Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-02-28

these are either not officers at all, or are
merely ministerial officers, lot embraced
in the term executive or judicial" They
are therefore neither DISTINGUISHED nor
rendered Ineligible to office
E'How have the mi shty fallen p
From the inception Of the destructive and
mischevous measures of the radicals in
Congress, with that old club-footed imper-
sonation of malice and revenge, Thaddeus
Stevens, at their head, no member of the
Senate more persistently aud powerfully
contended for the great principles of State
Sovereignty and the rights Of The PEOPLE,
than did Hon. Revedy johnson, United
States Senator from Maryland In argu-
ing the great constitutional and legal
points involved in the controversy between
the President and his policy Oh the one
hand and the anti-rcpublican measures
enacted by the radicals On the other, Rev
cdy johnson was more than a match for
the whole fraternity of radical dema gogues;
among the defenders of the Federal Con-
stitution and the compact of Sovereign
States under it, he was 1.-THE noblest Ro-
man Of them ALL" he stood pre-eminent.
He fought for the right to the last mo-
mcnt; but when Sherman's substitute for
Stevens bill came up in the Senate, on its
final passage, we are told that "Mr. John
son, i'll brief but most affecting speech
on the sad and desolate condition of the
Southern States, and the utter .hopelessness
of their being restored to the Union cx-
cept through the consent and on the terms
of Congress, expressed his entire disap-
proval of every feature of the bill, but so
anxious was he to welcome these States
back, and despairing of any other method
than that indicate! by the will Of the ma
jority, he announced his intention of vot-
ing FOR the BILL"
We could have wished that Mr.. John
son, like those firm and consistent chan.-
piolis of the right, Messrs Buckalew, Cow
an, Davis, Doolittle, Hendricks, McDou-
gall. Nesmith. Norton, Patterson and
Salisbury, had cast his vote against this
Infamous, outrage against the South-this
dastardly, cowardly attempt to humiliate
and degrade people who have already
been despoiled and reduced to the extrem-
ity of starvation. He cannot plead that
his support could have been required to
pass the bill. His absence when the final
vote was taken does not relieve him from
the dilemma In which he has placed HIM
self by declaring bis purpose to vote for
the BILL AS the radicals claim to have
sufficient strength in the Senate to pass the
bill over the Presidents head, should he
veto it, Gas he doubtless will,) Mr.. John
son could have preserved his reputation
Tor consistency and frmness, by voting IN
the negative, without jeopardizing its sue
cess He now proposes, by his action, to
refu:e all his former arguments, notwith-
standing his "disapproval of every feature
of the billv' He would now perpetrate
great wrong against the people ofthe South
in order that he may right himself with
the radical party!
Several important bills, interesting
to many of our readers, have recently pass
ed the Legislature, three Of which-Grst.
relative to the State Debt, second, that
concerning Church Property, and that
known as the Poor Debtors Bill-will be
found in the columns of the Herald to-day
We shall soon have the tax bill, and some
al