The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-28

McClernand, indeed, proposed a scheme
simpler even than that of Executive re-
cognition, by which the Southern SEN
ators and Representatives might effect
lNdgment in Congress. They should,
according TO him, have gone to WASH
lngton, entered the halls of legislation,
ana proceeded to occupy their seats,
| 'peaceably if they could, forcibly If
they must" but the record of General
McClernand as military man was not
such as to give to his advice on a ques-
tlon OF carrying positions by assault a
| nigh degree of authority, and, there be.
! ing some natural hesitation in follow
ing his counsel, the golden opportunity
was lost. Mr.. Montgomery Blair, who
processes his willingness to act with
any men, "rebels or any one else," to
put down the radicals, is never weary
| OF talking to conservative conventions
of "two Presidents and two Con-
! gresses." There can be no doubt that
the project of coup d'etdt has become
dangerously familiar to the "conserva-
| tive" mind, and that the eminent legal
gentlemen of the North who are pub
fishing opinions affirming the right of
the excluded Southern Representatives
to their seats are playing into the hands
OF the desperate gang of unscrupulOus
politicians who are determined to have
the right established by force. 1t is
computed that the gain, in the ap-
proaching elections, of twenty-five dis
ttricts now represented by Union Repub-
llcanS Will give the Johnson party, in the
next Congress, majority OF the House
of Representatives, should the Southern
delegation be counted; and it Is pro-
posed that the Johnson members legally
entitled to seats should combine with
the Southern pretenders to seats, organ
iZe as the House of Representatives of
tho llnltnn Stntng and nnn1Ty 70
President for recognition. Should the
President comply, he would be i'm
peached by an unrecogniZed House be-
fore an "incomplete" Senate, and, if|
convicted, would deny the validity of
the proceedings. The result would be
civil war, in which the name of the
Federal Government would be on the
side of the revOlutionists. Such is the
programme which is freely discussed
by parsisans of the President, consider
ed to be high in his favor; and the
scheme, it is Oontended, is the logical
result of the position he has assumed
as to the rights of the excluded Statos
to representation. II is certain that the
present Congress is as much the Con-
gress of the United States as he is the
President of the United States; but it is
we'll known that he considers himself
to represent the whole country, while
he thinks that Congress only represents
portion of it; and he has in his char
acter just the combination of qualities,
and is placed in just those anomalous
circumstances, which lead men to the
commission of great political crimes.
The mere hint of the possibility of his
attempting coup d'etGt is received by
some Republicans with a look of in
credulous surprise; yet what has his
Administration been to such persons
but succession of surprises?
But whatever view may be taken of
the Presidents designs, there can be no
doubt that the safety, peace, interest
and honor of the country depend on the
success of the Union Republicans in the
approaching elections. The loyal ma
ton must see to it that the Fortieth
Congress shall be as competent to over
ride Executive vetoes as the Thirty
Ninth, and be equally removed from
the peril of being expelled for one more
in harmony with Executive ideas. The
same earneStnesS, energy, patriotism
and intelligence which gave success to
the war must now be exerted to reap its
fruits and prevent its recurrence. The
only danger is that in some representa-
tive districts the people may be swim
died by plausibilities and respectable
ties; for when, in political contests, any
villainy is contemplated, there are al
ways found some eminently respectable
men, with Il fixed capital of certain en-
inently conservative phrases, inno-
Gently ready to furnish the wolves of
politics with abundant supplies of
sleeps clothing. These dignitied dupes
are more than usually active at the
present time; and the gravity of their
speech is as edifying as its emptiness.
Immersed in words, and with no clear
perception OF things, they mistake con-
spiracy for conservatism. Their pet
horror is the term "radical;" their ideal
OfhorOic patriotism, the spectacle of Il
great natton which allows itself to be
ruined with decOrum, and dies rather
than commit tho slightest breach of
bility to facts and blindness
to the tendency of events, they
call wisdom and moderation
Behind these political dummies are the
real forces Of the Johnson party, men
of insOlent spirit, resolute will, embit-
tered temper and INSCRIPTIONS pur-
pose, who clearly know what they are
after, and will hesitate at no "informal-
ity" in the attempt to obtain it. To
give these persons political power will
be to surrender the results Of the war
by placing the Government practically
i'll the hands of those against whom the
war was waged. No smooth words
about "the equality of the States" "the
necessity of fCOnciliation, !" "the wicked
ness of sectional conflicts" will alter
the fact that, in refusing to support
Congress, the people would set re-
"SAN OA SAStAShSlJ anu JluCG IL DOunlY
on treason. "The South" saws MI.
Hill, of Georgia, in a letter favoring the
Philadelphia Convention, "sought to
save the Constitution out of the Union
She failed. Let her now bring her di-
minished and shattered, but united and
earnest, counsels and energies to save
the Constitution in the Union. The
sort of Constitution the South sought to
save by warning against the Govern
ment Is the Constitution which she now
proposes to save by administering it'll"
Is this the tone of pardoned and peni-
tent treason? Is this the spirit to build
up "National Union party?" No;
but it is the tone and spirit now fash
ionable in the defeated rebel States, and
will not be changed until the autumn
elections shall have proved that they
have as little to expect from the next
Congress as from the present, and that
they must give security for their fu-
ture conduct before they can be re-
lieved from the penalties incurred by
their past.
An Explanation by Ensby.