Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-01-24
THE NEW RECONSTRUCTION BILL.

The general principle OF the new Recon
structiou bill may be thus de6ned-it makes
the General of the army the executive of
the law, and takes from the President the
power Of appointing or removing the mill
tary commanders. Because it changes the
Executive, and practically puts General
Grant in the place Of Andrew johnson, the
Democrats insist that it is unconstitutional
That question we do not propose TO argue
at present. We are tired Of hearing the
Constitution defined as a document always
on the side Of the Democratic party, always
appealed to as a justification of oppression
and wrong; always quoted as the protection
Of Rebels; always dragged out to impede the
natural progress of the country; never, by
any chance, admitted to be the fundamental
charter, which, properly interpreted, secures
to mta Of all col0rs freedom and the full
right Vi citizenship. The Constitution, in
the opinion OF the Democrats, is an iron
chain by which the nation is fettered to the
past; if it be what they declare it to be, it
would be better for the United States to
have no Constitution.
The new bill will probably do good, as it
reduces to a simple code the military laws
by which the Rebel States are to be govern
ed until the civil governments are formed
Therefore we should be glad of its passage,
yet We see in it another Illustration of that
fatal policy which Congress has for two
years pursued policy which has made
Congress, equally with Andrew johnson,
responsible for the delays Of Reconstruction
and the unsettled condition Of the country.
This is the Patchwork policy-the contin
ual cobbling and mending of old laws, which
were not very good when they were new.
The whole business of restricting and
hampering the President, to which Congress
has addressed itself since 1865 is blunder
When it found in the White House man
whom it was necessary to tie up hand and
foot, it should have known THAT IL had GUuud
a man whom it was right to expel from of
fee It's main legislation especially
this latest acts avowedly based on its
knowledge that Andrew johnson is unfit TO
be President, and that it dare not trust him
with power And in what way does Con-
gress treat this unfit President? By exer-
cising its authority to the utmost, it takes
from him all those powers-hithertoyield
to the Presidency by common consent
which it can, within constitutional limits,
claim the right TO reassume. This is the
clumsy and the cowardly way to deal with a
national crisis, which is, after all, nothing
more than personal affair-the result of
one mans treachery. Congress fGds An
drew johnson unfit, and appoints an
other officer to perform the ordinary du-
ties of the Presidency. Congress finds him
in league with Rebels, and passes laws to
restrain his action What should it do ?
Why, Impeach him Impeaeh him What
else can it do if it would do its duty? Its
whole legislation is an argument for i'm
peachment, a justification of impeachment
and VIC may add that the result of its legis-
lation is to-day proof that impeachment is
the only remedy This new Reconstruction
act may effect the purpose of Congress, but
with johnson still President it would be
unsafe to predict that it will. The supple
ment to the supplement may require new
supplement. We have little faith in what
has been torn down. The foundation is in
secure. We do not need laws to fstter a