The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-02-12

dered to be executed, and rightly so, 1t
seems to me, for the trainers Of the Con-
stitution must have contemplated that
the army should protect itself as we'll as
the country, and if its Commandsr-in-
Chief were murdered in his camp by .
soldier or civilian, the offender subject
ed himself to punishment by military
law, and was not entitled to trial by
Jury. The leader of the defunct insur-
rection has through imbecility proved
to be an elephant on the hands OF all,
President, Congress and Court and they
are not rid of him yet.
Mr.. Johnson had sworn to support
the Constitution and "to take care that
the laws be faithfully executed" The
national laws are here doubtless meant,
but the recognizing of the State gov
ernments at the same time would faclI-
itate their executions; and as Command
er-in-Chief Of the army it was his duty
to govern the surrendered insurgents
until civil government could be in
augurated to do it; and besides, being
vested with all the Executive power OF
the Government, which its Constita-
tion expressly requires shall guarantee
TO each State a government republican
in form, and being earnestly urged by
General Grant and others, as appears
from his testimony and the members of
his Cabinet, and having before him the
example aud plan of his predecessor, it
seems to ME lie was clearly justified in
undertaking to reorganize the State
governments az he did, without first
convening Congress. He never pre-
tended that his work would not be sub
jeet to revision by that body, though
he might, in my judgment. have well
taken that ground, except so far as the
admission of members to Congress was
concerned. To have waited for the call
ing and convening of Congress and for
its determination, which would probably
have taken many months, and which,
when obtained, could have been, it
seems tot me, only advisory in the case
would not have met the urgent neces-
sity of the time; if the known and uni
form theory and practice of his prede-
cessor and of the entire Government
before that time, were correct, Congress
had no power to legislate, touching the
system of civil policy then existing in
the States respectively as established
by their respective Constitutions and
laws prior to the commencement Of the
war. To procure men who would 0p-
crate the already existing laws in har-
mOny with the nation, was all that
could be ceustitutionally done. OF
course the vanquished insurgents were
Il, tp ha ha 10
shielded-as all that
had been in arms were, by their parole
so long as they obSyed the laws. If the
theory and practice to
that time were correct, then the inter
nal policy of these States could only be
changed by the action of their respec-
tive peoples, or by amendments of the
National Constitution, which latter
of course, amends and displaces what
ever comes in conflict, both State Con-
stitutiOns and laws.
Mr.. Johnson, in his proclamation of
May, appointed Provisional Governors
and authorized the call of Conventions
in the several States to appoint proper
men to operate the State governments,
substantially, that loyal
men who werc voters at the commence
ment of the war should alone be enti.
tied to vote for delegates. The Con-
ventiOus convened and the requisite
State officers were elected and their
oath of allegiance to the governments,
both National and State, was renewed;
gress were chosen; the national courts
opened, as far rs practicable; the block
adc removed and the postal system
and the pending amend.
ment Of the Constitution, abolishing
slavery, he insisted the Legislatures
should ratify, &c, and reported his
dOiugs to Congress in December, 1865.
During this session the quarrel between
the President and Congress commenced.
Congress inaugurated the pending
of the National Constitu-
tion for demonstrating" the States. Mr..
Johnson advised the late insurrection-
AIRY States not to ratify, but continued
to urge them to ratify the one abolish
ing slavery; he alse induced them to
declare void their ordinances of seces-
sion and repudiate the debts incurred
in their insurrection movements and re-
ported again to Congress in December
1866. Meanwhile, Mr.. Johnson had
Swung round the circle" and the Fall
elections had taken place, in which the
friends of Congress signally triumphed.
This result greatly emboldened the
members of the then existing Congress,
and, pretending great indignation that
the Legislatures of the late iusurrec-
tionary States declined to ratify the
pending amendment, it passed in Feb
ruary 1867, what is called the Recon
struction Act" which with its supple
act in June following assumed
to abolish the very State Legislatures
to which it had submitted the proposed
for ratification, and estab.
lishisg a Military Government in ten of
the States. Aud rs the President, whom
the Constitution makes commander
in-chief of the Army and Navy
of the Uaited States, did not CO.
operate as they thought he ought,
they propose, by the bill now pend.
ing, to withdraw from him the portion
of the army used for the government of
the ten States and vest the supreme
thereof in General Grant
making him, in effect, Supreme Military
Dictator, SO far as ten States and that
portion of the army are concerned, as he
will be accountable to no one, for being
a military officer, he is not impeacha
BILE, and, being supreme in the military,
there will be no superior officer to order
a court martial to try him.
The present Congress has also passed
what is called "civil tenure law" pro-
hibiting the President from removing
any of his Cabinet officers without the
consent Of the Senate. The right of the
President to remove his Cabinet at pleas
ure was established Immediately after
the Government went into operation, and
has been exercised since by the successive
Presidents, without any objection froI.
any source. This uniform practice of
ely hty years, with entire acquiesence,
would certainly give the Constitution q
not TO be departed frem,
when the nntrammeled exer-
else of the right is so manifestly neces-
sary TO the prompt and dne execution
of the Executive power. Moreover, as
the Constitutionality of the Reconstruc-
tion Acts is pending before the Supreme
Court of the United States, and apprs-
hendiug that five Of the eight judges Of
that Court, entertain opinions adverse
to their coDstitutionalty, Congress has
bill reuuiriup at least sir