The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-01-19


disloyal can get approved by . commission would
6esi11pfy r6ednsss. Dot u usy - thsss ssanin1s !
arc to be left unpaid 1t least until the national
credit Il fnlIy rcstorsd it certainly may Be that
which il based upon : pretended property in
Uuisa seldisrsl srOi I'll slains this i the most
offensive to the people who have fought four years
to suppress = sngveholasrs. YcbehiOa. OF ~
claims, IL opens The widsse Aysaue tefraud. Let
Congress remember that the loyal men were gen.
orally -slavcholders that the lAses slayshslA-
ing counties in this and other border States are,
without exception, tn bitter Ind sxtssns rebel
counties to this day; and tAat il -tueh countiss
every rebel can either prove his loyalty or ind
nomisaAy leysl manto assume ownsfsh1p 81 BIS
foruer sla rs and collect the clam. That these
things are done every msn knows--ss every nan
knows that II is . shame that loyal o~ners With
honest claims for losses during the war il turned
away, while the Shareholder alone 10 to bs Pstd.
In justice and decency, let Congress apply its gem
sral rule to claims Of this description, and let All
claims for losses daring the war wait until the
national credit is restored"
FRENCH OPINIONS ABOUT THE
PRE- sIDENr'S AEssAGn.
That Message was awaited with considers.
BILE expectancy; Repubaican people have
curiosity. The feeling was purely personal,
and only regarded the Message as possibly
embodying another phase Of character Of
an accidental President who had become In
teresting ~ psychological pheno~enon.-
II developed nothing new in Andrew, aad 30
in two days the people forgot it. Andrew
had maintained an equilibrium in his pecu-
liar obstinacy thss surprised none and excited
none. It is work Of supererogation to dis
cues the character Of Mr. Johnson, or the
people opinion of him. The public's mind
is made up on that score. When, after the
result Of the last FallIelections,t they ceased TO
dread him, the people settled into equanirni'
| ty and the most sublime indifference as to an
| Executive who could 60 no farther to prove
his demagoguery and unftness for bis place,
and whose power to consummate his treason
able surrender of liberty to pro-rebelism wsa
circumscribed by radical Congress, whose
wholesome supervision would be upon him
until his term of office should expire.
| So, when so many and so few weeks after
its publication, we give these opinions Of the
French press upon the Message with which
Mr.. johnson met the late opening Congress,
majority OF our readers will have to stop
and study what that Message was SUCH
facts as this measure the progress of events.
Repressed in political development, pre-
| vented FROM embodying into the machinery
of State the principles of Democracy they
have formulated. the intensity of Democratic
action on the public arena here, where the
| State is Democratic, finds its counterpart in
| France by the intensity of thoughtful abstrae-
ton in the study in nation where ideas and
opinion only are aemocratic. With a pro
founder analysis, md generalization, as well,
than our own, fhsre is philosophic depth
and exhsustiveness in French estimate 81
the character Of public men, partly the result
of mental traits and partly of political cir
cumstances, to which here we can lay no
claim. and which make the opinions Of
French pohlicists and thinkers concerning
our statesmen aud our political situation
worthy Of attentive consideration. We DIP
not mean to subordinate American judge>
ment TO French abstraction; we think the i'm
stitutions oil cur free people worthy of re-
more philosophic inductions of Frenah !
Swans. But it is noticeable that French
Savan, and American. voter, reach the same
result IN considering the character Of An
DREW JOHNSON. The former had the
benefit of prior study of .
usurping despot, LouIs NAPOLEON, the
foe of Free Government in France, when
ANDREW JOHNSON only resembles by feeble
| imitation lin srbitrariness and persisten,
disregard Of popular wishes. Here are the
French opinions of our Moses
From the Journal des Debats.
1.-THE Presidents message il not precisely di.tin-
gushed for its fact and moderation it is the work.
| not Of u statesman penetrated with the grave re-
sponsibility which his high functions concur upon
| him, but OF vulgar, ambitious man, much more
concerned about his own fortune than that Of his
conntry for Mr. johnson seems only to have aim
ed at fattering the passions Of the people in or
| der to the influence which is escaping
| from him..
From the Temps.1
Last yeur the unexpected successor OF Lin
coin seemed to feel more confidence and inspired
| more. The civil war had not long terminated, and
the great citizen who had crushed it had lust been
IL T. =
| son appeared to have no other ambition than that
! Of continuing the work Of Acknowledgement which
had been conducted with.so much frmness and
| prudence. Since then the situation has greatly
changed. The President, after having appeared
| ready TO carry even to vengeance the employ ment
OF the victory, all at once turned toward the
| South, and being opposed in his precipitation by
the resistance of Congress, became exasperated.
and has not even known how to preserve in the
Struggir that calm and measured tone which Is al
| ways sx pectei from the chief of a State. Mr.
johnson maintains his views as to the intern al
policy, bat in language moderate and almost
modest, which shows what reflections he has made
| on the receptions his violence had mat with. He
more especially endeavors TO take his revenge at
| the expense of England We
perceive at that in order to recover his lost
popularity the President thinks i, clever TO make
capital of the aroused in the North BY the
| attitude Of England during the war"
From the Avenr Nationall
nat the hight Of the civil war, when the country
was III danger, Lincoln spoke to Congress and to
| the world in language which will remain as .
model u Republican serenity, frankness and firm
| ness. The parest civic virtue alone dictated the
| language Of that illustrious patriot, who never
gave way, and who knew how to maintain the
straight line between the disbursement Of re-
verses and the intoxicstion of success, As much
cannot be said Of Mr. Johnson. This ststesman,
| in making to the vxnquished of yesterday conces-
sions which might place them in majority to-
morrow, has entered on very perilous path. Err
| roncously interpreting texts which patriotism
ought always 10 make clear the President aims at
nothing less than replacing the destinies Of the
Republic in the hands OF those who only few
months ago sought its ruin with desperate efforts
| The strong and decided opposition he has met
with in the national representation has not opened
| the eyes Of President johnson. He persists in
| his policy without fearing to compromise by an
unrefeeting obstnacy the results OF the victory
| so dearly achieved by the Northern States over
the Southern obligsrchy. In order to win back a
popularity which be has lost BY his home admin
istra.ion, he has thought that it would suffice TO
| hold arrogant language toward England In
which be IL mistaken. To embroi foreign af-
fairs in order to get out. in some way Or other of
complications at home. is, il il true, plan often
adopted but in republican State such expe-
dents are not permitted. The sympathy with the
| Fenisns which Mr.. johnson exhibits 10 so inop-
perfume a manner will not procure him pardon for
that which he too openly manifests for the South .
AsEAsrHeuAKE IN NV YoRK.-The Roch.
ester Union, of Tuesday last, has the follows
ing in relation to the earthquake mentioned
in our dispatches:
S,.ud.y II