The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-25

WELD the tederal pauouaRe IN lAVOr OF MS |
policy. Moreover, he would have begun his
work in a period OF oongratulation and good
feeling consequent on the successful close OF the
war. He would not have been obstruOted by |
such fierce outbreak OF evaporation as was
caused by the assassination and iniiamed by |
the trial of the oonspirators. But with all
these advantages-none OF which were pos 4
sessed by Mr.. JohDson--it is not probable |
that Mr.. Lincoln could have brought Con. |
grets to accept his method Of restoration. In /
the preceding summer he had killed recon !
struction bill by pocket veto, and his pro- |
clamation explaining his course had been |
harshly Denounced in a manifesto signed by
Mr.. Wade and Henry Winter Davis, one the |
chairman OF the Senate, and the other OF the |
House, committee on this subject. In the pre-
cedipg winter he had exerted all his influence
to get Congress to indOrse the new State gov
ernments in Louisiana and Arkansas, and had
failed. Congress would have treated him,
however, with more consideration than it
did Mr.. Johnson. 1t would not have decided
against him in caucus without deigning TO
wait one day and listen to his message. The
result would probably have been compro
mise in which the President would have
yielded something and Congress something.
The country might have been spared the
long and exasperating muddle, and the final
oppressive rig0r, of the Congressional policy.
Mr. Johnson was right in principle, unan-
domitable frmness and pertinacity But he had
neither prudence nor foresight. The heat and
aorimony into which he was provoked by op-
position were unfortunate. When President
is compelled to differ from party with which
he cannot afford to break, he is lost II he does
not keep up an appearance of Difference and
moderation. The more unacceptable his main
object, the more careful he should be- to strip
it Of irritating accessories. He should proceed
always by dexterous flank movements, and
never attack in front. Mr.. Johnson was i'm
peded by his very virtues, by his direct
ness, his sincerity, his iDnexible adherence
to principle, his uncompromising honestysof
purpose. II he had been the general of an
army, he never would have made a feint of
retreating to draw the enemy into an ambush,
| or to gain more advantageous ground. The
| consequence of his want Of tactics was, that
| he was uniformly beaten-beaten at every
point. In each successive struggle he has
| been forced to submit to more Objectionable
measures than he had previo usly opposed.
| The Republican party is more indebted to
| him than it could have been to the merest
tool and creature it could have elected in his
place. The party would never have dared to
| go to such monstrous lengths If this obsti-
nate wrange had not enabled its leaders to
nurse the spirit of vengeance, and lead the
party on, step by step, from one degree of
passion and folly to another.
1t was the original design of Congress to
keep the South out until after the Presiden-
! tial election. The Constitutional Amend
| ment was intended to be rejected; provisions
| were deliberately put into it which Congress-
knew the South would refuse, in order that
the question might be- kept open and made to
| draggle, and an excuse be furnished for more
| stringent measures. As things have turned
out, the South would have done better if they
had accepted that offensive amendment. Not
only has that been forced upon them, but
military despotism and wholesale negro suf-
| frage besides. BY accepting that amendment,
they might have foiled the design of Congress
| to prevent the whole Southern electoral vote
| from being given to the Democratic candi-
| dates. The proposed reduction of Represent
atives could not have taken place until after
the next census. The States would have
had their full electoral vote, and they
would all just as certainly have gone Demo-
cratic with the limited white disfranchise-
ment as without it, the negroes being ex-
cluded. After the election OF Democratic
administration means could easily have been
found to circumvent or nullify the extorted,
unrighteous amendment. When that amend
ment was submitted to the States, Mr.. John
son had become the pivot, the leader, the
rallying- point OF the opposition, which could
preserve it's unity only by yielding to his
direction. He was not astute enough to see
that at that stage, Congress could have been
most effeotually thwarted by an acquiescence
| which IT neither expected nor desired, and
which would have arrested its further pro-
gress in the road Of tyranny. II Congress had
not stood by its own proposal after it had been
accepted, il would have lost the support of the
people. If it had stood by it, every Southern
State would have been securely Democratic in
the Presidential contest.
While We cannot regard President Johnson
either as wise statesmen or a skilful poll
tioian, we must concede that he has been
placed in position so trying and difficult
that no address or abilities could have ap-
peared to advantage in it. We must also pay
a sincere tribute to his personal character,
which ia less distinguished perhaps by the
amisble than by the respectable virtues. lie
Is man of settled convictions and stubborn
fidelity TO them. He cherishes just and deep
reverence for the Constitution of his country.
He has never been accused, never suspected,
OF using any public position for purposes OF
private gain. With Democratic Congress TO
support him, he would have made judicioua
and successful, though probably not brilliant,
administration. His talents are better fitted
for debate; and II, after a needed interval Of
repOse, he should be returned to the Senate
from Tennessee, he will be one of the most
important and useful members OF that body
"a perpetual thorn in the side of the
radicals, and the fearless champion Of honest
| lppiglatiOD,