North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1866-08-08
A radicals Opinion OF the Rump Congress.


leaders had only to show that they COM
pretended and valued the sound princi-
Piles of constitutional liberty, and they
might have ruled for years to come. LII
they lose the support of the country, that
is their own fault 1t was their duty and
poicv to show that if in war they knew
how to use with eff ct the enormous power
of the central government, in Ueace they
were equally ready to re-establish as quick
y as possible that local self-government on
which, as the balan ce-wbeel in our polite
al system, our true and safe progress in
liberty depends. AS the party in power,
during the war they had used force to an
unlimited extent; it was the more neccs-
sary that on the restoration OF peace they
should show a readiness to return at once
to strict constitutional forms, practices and
limitations.
But the policy imposed upon the party
by those men who unhappily have seized
the leadership Of it has been just the con-
trary of this Their whole political theory
and practice tend dangerously towards a
consolidation of all power and authority in
the hands of the central government
They have aimed to leave nothing to the
States, nothing to that local government,
which is our greatest safeguard against
despot.sm. They will make of the Feder-
al government, if they have their way, as
overshadowing and all devonring a monster
as the government of Napoleon is in
France. They proceed upon the princi-
pie that Congress is to legislate upon all
matters whatever; is to interfere in all the
relations of society and life, and to estab
lish rules and laws for every event under
heaven.
Not only do we see useless and absurd
Bureau of Agriculture established, at an
expense of hundreds Of thousands of dol
lars per annum, to prepare reports which
are published three years after date, and
which, when they are fresh have not half
the value cf a good agricultural paper !;
and to distribute seeds to farmers who are
quite intelligent enough to buy them; bu-
reaus of education, of mining, of insurance,
of statistics, are proposed and urged. Thus
patronage is increased. office holders grow
more numerous, the nation is more and
more heavily taxed to support crowds OF
hungry idlers-the political agents of
those who appoint them, corrupting the
morals Of the nation and robhing its in
| dustry. This is not all. In pursuance
of the same false and perlous theory of
consolidation. these men SEEK to make the
general government .he patron and sup
porter of all manner of private enterprise
and schemes. Not only are steamship
| lines and other private undertakings SUBJ
sidizrd not only are certain branches of
manufacture selected as the object Of spe-
clal favoriti-m at the expense of the gener-
al public, and to the impoverishmeLt of
the Treasury the evil extends much fur
ther. If mining company need capital,
| Congress at once makes it a grant of pub
lie lands; if another set of spectators ap-
peal for land to plant trees-which Mr..
Bayard Taylor informs the Tribune natur.
does much better Congress hastens to do
their bidding.
Nor should we wonder, foi the men who
aim to make the Freedman's Bureau a
permanent institution 90 upon the princl-
ple that the office of the general govern
ment is not merely to do justice. but to
feed the poor. to cothe the ragged, to shell
ter the houseless, provide employment for
the unemployed to tell the people what
to buy and where to sell, what to make
and how to spend-in short, to surround
their lives on all sides with its fostering"
arms, and by making them helpless pre-
pare them to become the victims of des,
potism. How perilous snch policy is
we may see by reviewing the huge steps
already taken on this downward road
The President has done his utmost to
check the attempts of Congress to concen-
trate arc cnntralize all power in Washing
ton. With all his mistakes in other re-
spects, he has shown a true and statesman
| like comprehension of this danger; he
made haste to put ont of his own hands all
extraordinary power and patronage grow
| ing ont of the war; he has by his vetoes
| prevented the consummation of some most
mischievous measures. But the central
izers have not needed his warnings and
it is high time for the country to awake to
the dangers of their course. Already we
see this false policy bearing fruit.
Ifa citizen now a-days suffers wrong he
no longer appeals to the laws-he turns to
the central government to protect lin. The
Civil Right Act has been several months
in force, but instead of requiring those who
need it to set the courts in motion. Con-
gress continues the Freedman's Bureau in
operation another year. Thus, bv steps
which are no less imperceptible, the citizens
are trained to nndervalue and disregard the
laws. and to cast all the responsibilities OF
life from their own shoulders upon that of
the central government. The road leads
as surely to ruin as the one called 'seces-
sion," which has frightened so many incon-
siderate people from the safe middle path.
We have no fear but that the country will
see one escape one danger as we'll as it did
the other. But in doing so it will drop the
men who are leading it into unsafe paths.
If the Republican party chooses to 60 with