Year: 1866

|
take pride in wearing the collar of Thad
Stevens Il Co., and who abuse the President,
to declare that he has deserted the Union
Party, and been guilty of great abuse of
power because of his veto of the Freedmen S
Bureau and the Civil Rights bills. Accord
ing to these ferocious and intensely patriotic
journals, Congress, in passing these bills,
manifested the utmost patriotism and wis
| dom, while the President, for vetoing them,
| is guilty oftreason, stratagem, and usurpaton.
These journals should be more discreet, and
watch the beIIweather of their flock with
greater care. One Of their principal file
leaders of the Senate, Mr.. Trumbull, finds
far other cause for opposition to the Presi
dent than outrageous assumption Of power,
and plainly intlmates that neither wisdom
nor patriotism, but cringing subservieucy,
actuated Congress in the passage of the bills
in question. In his speech on the veto he
says that the bills referred to had been
shown to the President before being acted
upon in Congress, that he did not say that
he was opposed to them, and that if Con
gress bad supposed he did not favor them,
the bills would not have been passed. and
the inference was held out that, because the
President did not lobby against the passage
of the bills, he must necessarily favor them.
Here, then, was distinct confession on the
part of one of the leading champions of the
bills, that, in passing them, Congress was
not ac,uated by any inherent wisdom, pat.
riotism, or sense of right or justice, but
solely by desire to please the President;
and by inference we are given plainly to
understand that, had the President openly
expressed his desire in favor of bills of a
contrary nature, Congress would have in
dorsed them unhesitatingy. Says Mr.
TrnmbulI: 'The bill was proposed with
view to carry out what the men supposed to
be the views of the President Il
When it was reported be was hestating
about signing the Freedmen's Bureau bill,
be was informed of the condition of the
Civil Rights bill, then pending in the House,
and hope was expressed that if he had any
objections to any Of its provisions, he would
make it known, that they might be remeded
There was believed to be no disposition on
the part Of Congress, and certainly not on
my part, to have bills presented to him
which he could not approve. He never in
timated, so far as know, the least object
ion to any provisions Of the bill until after
its passage. The bill was framed.
as was supposed, in harmony with his views"
That is to say, if it had not been inferred
that the President favored the bills,
they would not have been passed, but some
thing in their stead would have been ad-
opted. So, according to their own state.
ments, the leading Radicals in Congress do
not denounce the President because he disap-
proves of the bills; they do not denounce him
for his vetoes; what they do in reality de-
nounce him for, is, because be did not at
tempt to influence legislation in an improper
manner by informing the members Of Con
gress of bis wishes; by preparing bills for
them to ndorse, and by lobbying in favor of
their passage. No one who reads Trumbull's
speech on The veto, can come to any other
conclusion than this upon the subject. The
primary cause OF Radical wrath in Congress
against the President, is not his abuse of
power, nor bis disbelief in the bills referred
10, but because be refused to abuse the priv
ileges of his position by endeavoring to im>
properly influence legislation. Having ran
off the right track and got into the swamps,
because the President did not 90 out of the
way of bis duties to keep them in the straight
path, the leading Radicals in Congress now
endeavor to cover up their own mistakes by
scoding the President with noisy fury,
while their partisan journals help to swell
the tumut by loudly charging him with com
duct directly the contrary of that which be
has pursued; their whole aim being to cover
up Radical blunders, and to mslead the
public mind by raising false issues.


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