The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-21
Johnson,s Reputation OF Lincoln.


From the Tribune. ID ...a.ttA ." y
The strongest point which Mr.. johnson could
make-the point which he has labored most to
make--is, that in his attempt to force Congress
TO admit Southern representatives, he is true to
the policy of Abraham Lincoln. Never was a
claim more baseess. Yet in all his speeches
Mr.. johnson has repeated it, and, of late, with
an irritation which betrays sense of weak
ness Reverdy johnson, in his address to the
President ingeniously attempts to gain from the
love of the people for Mr.. Lincoln's popularity
for his successor, and assures Mr. johnson, that
s'beng upon the same ticket with that much
uamented public servant, whose foul assassna-
tion touched the heart of the civilized world
with grief and horror, you would have been
false to obvious duty II you had not endeavored
to carry out the same policy.n All the Copper
coins policy while he lived, now praise Mr..
johnson for adopting il. Thus we may see how
highly the mantle of Elijah is valued-but MIR.
johnson has cloak of his own. and the true gar
ment has fallen upon Congress. Upon the ques-
ton of his fulflment of the purposes of Mr..
Lincoln's administration the Union party might
safely appeal to the people, and stand or fall by
that alone.
1t would be easier to define what is not than
what is the peculiar policy which MIR. Johnson
and MIR. Seward have invented and submitted to
the South for adoption; yet there are few
plain principles which underlie it. 1t is based
upon the idea that no legislation of Congress is
required to restore the Rebel States their for
feited privileges; it assumes that Congress can
demand of them no conditions whatever, but is
bound TO admit them on demand to its halls.
State on this theory, may fight for years against
the Union, and, throwing down its arms, at
once take part in the government Or, If there
be any preparation of measures or time re-
quired, the President may alone determine the
durar1on of the penanCe and the nature of the
purgatives. His policy in short has for its
central idea the unlimited efficacy of Presi-
dental amnesty: those whom he has pardoned
other men have no right to question.
This is Mr.. Johnson's policy. That OF Mr..
Lincoln is absolutely antipodal. 1t is well
known and the proof is now in the possession
of the Government, that Mr.. Lincoln, near the
close of the war, declared that he had no power
whatever over the reconstruction of the Union
shat belonged to Congress. His messages to
Congress repeat it. His message of December
1864, was specially intended to assure the
Southern people of the kindness they would
receive upon their submission; yet he explicitly
limited the extent OF the mercy they could re-
Ceive from him. "Some certain and other pos
Gible questions are, and would be, beyond the
Executive power to adjust; as, for instance, the
admission of members OF Congress, and what
ever might require the appropriation of money.
The Executive power itself would be greatly di-
minished by the cessation of actual war. Par
dons and remissions offorfeitures, howver, would
still be within Executive control" This was
we'll understood North and South. No lam
guage could be palmer than this, which, in
promising Executive clemency limited 1t to in
dividuals, and expressly disclaimed the power
10 extend IL so far as to restore States to their
old relations. jefferson Davis, in his message
of March, 1865, faithfully repeated these OPT
mons. "It will further be remembered that Mr..
Lincoln declared that the only terms on which
hostilities could cease were those stated in his
message of December last, in which we were
informed that, in the event Of our penitent sub
mission, he would temper justice with mercy,
and that the question whether we would be
governed as dependent territories, or permitted
TO have representation in their Congress, was
one in which he could promise nothing, but
which would be decided by their Congress, after
our submission had been accepted" .'
1t is useless to say more. When it is proved
admission of representatives from the Rebel
States was for Congress solely to decide, 1t is
the extreme of e1rontery to claim that bis policy
is carried out by Mr.. Johnson, who atfirms that
Congress is without any jurisdiction in the
matter. ..'.H.