Year: 1867


struction they have to settle, not with a.
vicious Executive and his advisers, not with
sleepy court locked up in musty prece-
dents, not with fossil Democrats or mutin-
Gus Copperheads, but with the people of the
North, as earnest and resolute as when they
crowded forward to redeem Charlottesville
by gettysburg, and to answer the Wilder
ness and Cold harbor by Five Forks and
AppomattoX-a people whose unshaken
purposes, clear insight and aroused consci-
ence are shared and represented by the Con-
gress of the United States


When Congress adjourned, in anticipation
of an emergency requiring an extra session,
| it was provided that on the first of July the
roll should be called in both houses, and if
a quorum should be present an adjourned
session should follow. 1t was believed that
any emergency Of real importance would
suffice to call members together without
formal notification. We hope this conf
dencc will not prove to have been mistaken.
The Republican Congressional Committee, it
is said, regard a session as necessary; Mr.
Stevens writes letter urging its impor-
tance; the Washington Chronicle earnestly
asks members to be present; and, in view
OF the recent action of the President, the
country, we believe will demand that the
|
[ his mercy until December. No one needs to
! be told that the report that the President
himself intends to summon session in Au-
gust is a mere ruse to prevent members from
meeting in July, and thus render session
| impossible until next winter. We hope that
every Radical member from Missouri and
the Northwestern States will make his
arrangements to be present at Washington
to answer to roll call on the first Of July.


(From the Rochester Democrat.)


1t is the positive and imperative duty of
Congress to reassemble at Washington on
the first Wednesday in July, pursuant to adj
journment, and no Republican member of
that body can remain absent from his post
at that time without subjecting himself to
serious censure. The safety of the Govern
mcnt demands the interposition Of the Legis-
lative power to crush the ambition and pre-
vent the encroachments of the Executive
An unprincipled President and a subservient
Cabinet cannot be permitted to construc
away the laws of the land and render them
imperative and impotent without imperil-
ling the foundations of the Union. The Re-
publican Congressman who fails to present
himself at the Capitol on the day fixed in
the resolution of adjournment, if it is posi-
BILE for him to be present, will be recreant to
every principle of duty, and should receive
the unqualified condemnation OF his consti-
tuency.


(From the Chicago Tribune)


1t is the duty of Congress to meet on the
2rd of July. Let there be no failure to have
quorum present. In any event it is impor-
tant that.the power of the military comman-
ders to remove civil officers should be en-
bodied in law so emphatic and unmistak
able that Mr. Stanbery's ingenuity will fall
short in any attempt to misinterpret it. We
believe the power of removal exists in the
present law; but of what avail will the fact
be when, by the highest Executive power in
the land, the law is overborne and nullified
Congress can soon set the matters right and
if it does not we believe it will wake up to
see all its work of reconstruction, on the ba
sis of freedom and justice, overthrown by
the traitor in the White House.


From the Boston Advertiser.)


When Congress adjourned in March, it was
provided that the adjournment should he to
the first Wednesday in July, at which time,
provided there was no quorum present, there
should be farther adjournment until the
first day of December. The complication
which had been foreseen has arisen. A sum-
mer session must be held, notwithstanding
the inconvenience of the time and the dis
comforts of the season. A second act sup
Elementary to the reconstruction act must be
adopted, which shall make the law of such
close texture that not even the sharp eyes of
Mr.. Stanbery can find loose thread in it
The work of reconstruction, which is now
going on satisfactorily to most persons, with
the exception of few. malcontents in the
White House, will thus be saved from inter-
ruption, and perhaps the President will then
be content to remain quiet until Congress
again convenes for its regular business.


From the cleveland Leader)


This opinion of the Attorney General,
sanctioned and enforced as it is by the Pres
ident and his Cabinet, necessitates July
session of Congress. We are not about to
discuss the soundness OF the argument by
which it is maintained because, whether it
is right or wrong the necessity for the sum-
mer session is equally pressing.


We trust that our Congressman will prove
themselves able to meet the crisis. 1t will
be much more easy any pleasant, we know,
for them to make summer excursions to Eu-
rope or to daily away the dog days at the
| watering places, or to cultivate the dolce far
niente in leafy recesses, under mountain
shadows, or by babbling brooks, than brave
the torrid heats and miasmatic vapors of
July in Washington. But in this crisis Of
| events personal ease ana comfort muSI De
abandoned at the call of the country. Moth
ing should be allowed to escape the Argus
eyed attention of the Congress which is our
sole bulwark against rebellion and anarchy.


(From the Detroit Tribune.)


There is every indication that the country
is about to plunge into high state of polit-
ical excitement. We take it for granted that
unless Congress intends to abandon its re-
construction policy entirely it will hold
July session, and rescue its laws from the
perversions of the President and his Attorney
General. The two opinions of the latter
functionary the construction of the laws
of Congress in relation to reconstruction
have left those laws without vital force or
practical utility. There is nothing left but
for Congress to again interpose its authority.
We hope to see quorum of Congressman at
Washington on the Sd of next month.


From the Detroit Post.


Against this threatening disaster there is
but one certain remedy-tie prompt meet
ing of Congress in July, and the amend
ment of the reconstruction law in such
- Ill kio