The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-02-21
NirIln,ond pispatth.
FEBRUARY 81. 1867.
Assembled Wisdom.

u Congress- has come to crisis; and pro
badly Congress feels better. The reiusa
of the House TO agree to committee
conference on the military bilr' was re
uarded by most of the speakers as taking
away all chance of the passage of any bill
., all for the South 10 this Congress; ant
the prospect evidently did not greatly NOR
tify our demonstrations The Fofs'ea
Congress will have to begin the whole wv ~
iect over again; and the new hoase ..'
Senate will be employed in their 'avotl.e
EXERCISE Of reconstructing for Anew months
lonrer-or say until after the next fresi.
DENTAL election. ]. - so 80 sts.z0
Rnt what is to become Of these perse.
cY,ed loyal men at the South all this time
AZ the rate at which we are told |" rebels
are numbering them now, they will be al
dead before they get protection. 1t vii
be in vain, We are assured, for Governor
PEIRroIST and the rest Of the governors
and the mayors, and judges, and police
aided by the Freedmen's Bureau and the
commanding generals, to endeavor to stand
between these oppressed men and theil
vindictive enemies. This long reconstruc
tion farce may be play to Congress, but y
death to them; and how will the Legisla
ture OF the country feel in the depths OF III
conscience when il learns that by its heart
less delay all those meritorious CITIZENS
have been most foully and brutaiiy muir
dered by flends in human formf
Not to be voted for, they call being MUIR
dered /; not to be exclusively voted for and
elected to every Office, is to them murder
most foul, base and unnatural. AT least
such is the only kind Of slaughter we are
aware of having been perpetrated on these
oppressed men. And even this kind OF
massacre is not indiscriminate for We have
even seen some Of them elected to Office,
and thus saved from the heart rending
carnage which is sweeping away their fell
lows, poor fellows and all their wives and
little children, without distinction of age or
sex. And is this the scene of fiendish
atrocity that Congress is going to gaze
upon unmoved during two or three more
sessions
Not that our Congress is by any means
idle, or entirely absorbed by the recon
struction game. In its multifarious Ia
bors for the total abolition of the Constitu-
ton and wholesale violation of all law, it
is necessary to make itself commander-in-
chief of the army, as well as to constitute
itself President and Supreme Court. By
lis tenure-of-ofice bill, it takes the ap-
pointing power, even Of Cabinet officers;
and by the military appropriation bill now
before Congress, the Senate takes COM
mand of the military forces, and orders
the general commanding under it to keep
his headquarters in Washington, and to
take no orders from " any person" (mean-
ing the President) inconsistent with its
commands. Indeed, Congress is so busy
in taking possession Of its new powers and
functions that it has no leisure to attend to
anything else. A motion for some object
outside the main business was the day be-
fore yesterday objected to, and suppressed
on the spot "lest debate should follow -
in fact, lest they should be kept trihing
over some measure which does not vio-
late the Constitution. That is the first point
to be considered in anything which
comes before those Legislators Is it against
the Constitution? If so, 60 ahead. Is it
another step towards consolidating all
power of every kind-political, diplomatic,
military, judicial-in the hands of this ma
jority? If SO, have it up BY all means. III
there were in this country an established
church, of course the majority would be-
come head of that church also, as Angus
TUs, having made himself consul, tribune,
and imprator, thought ii necessary to be-
come chief priest, too, or PoRtJer Marimas.
1t is a point worth considering. There
never was any country properly recon
structed without q powerful State church
and the first NAPOLEON declared that if no
Pope existed in Europe, he would have
been obliged to invent and create q Pope
A great congressional church, well endow-.
ed, established on "loyal basis' wis.
good congressional articles and tests, wouid
be found an excellent machinery for reap
ing the fruits Of the war''to the las. oin'e'
Congress may imagine that sa, we 40 no. ..
make any suggestion IN tsooo A ~
wa venture to hint At one other reform.
That majority has full power-has 1t not q :
to dsciae On the qualifications of members
90 Con....o who are to sit on that floor.
Now. there are some forty or fifty "Demo-
crats % there, who might be excluded by
uood test oath. Did not some of them
" svmpathize with the rebellion" Did
not others say, at Chicago, that, the war
for the Union was failure2 Were not
others still heard to say that Judiciary
or an Executive has rights, even against
majority! Flat biasphemy against the will
of the people ana the, life of the nation!
There is nothing that q majority cannot
do. 1t can declare that there is a war
raging at the North, as 1t votes that there
is war raging at the South, and SO apply
the test to Democrats as "war MEASURE"
In point Of fact there IL as much war at
the North as at the South; but fact can
not stand moment against the twill of
the people," '''
Perhaps it is taking great liberty to
lay these few practical views before so
august body; but, in truth, we wish to