitors. 1t is nagnanimous to forgive
our fallen and conquered foes, bat neither
magnanimous nor patriotic to betray ones
friends, and Joining hands with the enemies of
one country 20 endeayor to exalt them to
power. The manner more than the words Of
the message, is indicative of the spirit in
which it was made. The objection to placing
toe much power and patronage in the hands of
the President IS plausible one, but comes |
with bad grace from one who is daily exer- |
cising more extensive and arbitrary power
than the bill proposes to confer, and who has
already undertaken to dictate to Congress, it !
really looks more like an unwillingness to b /
restricted by law in the exercise of his arbi |
trary power, than like the genuine modesty |
that deprecates the assumption of great res
possibilities. 1t is not the spirit of our in |
stitutions to place arbitrary power or extra
ordinary patronage In the hands of any one |
man. A stern necessity in the hour of ma
tional peril, alone, justified some Of the acts
of President Lincoln. The time of instant i
and imminent peril is past, and the hour for
calm deliberation has come, in which time /
and opportunity are given for the careful con-
sideration of every step taken in the direc-
ton of reconstruction. The Presidents dis
cussion of the bin, so lacks the candor con
sistent with a desire to promote harmony,
that to the most careless perusal studied eff
fort to misrepresent plainly appears. 1t is
painfully evident throughout that the Presi-
dents leading idea is, that he, and not Con-
gress, is the representative of the people and
particularly of the rebels, who are excluded
from Congress, and that Congress ought TO
follow his dictation. He very well knew
that instead of creating new offices and new
patronage, it was only the modification of the
bill at present in operation, the necessity for
which, not only Gems, Howard and Shurz,
but also Gen. Grant, have acknowledged. |
He knew that it did not propose to feed and
care for the whole four millions of Freedmen /
nor for the hundredth part of them; he knew
that nearly as many whites as blacks were
relieved and provided for by IT, Hel
knew that it did not propose to establish per-
manent eleemosynary institutions, but only |
to lelieye destitution, until employment and a /
means Of subsistence could be provided for
both white and black and until regular gov
ernment, could be established..to protect them
from the persecution of the rebel soldiery.
He knew that the bill was made like other acts
of Congress providing for transient circum-
stances, and could and would be repealed |
whenever it could be dispensed with. Yet
he ignores all these facts and assumes the con-
trary. He knew that, even with the present
bill in operation, thousands of loyal men,
white and black, we're being daily persecuted
and murdered at the South. He also knew /
that the present bill would expire in May next,
and unless it was continued In its present shape
or In the proposed modified form, at that time, |
the loyal men, both white and black, would be |
left to the tender mercies of the same rebel /
soldiery, who starved and murdered Union /
prisoners by thousands, yet he has neither |
suggested the modification of the new nor the |
continuation of the old, making it only too evi-
dent that he would leave loyal men at the /
South without any protection whatever.
These are the indubitable evidences Of his
deliberate and determined opposition to the
views of the people as made known through /
more than two thirds of their representatives.
1t is thus that an accidental President AFRO
gates for himself the privilege of frustrating |
the efforts ofthe only loyal party in existence,
and strikes hands with rebels and traitors In |
another part of our paper win be found the
message, with an abstract of Senator Trum-
bull sable review of it. We commend both to /
the careful perusal of our readers. Though /
we have spoken thus plainly of the veto, we
can hardly conceive it possible that the Presi-
dent has deliberately determined to go over
to the rebels, who have heaped upon him eve
ry possible insult and cruelty persecuted him
self and family. We are willing and desirous
to commend all his acts that we can consist
emily with our sense of duty, but in the future
as IN the past, must condemn whatever seems
to us amiss.
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