The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-09-18

ed its eyes upon, and that was, that public
opinion could not restrain, and legal enact
ments could not bind the President. He
had never recognized any social bond, and
was by nature despot and contemner of the
law. In both houses they were warned,
thevoices of Sumner and Wadc of Chandler,
of Stevens, of Boutwell,, of Williams, fell rn-
needed upon listless ears. The people cried
out "impeach !" but their sleeping sentinels
would not hear. Now the rebellion is
renewed; now the same purposes are
defiantly set forth in proclamation, the
full meaning of which will only be known if
Pennsylvania or New York 60 Democratic
in the next elections. Success in either of
these States will be followed by discontin-
uance of all further proceedings under the
reconstruction laws; a renewal of the declar-
atoms contained in, the Presidents mes
sage demanding the admission of congress
.sional delegates on the ground that the
Southern States are already fully reorganiz-
ed and constitutionaly equal with the rest
of the States, and the forcible expulsion of
Congress ifit shall fail to comply with the
Presidents imperious commands.
8 To enable Lin to command the absolute
obedience of the personnel of the executive
branch of the government, civil and militia
~, the President has issued proclamation
reciting his constitutional powers, by which
he CONSTITUTES himself to be the sole Execu-
tive; the head of the civil and commander
in-chief of the military officers, from all of
whom implicit and unquestioned obedience
is demanded.
The proclamation alleges that the acts of
Gen. Sickles, as military commander. and
his subordinate in carrying out the provis-
ions of the Reconstruction laws passed by
Congress- have interposed impefliments and
Instructions to the Constitution and laws of
the United States in North and South Caro-
lima, and that =" reasonable and we'll founded
apprehensions exist that such ill-adyised
and unlawfu! proceedings may be again at
tempted there or elsewhere" aud makes it the
duty of, the President under such circum-
stances to call upon the land and naval
forces to secure the faithful execution of
the Constitution and laws All officers, civ
il and military, are reminded that they will
support and defend the Constitution against
all enemies, foreign or domestic, and will
bear true faith and allegiance to the same
The numerous whercascs are so arranged as
to form an ingenious network of construc-
tlOIl, WulCu PtdNCS oil VONCl Ill VIC udLttS Vi
the President. makes him the thinking head
of the whole executive machine, reduces the
whole army and navy and civil service into
unquestioning slaves of hiswill, without pow
er of thought or exercise of judgment. This
extraordinary and unprecedented document
has been accompanied by remarkable cir
cular from the Attorney Generals office, to
the tail of which is appended a request for
an acknoN Judgment of the receipt thereof. 1t
is to be sent to all the military and civil Of
ficers of the government, and the quality Of
the official will be determined by the char
acter of his answer It is especially impor-
tant for the future Developments of the
Presidents revolutionary programme that he
should poll the army, and he is also anxious
to ascertain the exact number of government
employees of all sorts in each district that he
can rely upon to stand by him in running the
machinery OF the government when be de-
clares Congress illegal and makes himself
dictator. g.s.ifsa
No such act of despotism was ever at,
tempted by Louis Napoleon during the coup
d etat of 1851. In his case De Morny tele-
graphed to the government employees that
the revolution was fat acconapR, and 1926
members of the National Assembly were in
prison, and took his chances of the bread
and-butter brigade with tolerable certainty.
| This early disclosure of the Presidents in
tentions ought to suffice for the awakening
of the country to a living sense of its dan
ger. We are rapidly gliding into the storm
of another revolution, of which the Presi-
dent is chief conspirator, and in which our
late enemies expect to use against Us the
arms, treasure, and power Of the United
States government. A few more months of
Executive usurpation and there will be
nothing left of that government but single
WILL There is only one man whose moral in
f1uefce to-day can save the country by start
ling it out of the fatal apathy into which it
has fallen, and arousing it to full conscious
ness of the danger that menaces its life
Washington Chronicle. e i .1Sl'
The above article from the Chronicle, is
pregnant with meaning The President has
at length, in defiance of.the will of the ma
ton and the law of the land, declared his.
policy accomplished. He holds that every
man in the Southern States, with few ex-
ceptions, is entitled to the right of suffrage :
and that he has restored the Southern States
to their Constitutional relations to the fed
eral government This is followed by an Of
fetal notification to all his subordinates that
the Constitution and the laws-meaning, Of
course, his Interpretation of them must be
maintained and enforced in all the Southern
States without regard to the will of Con-
gress. Either the President is indulging in.
empty forms, or he means to fqht What