Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1869-03-05
A N D US L AS T.
he Hands occr the Constitution TO
the People.
a. takes q eat Credit for not MaLiuu
Himself Dictator.
III ARRAIGNS CONGRESS-. HE HAS
NOTHING TO REPENT OF.

for his immcd late successor, The fOrhcar-
ance and cooperation of the American
people in all his efforts to administer the
Government within the pale of the Fed
eral Constitution, and expresses his de-
sire TO see the Constitution of the Repub-
lie again recognized and obeyed as the
supreme law of the land and the whole
people prosperous and happy under its
wise provisions.
The address il mainly devoted t. n
vindication of his wn official course, 30
ceascles, ly assailed, he says, aspersed by
political leaders to whose plans and
wishes his policy to restore the Union
has been obnoxious. He says that,
doubtless, had he, at the commencement
of his term of office, unh sitatingly lent
its powers, or perverted them, to pur-
poses and plans outside of the Constitu-
ton AMI become an instrument to
schemes of confiscation and of general
and oppressive disqualification, he would
have been hailed rs all that was true,
loyal, and discerninr, as the reliable
head of party, whatever he might have
been as the executive Of a nation.
He refers to his first act upon coming
in 20 the office of resident, in disband-
ing and restoring to the civil avocations
OF lif, the immense army of / 900, COO Of
men, of which he was the commanders
in-Cnief, aud divesting himself of the
unparalleled powers incumbent to the
office, when it would have been easy
for him, with all the power and patron
age at the dispC sal, to tuin the concen-
rated strength of the nation against
French interference in Mexico, and to
inaugurate a movement. which would
have been received with favor ny the
military and a large portion of the peo-
pie; and again, to the almost unlimited
additional powers rendered to the execu-
live by the measures relating to civil
rights and e freedmen Bureau,
which, contrary to most presidents in
the experience of public men, he de-
clined, as being il ' olatiOn of the Con-
,titut.On, and tending 10 aggravate
.ather than lessen the discOrds naturally
resulting from our civil war.
He then says that with large army
and augmente1 authority, it would have
oeen no difficult task to direct ut pleas
ure the destinies of the Republic and to
make sure his continuance in the high
est office known to our law, and adds:
Let the Poop G consider how different
would have been their presen coalition
had yielded to the dazzling tempt ton
of foreign conquest, of personal aggran-
Element and the desire to WELD add-
tio ial power; let them with justice COZ =
s.der that if have not unduly magni.
il I'd my Off &c. the public burdens have
not beeL increased by my ac,s. and per-
laps thousands or tens of thousands of
lives sacrificed to visions of false glory,
1t cannot, the efOre, be charged that
my ant itiOn has been of that ordinary
OF or minal kind which, to tie detriment
of the peoples rights and liberties, ever
seeks to grasp more and an warranted
overs, and to accomplish its purposes,
panders too often to popular prejudices
and party aims" His official acts show
to the impartial mind that his sole am
btiOn has been to restore the Union of
The States faithfully to execute the CT
flee of President; and TO the best of his
ability preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution.
He says that "the war was a stupen-
dous and depiorable mistake, neither
side understood the other: had this
simple fact and its conclusions been KEEP
in view, all that was necessary was ac-
complished by the acknowledgment of
the terrible wrong and the expressed
better feeling and earnest endeavof ut
ratification of Constitutional anne ID
mems by the Southern States at the
close of the war. Not accepting the war
as confessed false step on III. part of
those Who inaugurated it, is an error
which now only time can cure, and
which, even this late date, we should
endeav.r to palliat.. Experiencing,
moreover, as we have done, the fright.
tul cost OF the sword, let US in future
cling closer than ever to the COnstitu-
ton as our only safeguard"
He says that history teach 6 TIA. we
have every hing to fear from a depar-
ture from the letter and spirit of the
ConstitutiO and tue u due ascendency
Of men allotted TO assume power in VIII 1
are cDnsidere desperate emergencies,
md reverts to the resu It of the arbitrary
measures adopted by Sylla on becom-
ing master of Rome, to crush his enc
mics and consolidate the power OF his
party.
The President then arraigns Congress
for repeated violations OF Constitution,
and vindic i've and malignant spirit
ev'nc I'd in their course toward the South
IN says that 1t has been clearly demon
strated by recent occurrences, that en-
croach dents upon the Constitution can
not prevented by the Z. esident, how
ever devoted O.. determined he may be !;
that uni IS the people int.rpOse, there
is no power under the Co ,stitution to
clecK IA dominant majority of twO-thirds
Of the Congre IS of the United States.
That there is danger that the same pow
er which dlsregards the Constitution
will deprive them of the right to change
,heir I'll ers except by resolution. and
that we nave already seen the jurisdic-
ton ofthe judiciary circumscribed when
it was apprehendeL tnat the courts would
decide against laws, having ior their
sole object the supremacy OF party,
while the veto power, for the interest
and protection OF the people, has been
rendered nugatory by partizan MAORI
ty OF twO-thlrds in each branch OF the
national legislature. After a lengthy re-
view OF the history OF Congress, and