The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-20

o '"''' "seles5 10 ulSguiSo the Issue which
| is presented to uR
| ihe PRESIDENT anu Congress- have been con-
tending for two years, and the result of tho
contest has boon tho Renonst ruction Act of
| '"bi' which was the defeat of tho President.
IL TINS construction OF tho Reconstruction Act
anything moro than removal of this contest,
aua nave we any assurance that tho President
will not be defeated ngainY
"o have tho Act; we hnve nll tho discussion
on tho Act; wo hnvo tho action and or,,ors of
tho Commanding Generals under tho Act; wo
haVo Tho opinions Of tho pruss and of mnny OF
tho lenders OF the Republican party upon lilo
course OF the Commanding Generals rs guido
10 what is the opinion Of tho grent mass of tho
Northern people, ms 10 what tho ACT meant, and
how ii should be executed. Has any reasona
bio man in tho South nny doubt that the North
crn people, and moro especially the Republican
party, which controls tho present Congress by
largc majority, approve OF tho course pur-
sued by tenorals sEsRIpAs, SonopIHLD, porB
| ORD and SIcKIRai Can nny man bnyo apy
| doubt who pays any attention TO tho CT precision
OF public opinion! What then is this deolara-
on tho part OF tho Government but ronowal
of the old issue! And what chance is thore of
any other result than the defeat Of the Presi-
dcntf Grant that tho opinion Of tho Attorney
General is unanswornble; what them It will
only serve to secure coll Of Congress in July;
and what will thai Congress do! Thoy will
| either simply settle tho construction of tho Act
beyond pcrndycnture, by tho requisite amend
menls, or they will trent this attempt TO avoid
| n n lin DIn nf 4
substitute another net which will bo moro e1-
pliciL and very much harshcr.
Surely no one supposes that tho military
commanders i'll authority will ncauiescc in this
construction. If any ono does, we mny as well
stnto the fnct ti,at General SIoKLEs Inns already
asked 10 be relieved, md demanded a Court of
Inquiry upon his conduct. Will tho Rcpubli-
can pnrly who passed this Act, md who have
resoutcly supported tho notion of the military
commanders desert Con. SIcKLEs in such a
cnscf Will not the issue thus made become a
party issue, and who is TO pny the costs of the
controversy but our unfortunate solves!
This is not the first time that wc have been
made 10 pRy for our confidence in tho Presi-
dent. lie undertook 10 restore us to tho Union
] IL We would perform certain conditions. we
fulfilled thcm-hayo We boon restored! What
has he succeeded in doing That no hns under
taken to do! Upon every OCCASION from the
Convention between SHERMAN and JOHNSON to
| the Reconstruction Act he has finally yielded,
and wc alone have suffered from the resist
| nncc. We have too much at stako now TO re-
peat our errors. If tho President undertakes
at this day-nftcr permitting, without ono word
of remonstrance or objection, tho practical en-
forccment Of ono theory Of tho Reconstruction
! Act to reverse that theory, to prevent the cxcr-
else of This oIirnyagant claim of military author
ity, and TO remand the State to the control Of its
own civil authority, let us at lcast have some
| security that ho will pcrsevere in his action,
and that il, under the opinion of tho Attorney
General, VIC refuse obedience 10 the usurpn-
tion of tho military commanders, wo shall be
hold harmless for our conducts: thnt if this con-
struction ia repudatcd hy Congress, which Mr..
STAsnERY's opinion win as certainly call to-
gethcr in July ns if the summons had already
| issued, wc shall not bo held responsible for
| tho delay in the work of reconstruction, and
tho Act will not DO amended SO as to bear moro
harshly upon our rights and interests.
There is another point worthy of our con
sideration. If tho Attorney Generals con-
strucsion ia the right one, then Governor ORn
is the Governor OF this State, and tho present
Legislature Inns tho necessary authority 10
make laws for the State Then tho orders
which have Been issued by Gen. SIcKLEs arc
no longer Of force. The confusion, the uncer-
| tainty which will result from this state of
things no language cau fully describe. II Or
der No. 10 is not Of force, then any creditor
may instruct the sheriff to enforce judgment
Will the debtors Of tho State submit quietly 10
the sudden sncri6oe Of their property? More
thnn thnt, every case Of violence, every disturb
anoc, we become responsible for, and il will be
absolutely necessary that the Legislature should
be called together at once to mako some law
for the Stnto. If any man in this Stata be-
lieves that good is TO result from this condition
Of things he possesses power of vision which
we do not.
Whether the administration OF Gen. SrcKLRs
hns been wise or not, is o question into which
we do not at present enter. Much that he has
dono wo think eminently wise-some things
which he has done we would have had otherwise,
and whenever that question comes up for dis
Seao'oht w VIII UApEcco OplutOu frankly,
and, we hope, justly.
But the question which Is now raised Ia a
much larger one. We do not even undertake
TO say that tho opinion of Mr.. SrAxBrnY is
not legally correct. All We say is, that
if 1t is II ought to havo been issued mouths
ago. That now, correct or not, il will surely
create misohiovous eIoitement-will secure a
session Of Congress- In July-will give to the
discussion OF that body a violence and bitter.
mesa from which no good can result to US, and
interrupt the progress toward reconstruction,
which we were making quietly and surely. ii.
The question raised by this opinion is Tho
old controversy between tho President and tho
Republican party. That controversy can do
us no good. From present appearances it can
end only one way. But at this time, and under
existing circumstances, any fixed and settled
policy on the part Of the Government Is better
than racllating course, which makes issues
to-day which II ahsndons to-morrow-ghich
excite hopes Il cannot fulfill, and which only
provokes resistance that cannot be effective
without its support, and which, when the time
comes, II has not tho strength to support.