New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-31
LETTER or MR., BROWNING.

subject of the constitutional amendment. If
this letter were the mere expression of indi-
vidual opinion, it would have no Importance; !;
but, owing to peculiar circumstances, it is
suggestive in more than one way. Mr..
Browning has always been republican in
politics. He was called to the Presidents
cabinet US a representative of thatparty, as it
was constituted when Mr.. johnson was elect
ed to the vice-presidency. He does not pro-
fess to have changed his opinions. As to the
issues of that day he holds the views now
which he held then. As to thegeneral prin-
ciples which guide his political conduct, his
sentiments Of to-day are identical with his
sentiments of last year. From the manner
| in which he views the amendment, we may
therefore understand dsomething the manner
in which it is viewed, not by the radicals,
who are pressing it on the country with so
much of passionate eagerness, but by men
who, whilst they reason calmly, thoughtfully
and dispassionately, have never heretofore
sided with the South. If such men consider
the amendment an odious exercise ofpower; an
attempt to oppose unjust conditions as the
price of inalienable rights; a scheme to CON
vert the government into consolidated des-
fpotism; surely those at the South, who have
distrusted their own Judgment in this matter,
and who may have felt tempted to yield their
convictions for the sake of an imaginary
benefit, ought to be ashamed that they ever
permitted themselves to doubt the justice Of
the attitude now occupied By the Southern
lpoople.
lIr. Browning's letter is likewise important
to the extent that it may be considered a
semi-oficial denial Of the reports that the
President has been swerved from his position
4 by the result Of tbs Northern elections We
have never entertained doubt on this point;
but papers like the New York Herald and tbe
New York Times have attempted to terrify
the South into aequiescence. by declaring that
the President was about to change his posi-
/ ton and recommend the ratification Of the
amendment. This expedient had no appar-
ent effect on public opinion; but, if pressed
/ with ZEAL it might have weakened opposition
among those who feel.a natural gratitude to
the President for the firm stand which he has
/ taken in the defense Of the rights of the
States and Of the great principles Of public
]. liberty. Happily, there is now no longer any
4 such danger. The letter Of the secretary Of
the interior, no doubt, embodies. the Presi-
dents views; and it shows that the executive
I opposition to the amendment is founded on
fixed convictions and principles
\ Mr. Browning commences by arguing that
if governmental aggression is to be feared in
i this country, (and who doubts it, after the
events Of the last five years p such aggression
i is far more apt to assume permanently dan
gerous form in the hands of the Legislative
such was the opinion of nearly all of our emf
nent statesmen IN times past; and the history
of the present Congress furnishes remark
able confirmation Of its truth.
i Mr.. Browning demonstrates the aggressive
character of the proposed amendment in the
antagonism it Will inevitably provoke between
the federal and State tribunals Slight as
this might be at the outset, it is in the nature
Of power to fortify ITSELF and having once
drawn into the vortex of federal jurisdiction
those mnumerable questions which now are
assigned to the State courts, there would soon
be no use for State tribunals at all, and the
whole judicial system of the country would
be undermined.
He argues conelusively against the insidi-
Gus change of the basis Of representation con-
templated BY the amendment, and shows that
non-voters are not uneared for, since they
are counted in fixing the relative weight of
the communities to which they belong in the
/ Legislative asgembhes.'' He meets the current
objection of increasing the relative strength of
the Southlby reminding us that no change
can be made in the representation till after
the census of 1870, when, in all probability,
the entire black population will be less than
the three-ffths of 1860 He urges the inius-
lice of counting the non-voting population in
the North, while rejecting it in the South.
In regard to the third section, he well says
that no such prescription has been proposed
since the day of Philip II, of Spain. Nor is
it to be expected that a high-spirited race
will impose it voluntarily on their fellow
eountrymen.
He disposes thoroughly of the charge of
executive usurpation. The President, fnd-
ing the people Of the Southern States without
organizations, was bound by his oath of Office
to restore them by the shortest possible
method to civil rule. 1t was his duty to pre-
vent anarchy, and see that the machinery of
the legitimate governments was again put in
operation J. to see that the federal laws were
executed, and the relations of the federal ana
state governments restored In this he but
followed in the footsteps Of Mr.. Lincoln, and
is denounced therefor by the same men who
assailed his predecessor.
MIR. Browning ably exposes the holIowness
of those now arraigning the President by
proving that had Mr., johnson adopted the uni
Yersal suffrage and amnesty proposition of
Senator Stewart, no test-oaths, no indictments
would have been insisted on, and the horror
ofadmitting g traitors" to Congress and afi-
hating with q red-handed rebels would have
been forgotten. Yet in his policy the Presi-
dent is sustained by the only two original adj
.yisers of Mr. Lincoln -ITessrs, Seward and
Welles. The offense of the President how
ever, is in insisting that il is the duty Of Con
gress to obey the plain provisions Of the Con
stitution, and judge Of tho elections, returns,
and qualifications of applicants for seats.
t