The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-13

The President and his Cabinet have con-
sidered the opinion which the Attorney-Gene
raj has been directed to give of the right of
the District Commanders in the South to re-
move civil officers. Mr.. johnson again and
again in his veto messages, and in the strong
est terms, declared that the Reconstruction
act placed "all the people of the Southern
States under the absolute dominion of ''mili-
tary rulers" and that it gave to the General
in command 'the power of an absolute
monarch-that his will was to take the place
of all law" 1t now appears that the Presi-
dent is not infallible, and that he has two ways
of interpreting the law. Before the passage of
the BILL Mr.. Johnson made it as severe as
possible in order to make it odious; now he
would make it as mild as possible, in order to
reconcile it with his policy; and the Attorney
General has been set at work to find flaw
sufficient to justify interference with the exc
cution of the law.
Thus far, no action of the military COM
manders has made such an opinion practical
necessity. 1t is merely theoretical and
strained Interpretation of the law, which no
error or abuse demanded. The removals of
civil officers in the Rebel States have been
exceptions. Governor Patton, of Alabama
(though he sought to prevent registration,
Governor Sharkey, of Mississippi Governor
Throckmorton, of Texas, remain in Office.
Every officer able to discharge his duties, and
patriotic enough to decently submit to the
law, has been unmolested, and of all the re-
movals there is not one that is not fully justi-
fed. Sheridan removed Abel, Monroe, and
Heron for notorious crimes; with perfect ina
partiality he removed Wells, a radical for
reasons equally good. General Pope, in re-
moving Mayor Withers for neglect of duty in
the case of the Mobile riots, had certainly right
! on his side.
Sheridan surely gave no cause for complaint
when he offered the Governorship of Loui-
! siana to Durant, and gave it to Flanders; nor
| did Pope when he made Horton the Mayor of
! Mobile. 1t is as clear as the day that the
intent of the Military law is reconstruction
! that it was not intended to destroy but to
| build up civil government in the South, and
in this spirit it has been executed by each of
! the district commanders. Congress did not
mean to sweep away the civil authority in the
| South, and the law may in letter. but cannot
! in spirit be so construed. IL Mr.. Johnson is
! prepared to take this stand, and to delay re-
construction upon the plan of Congress in the
hope of forcing it upon his own plan, he will
soon find that the people are ready to meet
| him.
Who, then, would be responsible for this
absolute tyranny, this prevention of speedy
reconstruction Mr.. Stanbery would answer,
Congress, which made the law; we the Presi-
dent, who sought this strained Interpretation
of its language. Congress, the Republican
party, never intended that the military power
should utterly supersede civil power in the
Southern States; it gave the district COM
manders the right OF control, the right OF
removal, and in the absence of any provision
to the contrary, plainly did not intend to
deprive them of the right of appointment. One
OF the great, selfevident purposes of the
Reconstruction law is the maintenance and
restoration of civil authority in the Rebel
States, and that purpose will be fulfilled.
defeat will not obtain the success of the Presi-
dents policy. Should the presumed opinion
of the Attorney General be enforced, it will be
for short time only, for as certainly as such
interference with the law is attempted will
Congress meet in July.