The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-04-12
The Rirss Session Of tke Forty. First Ceus
gress-A Coed Record.


At12 o'clock Saturday the House and Sen
ate adjourned till December. The members Of
both Houses can return home with unusual
satisfaction and contentment-like good boys
5n vacation. The session has been decided
success. Both Houses have avoided quarrel
With the President, and the President has
proved to be as conciliatlng as he can be while
maintaining properly his self-respect and the
dignity of his position. There have been con-
sessions ON both sides, so that harmony has
been most successfully preserved. Ii docs mol
appear that the Senate rejected one OF tne
Presidents nominations during the session,
and for the first time in three years no Dill mas
been vetoed since the 4th of March
The record of the first session is good for the
further reason that the legislation has been
for ,he most part unconmonly wise and judic-
ious The first thing done was TO pass the bill
10 strengthen the public credit, and the next
- pass the bill giving equal rights to the me-
sroes of the District Of Columbia, both Of
which were passed by the Fortieth Congress
and pocketed by Andrew johnson. Next in
importance was the reconstruction bill passed
Just before the final adjournment Before the
message Of President Grant was sent in,
Thursday, Congress had concluded to let Vir-
Slnia, Mississippi and Texas stay out in the
cold till December, expiatng their sins In the
purgatory Of exclusion from the Union. Sum-
mer, Butler and other Radicals were displeased
With this disposal of the meter, but had yield
cd. But no sooner were Grants wishes known
shan the Legislative branch of the Govern
rnent reversed ito action and armed the Exc
IL 30. A. fn~ he
tion Of the excluded States at an early day.
Friday bill was passed by both branches
which empowered the President to appoint q
day for the submission to the people Of Consti-
buttons, not only In the two States he men,
toned, but also in Texas. The exact provis-
ions Of the bill are not yet accurately known,
but it appears from abstracts given OF it that
n IL more liberal In it's terms than those under
which Rebel States have previously reorgan-
ICED, the en-. Confederates being freed from OBJ
HRation to take the test oath, and the onlv ,e-
uaining disability being that imposed by the
14th amendment upon persons who have held
efaee under the Confederacy. 1.-THE operation
Of this bill is successful, little incidental leg
islation with respect to Georgia, which is half
In and half out of the Union, will finish up
the work of reconstruction. The passage OF
this act and the party sympathy between the
President aud Congress indicated by it give a
very pleasant kind of eclaf to the close of the
session. 1t has taken four years Of war and
four years of peace TO make republics of the
Southern States, but the result accomplished
Ia worth all that it has cost.
The reorganization Of the judiciary of the
United States is not measure for which the
people at large see any good reason, but Con
gress has passed and the President has signed
the bill creating ten new Judges-one add.
tional Justice Of the Supreme Court and nine
Circuit Judges. The cost of the enlarged jul
dicial force will be some hundreds of thousands
Of dollars, but it is said that the exigencies Of
judicial business require it.
The new Indian policy commends itself to a
large majority of thoughtful men. Congress
places 100000 at the disposal Of the Presi-
dent, and makes him responsible for keeping
che savages quiet through the agency OF
Quakers or such other means as he may see fit
to employ. This is the entering wedge of the
total abandonment of the pernicious and cost
ly system Of making treaties with the Indians,
by which rascally agents make money by vio-
lating.
The Cuban resolutions passed by the House
by vote of 98to %, at the instance of Gen.
Banks, will no doubt meet the approval of the
President who has more aggressive views on
foreign matters than most American states.
men.
Among the important measures that failed
Of a passage was The bill for the redistribution
OF the national currency, the bill protecting
the pensioners of the Government from being
plundsred by claim agents and the bill fixing
the point of union of the two Pacific Railroads