New-York tribune., 1867-06-13
THE PRESIDENTS DUTY TO THE COUN-
TRY

JR1.
We have ventured i'll a quiet but emphatic
way to warn the President and his advisers
from policy which can only bring discom-
! fort to the country and additional disaster to
| his administration. We have entreated him to
/ let well enough alone, and to be content to
execute the law entrusted TO him frankly and
without reservation. We tried to show that
he was, as it were, upon probation, and that
the country was watching him with jealous,
sensitive eyes. We have been especially anx-
ious that he would not be led by the Copper
heads into another war upon Congress. This
warning is misinterpreted by The Worid,
which insists that, because we tell the Pr'si-
dent the truth, We are demanding a Summer
session of Congress, and opening new line
of assault upon his administration.
We dismiss from consideration the temper of
our cotemporary. What is the situationt 7
Congress adjourned after having assigned to
the President a certain duty. 1t was under
derstood that he would perform it. hmpeach-
ment was only prevented by President
JOhnsons good scnse-his conservatism, his
generous obedience to Congress He was called
upon to execute a very diStasteful law. 1t was
gall and wolmwood to his Exccency, but still
it was law. 1t meant that all that he had done
in the South should be undonc-that the cOntIiv
ances he called Estates" and the mobs he
called Congressional delegations" should be
ttSregarded; because IN then creation he had
ignored the principle of impartial suffrage.
The President wanted the South 10 come back
as it went 0ut-with an aristOcracy ruling, aud
the negro neither free nor slave, but the monde
script freedman" Congress wanted the South
to come back with the people ruling-the in
terests OF labor recognized, and no distinc-
ton of color. Congress won. The people
sustained Congress i'll every loyal state; and
the Presidents policy, TO use a Hebrew me-
taphor, was broken as with rod of iron,
and dashed in pieces like potter's vessel
The law passed was extraordinary, but it was
meant to meet an extraordinary ease. Ii was
practically war measure. We sustain it and
insist upon its execution, although we trust
that it may never have a parallel in our his
tory. 1t is the only means by which the South
can be pacifed 1t is a generous, liberal meas.
ure, certainly more so than any future measure
will probably be If the subject is again before
Congress. Us Sf6Sisions are plain. 1t means
that the Southern States shall be reconstructed
on certain principles; that the Generals shall
superintend the work; and that the Generals thus
in command shall be absolute. To US there is
nothing palmer. Take the case of Gov. Wells !
Does any one suppose that Congress intended
that Gov. Wells should have an independent
exclusive control Of Louisiana-that he should
be Its chief oficer-that all the resources OF
the State should be at his dispOsal-and that
with these resources he might or might
not aid in the work of Reconstruction
Are we to believe that Gen. Sheridan
was to have mere nominal command,
like that Of Meade in Philadelphia,
or Haleck in San Francisco, and to be at the
mercy of any civilian that majority of Rebels
might call Governor" 1t is the merest non
sense to suppose such thing. We presume
a Governor is a convenience in these States,
and in the performance of certain civil func-
tions the Office is necessary. But the power to
rule--the power of compelling Obedience-was
lodged in the hands of a general of the army.
1t is the imperial power of the peo-
pie, intrtsted for a time TO certain soldiers,
: charged ~ to use that power that the