New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-02-26
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THE PRESIDENT AND THE RADICALS

cal challenge. If hisveto messase "" - war
n stevens and Sumner as aeciai asioN =, Az
~ president does not hesitate 70 acceps ~
.osnons;hilities which the state OF war ,,npe
NJ hraver. no bolder speech was ever u',e.eu -
"a, country than that which he oehVe,eo " WIG
tbopsands who had Assembled 70 p.oo'',Al .n',t
s,,,,nort Of his policy and their commences IN ms
,,at,sot;sm. III distinctly naming stevens anu
e,,,,,er and Phillips as the enemies, not only OF
his administration, but of the government ana 'ns
constitution, he included in that acousanon -
hostility to the Union, the whole of the party
4 conspiring to prevent reunion Of tne sss. -
and to perpetuate its own supremacy =
he most unparalleled usurpations.
In his veto message the Presluen ,,.asts
clearly the causes which compeneu mn W s1pai
6nally from the Organisation ~ the
,;can marty. BY an able ana ingenious pio0esS :.
reasoning he connected me general poh,y VI .n"'
deyeioped in Congress, with his obJec'
.;ons 70 the particular measure under discussion.
noAs not only that the measure was in itself
Questionable, that it assumed powers nowhere
Granted to Congress by the Consttuuon' taas
Il would operate disastrousy upon the indus.fiai
interests Of the country, and prove curse ratnef
than blessing to the very class supposed TO 10
the peculiar objects of its benefits; 1t was hos
these objections alone that influenced lne fiesi
dent, but the vastly more important conslaefaslpn
that it was adopted by a body from Wh " .ue
representatives of the States principany ane0'eu'
were completely excluded.
|. It is to this point that the controversy mus
come at last. The President recognizes inc oou'n
ern States as integral componenfs OF inc feoefai
Union. BE denies that they have ever Deen OUT OF
The Union. He contends that now that peace Is
restored they are entitled to representation IN
CONGRESS. lust as well as Maine or Michigan. lie
rerndates the idea that Congress has any right to
erclnde the Of the Southern States
Iraead N the theory on which the war against
M late confederacy was prosecuted, it is impos-
s;be to dissent from the Presidents conclusions.
The accusation that the war was war for con-
cnest- "a war for the reduction Of the Southern
states to 4 condition Of territorial dependencies
war. in fact, for any other purpose than that OF
restoring the supremacy Of the Constitution over
the Confederate States, was denounced as sian
der by the Republican party itself. No such posi-
ton could, by any possibility, have been assumed
without the necessarily concomitant admission
that the act Of secession was originally valid, and
did in truth, release the Southern States from
their obligations to the Union. Such an admission
would, of course, have changed the whole charae-
ter which was claimed for the war by those who
were its most active and most earnest supporters.
President johnson occupies now precisely the
same position that he has occupied since the be-
ginning of the contest. He continued to represent
Tennessee in the Senate after that State had Sc
coded on the ground that the act Of secession was
4 sullity. He is now told, by the very men who
acted with him at that time that Tennessee is Out
Of the Union, and that legislative action is neces
sary in order to restore her.
The inconsistency of the majority of Congress
on this point is SO glazing that they have found
themselves compelled to defend their action OF
some other ground than that of Mr. Summer
convenient State suicide hypothesis 1t is only I:
few DAYS ago that Mr.. Stevens and other radica
members were driven to public reputation
that fanaticaI doctrine. But there remained t.
| them, as an implement for the consummation Q
| their purposes, the constitutional right of eacl
house to decide on the qualifications Of its owl
members.
1t is gratifying to find that the President treat
this pretension as it deserves to be treated-that
to say as gross and tyrannical exercise OF undel
egated power. The right to judge of the quali
cations of members is a very different thing iron
the fright to disfranchise a State. The qualifica
/ tions necessary for a Representative or Senate
are the qualifications fixed by the terms of thu
Constitution, and it is simply questions touching
| those qualifications that the respective houses Of
Congress have the right to decide. To claim IL
addition the right to judge Of the qualifications Of
States is to claim the right and the power to ex
clude any State whatever from representation, and
thus, practically, to dissolve the Union, at the
mere will of an accidental majority. The Presi
dent takes the ground boldly that the denial to the
Southern States of their constitutional right Of
representation, is virtual attempt to destroy the
government. He arraigns the men and the party
engaged in it as enemies, quite as hostile to the
Union as if they were marshaled in military insur
rection He illustrates his views very forcibly BY
appealing to the opinion of Mr.. Lincoln, who favor
/ ed the adoption of constitutional amendmen
compelling the States to send Representatives ane
Senators to Congress, in order to avoid the posi-
bility Of disruption of the government by mean
Of the persistent REFUSAL on the part of any of thu
States, to exercise the right of representation.
In this way the President turns upon the radical
4 those charges Of disloyalty' Of which they hay
been SO profuse with regard to the Southern pee
!, pie. In the sense of frank admission of the at
thority of the Federal government; of the abar
donment of the claim to dissolve the Union by 81
cession; of cessation from any sort of opposito
/ to the government Of the United States Of an il
tention to adhere with scrupulous fidelity to tf
obligations resulting from the oaths which the
have taken, the President knows. perfectly we
that the people Of the South are loyal" b
asks for nothing more. He does not demand ths
they shall hate the memory of the cause for whic
they fought, or love the cause against which the
struggled. He is quite satisfied with the trump
! of his own ideas, and with the victory which
J has gained. The object of all his efforts was
restore and to perpetuate the Union. He now tint
! that those who were arrayed in arms against IL
Union are standing by his side in the attempt
. reconstruct it, and that many who professed to
, fighting for the Union are now as strenuous
struggling to destroy it. The enemies of last ye
} are enemies no more. The real foes of the Unit
are those who usurp power for purposes of tyranr
and oppression; who are attempting to alter Il
character and structure of the government; al
who, in the Presidents opinion, would not hesita
to use the headman's axe, or the assassin's knit
in order to accomplish their ambitious and revol
tionary purposes.
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