The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-12
Presidents Proclamation.

give receipts.
Presidents Proclamation.
We publish to-day the proclamation of
the President offering pardon to all, with
the exception of a few insurgents.
The New York Herald now thinks the
President should resign and appeal to the
people That innocent print is thus pre-
pairing to assall him and demand his i'm
parchment.
The New York Times says:
"The proclamation is a deliberate def
ance Ct Congress and its authority, repu-
diation of its enacted laws, and an assertion
of the Presidents determination to take the
work of reconstruction into his own hands.
1t is an attempt to abrogate the conditions
of reconstruction prescribed by Congress,
and to invest the rebel element with the
means of breaking down the restraints which
have been prudently imposed on the prelim-
mary workings of reconstruction. 1t is an
insolent use of power which Congress, in
December last, explicitly took away. Mr..
Lincoln sought and obtained legislation to
authorize his proclamations of limited par
don and amnesty; Mr.. johnson dares to pro-
claim almost universal pardon and amnesty,
although the measure under which Mr.. Lin
coin acted has been specifically repealed
Congress has solemnly said that no such
proclamation shall be issued; Mr.. johnson
filings the opinions of Buckley and Black
in the face of Congress and the country, and
claims for his will the authority of the su-
preme law What more fragrant form could
Executive usurpation take short of dicta-
torship!"
This is all true enough, but what will
Congress do Is that body equal to the emer-
gencys
The National htellinencer, which has de-
scended from its former respectable and con-
sentative height to lead in the work of trea-
son, thinks the proclamation removes all
disqualifcations and that, therefore, every
body can vote. But the New York Tribune,
which finds its universal amnesty coming in
a way and from source it does not like,
shows the contrary. 1t says:
1.-THE President renews his original claim
of right to dictate the essential terms of
Reconstruction, and in more offensive FORM
In 1865, he sought to lead and guide Con-
gress In 1867, he assumes to defy and
subvert the plainest provisions of law.
Congress, by the pending Constitutional
Amendment CART. XIV has expressly pro-
vided that
SEC. 3. No person ahall be Senator, or
Representative in Congress, or elector of
President and President, or hold any
Office, civil or military, under the United
States, or under any State, who having pre-
viously taken an oath, as member of Con-
gress, or as an officer of the United States,
or as member of any State Legislature, or
as an executive or judicial officer of any
State to support the Constitution of the
United States, shall have engaged in insur-
rection or rebellion against the same, or Civ
en- aid or comfort to the enemies thereof But
Congress may by vote of two-thirds of each
House, remove sucn disability.
Hereupon, the original Reconstruction
Act March 2, 1860 Sec 5. closes thus:
&c Prouided That no person excluded
from the privilege of holding office by said
proposed amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, shall be eligible to cleo
ton as a member of the Convention to frame
a Constitution for any of said Rebel States,
nor shall any satch person cote for members of
such Convention"
And the Supplementary Reconstruction
Act of July IA, 1867, (Sec. ~ prescribes
that
mo person shall at any time, be entitled
to be registered or to vote, by reason of any
Executive pardon or amnesty, for any act or
thing which, without such pardon or amnes
ty, would disqualify him for registration or
voting"
This is the law of the land 1t is in pre-
else accordance with the doctrine uniformly
maintained by President Lincoln, especially
at the Peace Conference in Hampton Roads
(Feb. 8, 1869 wherein he informed the
Confederate envoys-(as was stated in
the dispatch of Gov. Seward to Minister
Adams at London, transmitted by President
Lincoln to Congress on the 9th, in reply
to it's call for information of the Sth,)-
that
1.-THE complete restoration of the nation
al authority everywhere was an indispensa-
BILE condition of any assent on our part to
whatever form of peace might be proposed.
The President assured the other party that,
while he must adhere to these positions, he
would be prepared. so far as power is lodged
with the Executive, to exercise iberality. Its
power, however, is limited by the Constitu-
ton and, when peace should be made,
CONGRESS- must necessarily act in regard to
appropriations of money, and to the admis-
sion of representatives from the Instruction
airy States"
Here is landmark so high that it cannot
be overlooked. so solidly based that it can
not be overthrown. Mr. johnson may break
his own head by running against it, but it
will stand as firmly afterward as before
The only thing he is likely to effect is to ex-
cite an antagonism and a conflict between
Congress and the leading rebels now exclud-
ed from the voting registries, which will
tend to prolong Indefinitely the disfranchise-
ment of the latter"
Maine Election.