Year: 1868




nists. In the midst of this corruption the war
broke out, and awakened all the latent moral
forces OF the people. President Lincoln; moved
botn oy choice and by necessity, called about
MIN the best men of the nation. 1T is memor-
able fact, that every one of his party rivals for
the presidential Office receive9A seat in his QAbs
met. Nor did he stop here, bdt wentout OF the
limits OF his own party for some of his most I'm z
portant subordinate officers. He not only sought
prominent Democrat to manage the war-offce,
but the generals most prominent in the first
stage of the war were also Democrats, and were
only removed after a complete demonstration of
their incompetency, when their places were filed
by others whose military ability rather than their
politics recommended them for the succession.
This policy was carried out by Mr.. Lincoln in
every department of his administration, and
ought to have been continued by his successor.
The close of the war was no reason for return
to the abuses of former years. On the contrary,
all the suggestions of the time were in favor Of
stringent reform. The heat of party conflict had
spent itself in battle. The whole people, North
and South, stood upon the verge OF an era OF
good feeling. President johnson had 1t In his
power to introduce that era. Instead OF doing
this, be seemed deaf to every suggestion of the
time. The open door to bright future he shut
and locked. Scarcely had he taken the rens of
government when be undertook to drive the ma
tional team backward. He revived the old shib-
boleth of party, and every subordinate official
who would not support his policy of obstruction
was removed. Past fidelity counted for nothing.
Neither honesty capacity, nor experience could
save an officer whom the Procrustean test of
"my policy" had found wanting. Dishonesty
and incapacity stood in the way of no mans ele-
walton who supported that policy.


The last three years afford record of official
corruption unparalleled in the annals of our po-
litical history. For President johnson found
ready to his hand opportunities for corruption
more extensive than were ever before offered to
a President, and he has avaed himself of them
without limit or scruple. Our immense debt
had created vast and complicated system of in
ternal revenue, and every cog and wheel of this
intricate machinery has felt the touch of the
Presidents hand, and been forced to respond to
his will. Let it be understood that We are not
here making an attack upon Secretary McCul-
loch Commissioner Rollins. These officers
seem poweress to resist the obstinate will of the
President, and over their heads have flown his
relentless arrows, piercing our revenue system
through and through.


This abuse will not long be suffered by the
people in silence. Sooner or later reform must
come and for you-as we have said-the in
auguration of this reform will be comparatively
easy In this matter we shall do wisely if we
study the English Nethod. In England, as in
this country, there Is complicated system of
taxation and there the experience OF years has
taught the important lesson that appointments
to offices of trust depend upon the capacity and
inlsgE.y hf the appointees rather thnn, upon
their politics. An incoming administration
produces scarcely any change in subordinate of
fees. The consequence is seen both in the hon.
esty and capacity of the officers employed.
Similar results will follow in this country from
radical reform in our system of official appoint
ments. If the abuses of former times-when
the number and responsibility of our subordinate
officers comparatively Insignificant result
ed in the debasement of our politics, how much
more ruinOus must these abuses prove under our
altered circumstances. We not surprised
that Senator Sumner, in view of these altered
circumstances, recently recommended the insti-
tuition of commissioners, for the examination of
candidates as to their qualifications for civil of
fee.


The political difficulties, as we'll those to
which we have averted, have not necessarily
grown out of the war, but are due to the unfor-
tunate administration which followed the assas-
sination of Lincoln. At the close of the war
the harmonious adjustment of our national af-
fairs was comparatively easy. The conquerors
only asked of the conquered such guarantees as
seemed necessary to permanent union and peace;
and these would have been yielded without hes
itation by the South. 1t is scarcely necessary to
remind you of the far different course of events
which followed. When the Office of President
devolved upon Andrew johnson, whose pomina-
ton for Vice-President had been secured by Mr..
Stewards friends in the Baltimore Convention,
but who certainly could never have been nomin-
ated in view of the sad change which so soon
befell us, two plans for /" reconstruction" had
already been proposed one involved in
President Lincolns Amnesty Proclamation, and
was repudated by Congress; the other was the
" Wade and Davis Bill" which passed both
Houses, but was virtually vetoed by the Presi-
dent Both were conceived while the war was
yet in progress, and before it had passed its
doubtful period, and were therefore premature.
Retroverting to the congressional plan, it is
somewhat curious that both of its authors
Wade and Davis-distinctly declare against the
theory that rebellion could in any manner affect
the rights of States-pronouncin i: dangerous
heresy and yet, among the objections raised by
Lincoln against this plan, the fact that Con-
gress had therein usurped powers not belonging
to that body, by declaration of universal eman-
cipation


But when, in the presence of overwhelming
victory, the people pondered the subject of
construction, the necessities of the problem
grew more tangible and definite. Long before
the constitutional amendment of 1866 was pro-
posed, every one of its provisions had been
adopted as an article in the popular creed. 1t
seemed strange to the people that Congress
should occupy eight months in deciding upon
policy, the necessity of which was as evident at
the beginning as at the close OF ltS long seSSlon
If they were impatient of this congressional de-
lay, they were more than impatient with-they
we're indignant at-the attempt made by the
President to thwart their purpose by insisting
upon his narrower views. And the Cabinet,
with two or three exceptions, supported this at
tempt Even Secretary Stanton, though some
what non-committal publicly expressed his dis
appreciation OF the congressional policy. before
the latter had been fully matured. The people
alone grasped the great problem. Next stood
Congress, cautiously investing it, and intrench-
ing itself about it, in sort of siege. And
far, very far remote, stood the President with
his constitutional advisers. In the meantime
conflict had developed between the executive
and legislative departments of the government; !;
bitter denunciations were hurled against the
President by prominent and apparently leading
members of Congress, and the President in re-
turn Illuminated against these his retaliatory de-
nunciations, and spoke of Congress as . body
" hanging upon the verge of the government -
until where once the difference could have
been easily removed, there now yawned ehasm
across which it was idle to halloo reconcilia-
ton. 1t needed only the Presidents western


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