Year: 1867

obstacle, not only IN the way OF COM
plete restoration, but of that material
prosperity which was so much TO be
desired, and which should have fol-
lowed Immediately upon the close Of
tho war. If, in all the future history
of our country, the name OF Jefferson
Davis will be placed with those Of
Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr,
where shall that of Andrew johnson
stand? The verdict Of the American
people to-day, cheated, outraged, in
suited as they have been by his un-
paralleled treachery, not only to his
party, but to bis country, is that it
shall stand first in the category of un-
grateful traitors. The fact that this
second rebellion has mot with as dis
astrous q defeat as its predecessor
forms no mitigation of his nameless
crime. No credit belongs to him if
the nation enters upon the new year
as much the beacon light of the world
and the refuge of oppressed mankind
as it was when it came from the
hands of the fathers. Had that mis-
cradle political egotism which he
terms "my policy" succeeded, the
more than two hundred thousand
lives of the best and most patriotic of
our sons would have been sacrificed
in vain, and the nearly three thousand
millions of dollars laid upon their
country's altar by generous people
would have been as worthless as the
lying promises-to-pay of defunct
contederacy. Thanks to the sleepless
vigilance and the doubly!tried patri-
otism Of the people that no such ca
lamity as this greets us upon the
threshold of eithteen hundred and
sixty-sevenl Fresh from the final
and complete destruction of the slave.
holders rebellion, they made short
work of the attempted treason of
their surviving tool, Perhaps the
mOst memorable event Of the year, in
o national point of view, was the de-
feat'of the Administration and its pol.
icy at the polls last autumn. This
may justly be termed the Gettysburg
10 the political war inaugurated by
Andrew Johnson, and prosecuted with
a tiendish atrocity which finds its par
allel only in the JEFF. Davis rebellion
itself There he learned what the
arch traitor, now living luxuriously in
Fortress Monroe at the expense of
the Government, realized when his
disheartened and starving followers
were overpowered by the loyal army
under Grant, within sight of his own
capitol, to.wit: that the American
people arc capable not only of gov
erning themselves but Of successfully
repelling all attempts, from within an
well as from without, TO impair or de-
Stroy the power Of ths Repnblc,--
Under the wise but firm Legislation of
the American Congress The people
enter upon new year comparatively
safe from even the pottings, the per-
fdy, and the treachery of the man
who, in an unfortunate hour, was
placed in a position affording him an
opportunity to betPay his country
With his nearly three hundred mil.
lions of patronago, aud that influence
which makes the American President
little less than the Gar of Russia in
power, Mr.. Johnson has been unable
to demoralize any but the willfully
corruptj and if the JEFF Davis rebel.
lion Was "a trial Of American valcr,
Andrew Johnson's treason has proved
the existence of American virtue
With the destinies of the Republic
completely in the hands of the chosen
representatives Of the people, and the
treachery Of him who should have
been their leader fairly unmasked,
aud with the pure fires of patriotism
burning as brightly as they did dur
ing any period Of the war;. with the
desire to preserve and perpetuate un-
tarnished and unimpaired the inesti-
mable legacy of free government
transmitted to us by our fathers, we
enter upon the new year with bright
prospects, and with intensified re-
solves to make the Republic more
than ever the land of the free and
the home Of the brave Washington
Chronicle.