Year: 1866

The tendency of every practical act
in the work of reconstruction on the
part of Congress has been of late to dis
card impracticable measures, and ap'
proach nearer and nearer to that wise
and humane policy which was initiated
by President johnson in his work of
restoration. The simple principle upon
which the President has acted WAS the
recognition of the fact that the war
against the rebellion was to preserve the
Union and maintain the Constitution
and the laws. In so doing it was nee es
sary that the States who during the
war had not participated in the legisla-
lation of the country should assent to
the laws which had been enacted by
the loyal portion of the nation.
Regarding the war as closed,
and the authority Of the United
States undisputed, and the dangerous
element of secession forever eradicated
from American politics, and the dis
turbing element of slavery banished
from our soil, the President and his
counsellors held that the time had
come when all the States of the Union
should have voice in making the
laws that were to affect the interests
of all sections and the common destiny
of the land, always provided that the
persons sent up from the States for
seats in the national Congress were
loyal and admissible. Whether the
individuals claiming seats could stand
the test of qualification rested wholly
with Congress, and the President
never, in thought or act, has attempted
to interfere with this clear and un-
questioned prerogative of Congress


He has only sought to make the
Union of the States fact patent to the
world, to accomplish the great work of
national restoration, and end the
strange anomaly of republican Gov
ernment, with one-third of its States
and eight millions of its people without
representation, and living under Con-
stitution whose blessings they shared
only as conquered subjects We have
steadily advocated this policy, and we
witness with satisfaction that it is not
only gaining ground among the people,
but that Congress at last seems to be
cognizsnt of the strength and justice of
the Presidents position. Every move
ment lately has been toward that posi-
ton. Compulsory suffrage has been
given up by almost universal consent


The unwise Acknowledgement clause,
reported in the House from the COM
mittee of fifteen, has found its death
and burial The plan to keep the
South unrepresented in Congress and in
the Electoral College for purely parti-
san and electioneering ends meets with
no favor from the intelligent masses of
our countrymen, and all that remains
to make the policy of Congress identi~
cal with that of the President, is to ad-
nit the loyal applicants from the lately
rebellious States, instead of waiting
until certain important but by no
means vital, amendments shall be rati-
fed by the proper State vote We hear
rumors from good authority that this
viii be done There is better feeling
existing more courtesy manifested; less
abuse INDUCED in against the Admin
istration; less talk of rejecting Execu-
tive appointments; more desire for
hsrmony expressed; a healthier tone
given out in party journals; and the
signs of reconciliation are more numer-
Gus and brighter than they have been
since the opening of the Thirty-ninth
Congress. The most favorable sign is
that intensely radical are frothing
with. rage Washington Republican.