The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-26

President JOhnson's Administration
His Mistakes and Present Opportuni-
ties.
From The Herald
Under the lights of history the administra-
Hon of Mr.. Johnson has so far been budget
of blunders. His first mistake was one Of
omission, and we locate it on the 18th day
of April, 1865, the day on which he was
sworn into Office Abraham Lincoln had lived
TO see the subiugation Of the armies OF the
Rebellion, and had been received in triumph
among the smoking ruins of Richmond. The
work of destruction had substantially ended,
and the task of reconstruction confronted Mr.
Johnson from the moment after he had taken
the Presidential oath. As this business eA-
clusively belonged to the sovereign legislative
branch of the Government, the first duty and
the first stroke of sound policy which ought 10
have occurred TO the mind OF Mr.. JohnsonWa
a proclamation calling an extra session OF
Concress As the Inv then stood, without
such call the recess (short SESSION., Whlcu
had commenced on the 4th of March, would
last till the first Monday in December; seven
months and half were still before Mr. Johh-
son to act. with or without Congress, as ne
might determine; and in determining to ap-
propriate this long interval to the develop
ment of his own policy in forestalling and
superseding the rightrul authority Of Con-
gress. he committed his first and greatest
bunder.
Through all the summer and autumn of
1865, however, while assuming and exercising
the exclusive powers OfCongress in the work
ing up of his provisional Southern State esta-
blishments he still pleaded the constitutional
plea of the supervising and sovereign iursdic-
tion of Congress. In his first message ODE
cember 1860 to the two Houses, this sOve-
reign authority was conceded in the attempt
that was made to evade it. It was not till the
22d of February, 1866, however, in that
famous stump speech from the White House,
that the first tilt against Congress was made
by Mr.. Johnson and in this his hostility was
limited to such violent radicals as Stevens
and Sumner and ''the dead duck" Forney.
In fact running through the last April Con- !
necticut election, and down to the adoption of ]
the pending Constitutional amendment by Con- /
gress, the position OF Mr.. Johnson was that of |
a Republican President who intended to fight |
out his fight against the extreme radicals .
within the lines of the party. Had he adhered .
to this resolution, in falling in with that .
amendment, he might still have become mas
ter of the situaton but just here he COM
mtted another disastrous mistake to himself
in appealing from Congress to the people, dis
astrous especially from the way i'll which he
pushed this appeal.
His Philadelphia August National Conven-
ton was an offensive mockery, an incOngru-
Gus tumble of dead heads adventurers, crudi-
ties and curiosities. Instead of serving him
any good purpose it broke up his independent
national party programme, and left him at the
mercy of the helpless remnant of the Chicago
Democracy. Then followed that melancholy
pilgrimage to the grave Of Douglass, of itself
great budget of blunders, a stumping tour
which, in connection with the Memphis and
New Orleans massacres, brought down upon
Mr.. Johnson and his policy that tremendous
avalanche of Congressional Republican ma
jorities which last fall swept the country from
Maine to California. Here, however, was an
other chance of salvation to the Executive in
the acceptance of the verdict of the people,
and in falling in with the policy of Congress
which they had so emphatcally approved.
But this verdict, which he had sought he
utterly ignored in his annual message of last
December, and still discussed the saving
virtues OF his own condemned and exploded
heresies of restoration.
The repudiaton, then, of all his two years.
Iabors, and their results in the work of South
ern reconstruction, with a new beginning from
AppomattoX Court House. was the only alter
native left to Congress, involving if neces- .
sary, the impeachment and removal of the
President himself. Over half-a-dOzen vetoes.
more OF less, TINS sweeping work of recon- /
structlon has been cOnsummated. Mr.. John |
son, completely defeated at every point, and |
with the sword of impeachment still hanging
over his head, is now left to the test of the
execution of these laws. What. then are his /
opportunities for the redemption of his admin /
istration?
His first opportunity is that which is offered
him to save himself in seeing these recon-
struction laws of Congress Faithfully exc
cuted." We are gratifed with the evidences
before us of his good intentions in that direc-
tion. But, bound fast the new tenure Of
Office i'll the matter of his patronage, and placed
in the grip Of the Secretary of War. is not the
Executive reduced to a mere automatonP In
this business of Southern reconstruction he
may be, but there are other questions omen to
Mr.. Johnson, such as our future financial
policy, including taxes tariffs, bonds. banks.
currency, retrenchment and reform: and ourr
foreign policy embracing settlement with Enc
land and new and definite understandinpwif
all foreign powers upon commercial rights.
beligerent rights, and neutral rights. On
these great questions Mr.. Johnson. if he will
may take the lead in shaping the programme
OF the future dominant party of the nation.
and in this way he may still leave for his ad-
ministration good report in history. The
ground which he has lost, if we consider him
as playing the Presidential game of an aspirant
for another term, may not, perhaps, be re-
covered; but he has still a splendid MARGIN
not only for totally eclipsing the adminstra
tons Of Tyler and Fillmore, but for reviving
ON grander scale the old financial anti
monopoly party of General Jackson.
The Public DIstTust of the Democratic
From The Times.