The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-07
ENGLISH VIEW OF .MY FOLICY."
What the Secession s'TGmes" Says of
tt--COnSress Greater than Johnson.

ENGLISH VIEW OF 'MY POLICY"
What the Secession ''TGmes" Says Of
II--COnsress Greater than Johnson.
From The London IIMss, Dee 10.
In President Johnson's Message there
are not wanting signs that he is con-
sciouS of his powerlessness in the face
OF Congress, and that, while maintain
ing personally the principles OF which
he is the advocate, he must be content
to see them overthrown, and to seek
field for his own authority in the direc-
ton of those parts OF the public policy
IN iUhich the majority of his cOUnltT.yHeTI
agree IcIth him. The falling MeIicdH en-
pire, and the question of the 4Ldbdl1d,
/ may SERVE him irheIl has scheme of recon
StTIEctioII shall be peLJOrce abandoned.
1t is not difficult 70 see that already the
President is disposed TO fall back on
what remains to him of power, and to
make more of foreign. policy as the con-
| duct of domestic policy is leaving him.
We trust that the desire of regaining
popularity in the North may not lead
him to any act that may lessen the har-
mony between the United States and
any foreign nation. But TO do him JUS
/ tice, whatever he may think or purpose
on foreign matters, his heart is evidently
| in the battle which he has fought and
lost against the republican majority.
One can hardly suppose that he intends
! to prolong n useless confiict-that he
can hope either to divert Congress from
its purpose, or to resist it when
it has acted upon them, Congress
| can legislate without and in spite
| of the Presidential authority, and
! already a bill is said to have been pass
| ed comforting the franchise on the ne
| groes OF the federal district. There are
signs that the platform of the autumn
will be abandoned, and that, instead
of leaving the South to admit negro
suffrage or to rejectit under the penal
ty of having a less number of votes"
the dominant radicals will endeavOr to
legislaIe at once for the Southern
States, comforting the franchise on the
negroes, and appointing officers to con-
duct elections. 1t is this arrogated au-
thority of Congress which the Presi-
dent has denounced, and against which
he argues in his present Message; but
neither his official power, nor his rea-
soning, is likely to make the majority
forego that which is in their grasp, and
which they have the support of tho
country in seiZing.
There can be little doubt that, legally
and technically, President johnson is
more in the right than his opponents:
Without any special legisla-
ton, and by the mere force of events,
the central government had assumed
something like temporal authority, and
Congress had set aside the principle
that it was a body deputed to Iegislate
creasing communication between the
States, the necessity ofa more elaborate
, financial system, and possibly a dispo-
sition TO interfere more in the general
politics of the world, are likely still
further to centralize authority, and by
degrees to transform Congress into a
legislature which will practically ac-
knowledge no Limitations to its action.
If the American people think that
such a change will be for the advan-
tage of their country, by infusing into
il n more vigorous political life, they
are right to support Congress in its
assumptions. Such revolutions are
among the most familiar facts of his
; tory. Power in a State is always eb-
bing in this direction and flowing in
that; for it to remain fixed constantly
, during an age shows StagnatiOn more
l than firmness. President johnson,
however, and those who supported him,
are unwilling to recognize this unwel-
come revolution. What the constitu-
| ton was in 1860, what State rights were
before South Carolina interpreted them
as including the right OF secession,
such the American President conceives
them to be now. He urges the admis-
sion of the Southern representatives on
the grounds not only of eXpediency
; and statesmanlike clemency, but of
: indefeasible right, arguing that they
have never ceased to be States, and
a legally, the constitution demands that
: their members should sit in Congress.
. Furthermore, he protests, by anticipa-
: ton, against any high handed law
q making on the part OF Congress. 1--WE
: should be cautious" he says, "lest
I having rescued our nation from the
: perils of threatened disintegration, we
= resort to consolidation, and in the end
: to absolute despotism as a remedy for
the recurrence of similar troubles u
y Il IL.
from office. told his countrymen, 'if in
the opinion of the people the distribu-
q ton or modification of the political pow
; ers be in any particular wrong, let il be
n corrected by an amendment in the way
which the constitution designates; but
g let there be no change by usurpation,
D Tor 1t IS the customary way in which
/: free governments are destroyed"
+ Jackson also had declared that "the
4 Union must not be preserved by in
4 vasions of the rights and powers of the
several States. In thus attempting to
! make our government strong we make
: 1t weak" But no array of authorities
is likely to deter a nation from IUorking
out q political change demanded by the
Q times. For good or evil, Congress will
o be in future IA legislature directly rul-
Q ing the whole Union, and not even the
Chief ofthe nation will be able to main
3 tain the old traditions against it.
The opinion in America seems to be
that the President, seeing himself un-
=, able to Withstand the power of Con-
Y gress, will let it take it's own way, or,
d at any rate, not carry his opposition
n further than formal veto, which he
g knows will be Immediately overruled
e We trust that this will be the case, and
y that now the nation has pronounced
definitely, its decision may be made
e effectual without an opposition that car
= only rouse new animosities. President
e johnson has been, it is true, supported
s by a large minority of the Southern
i people. II is stated that out of all those
e millions of voters, the transfer of 200,
y 900 from one side to the other would
It have been sufficient to turn the scale
d But from the nature of the American
e electoral system the small majority il
d the country makes an overwhelming
r majority in Congress, and this majori
r ty he can only conciliate by settling
/! as they wish the most important ques
II tions of the day. Foreign nations, Ger
e tainly, would have cause for regret if
IN order to gain strength for q doneSti
y conflict, the President should LedUe III
IS path of international justice and courtesy
;,