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THURSDAY, ' MARCH 4, 11.069.
WE Puna on the inside pages of this
morning's GAZETTE Second page :
Ephemeris, Review of Monthly Maga
vines; A Sketch by Parton on Paintings.
Third and Sixth pages : Commercial,
..Mercantile, financial and River News,
Markets, imports. Seventh page: General
_Miscellany of Interesting Reading Matter.
. -
U. B. BoNEs atiTra:tkfort, 64.
PETP.OLEIIM at Antwerp, 57@57if.
Goias closed in New York yesterday
at 134.
THE n - th Amendment has already
been ratified by Kansas, Nevada,.Louisi
ana, West Virzinia and Missouri.
IN CONSEQUENCE of the snow-blockade,
which has entirely 'suspended through
carriage on the Union Pacific Rail Way,
since early in February, the mails for the
Pacific States are ordered to be senti by
gamier via Panama.
--"" -
TICE Canadian journals announce an
expected visit, this summer, from Prince
% daTUVR, third son of Queen VICTORIA.
There are intimations that the Dominion
may be ultimately erected into an, inde
pendent monarchy, with this young
Prince on the throne. This would i be a
critical experiment upon the good neigh
borhood of the great Republic.
IT IS TRUE that the Amoskeag Fire lEn
gine Building Company, of New Hamp
shire, threaten to seize upon several
steamers of the Fire Department, if debts
long sinceSast due are not assumed by
the city or paid. Councils should lose no
time in looking into the matter and pro
viding against any evil consequences
which may ensue through longer delay in
settling the claims.
THE FIFTEENTH CONSTITUTIONAL
AniEsramir will come before the Legis
lature of this State soon after its reas
sembling on the Bth of the present month.
A Republican majority exists in both
branches; and we feel warranted in pre
dicting that the Amendment will be rati
-sfied by each without much delay. This
will be strictly in accordance with the
- tendencies and principles of the Repub
lican party, which has organized, and has
been maintained thus far, for the defence
of Liberty.
CorisoNANT with our belief, yesterday,
declared, , that to•day's Inaugural will be
simply a re-affirmation of the cardinal
principles of Republicanism, we shall
expect to hear that the President -urges
upon his countrymen \ the plain duty of
maintaining-the public faith, at home or
abroad, and their inevitable responsibility
U. the principle of Human Liberty which
the 307th Amendment embOdies. These
questions are no longer confined to the
LegOlative forum, but stand subjected to
the final judgment of the world.
OF cetruss., no intelligent man antici
pates any; declaration, by the Senate, of
its specific grounds of objection to the
Alabama treaty. What Senators really
want is not only payinent but an apology,
and, knowing that this means war, they
prefer that the country should drift irto a
collision, without being warned of its'
dartgei by a timely public discussion.
This proves rather a low cunning than a
creditable statesnianship. We believe
that the President does not concur, as re
ported, in this dangerous policy.
TEE SUPREME . COURT is Cautiously
paving its way to a final decision upon
the Legal-tender Act. First, it held, in
the Oregon case, that State taxes may be
made specifically payable in coin; next,
That private contracts, ante-dating the law
-and made similarly payable, may be en
forced, and now, in the case from Bahl
-
.more, on ilonday last', that the law not
only does not prohibit but impliedly sane
,. tiara the validity of such contracts made
sines. After the Court shall have thus
exhausted the wide range of exceptions
', — to the operations of the act, it will leave
( so litto of its „body remaining that the
revenant may be squarely endorsed with
%out 'nay terrible shock to_public or private
`finances. ,
, R. BAair,s may be congratulated upon
- his succesiin inveigling the House into a
falte and most discreditable position, rela
liv, to Spanish liberty and Cuban inde
pendence::His amendment to the Senate
resolUtion is so .'adroitly worded as ,to
secure the unanimous approval of the
House, and yet the moral effect of that
Note, if it amounts to anything at all,
will be to aid, directly and powerfully, in
the- Anovement to wrest Cuba from the
Spanish crown. A Senatorial'approval,
in this dope; would be• effectively data-
Agin to the cause of Republicanism all
over the world, and is to be deprecated
accordingly. As for the President, it will
be time enough to count him among the•
faithless propagandists, when he forgets
the great principles which his to•day's
Address will avow.
CITY COUNCILS yesterday by a deci
sive
vote recommended a bill to the Leg
islature providing for the establishinent
of a Water Commission, who shall have
almost unlimited control over the water
department of the city. The original bill
was stripped of its objectionable featnies
in Common Council and as returned
by that branch to the Select, will prob
ably be favorably acted upon and forward
ed to Harrisburg for legislatiob. We
conceive this measure to be of great im
portance, and one that will meet with the
hearty concurrence of every right, minded
citizen, as it is designed to effect a reform
in a matter closely allied to public health,
comfort and convenience.
THE FORTIETH CONGRESS passes into
history, with its last hours signalized by
such a decisively emphatic proclamation
of an Inviolate Public Faith, as to dis
arm the criticism which might point to its
short-comings upon other questions of
deep interest to the country. The broad,
clear terms in which Congress, yesterday,
affirmed the plainest of the public obliga
tions to alt creditors who have trusted the
public faith, will put a final end to the in
famously impudent quackery of "green
backs for bonds." When Congress de
clares that the public creditor will be
paid exactly as each party understood the
contract when the obligation was in-_
curred, that simply jist enunciation was
in itself a splendid triumph over the most
insidious, and therefore the most danger
oils of temptations. Let honesty Le hon
ored!
THE LEGISLATURE made a'mistake last
winter in that it did not repeal the tax upon
moneys at interest ISo lone as landed
property was subjected:to levy for State
purposes there was room for clamor that
cash capital should be taxed as well; but
even then there was no real basis for such
clamor. The taxation of moneys at in-•
terest constrains capitalists, and even
small holders, to seek other forms of in
vestment, This fat, is evidenced not
on:y by the meagre returns of moneys
loaned, but by the experience of all,busi
ness men throughout the State. Men who
bad moneys loaned out among their
neighbors, when the tax was• imposed,
called it in, and sought for other kinds of
investment. The Commonwealth reali
zes, next to nothing by the tax, while it
operates injuriously in the cases of multi-
trades of persons who want money ac
commodations.
THE LETTERS OF "FRANCESCA.”
We publish this morning, the first of a
series of promised letters from an Ameri
can Lady, who with her husband has
wintered at Dresden, Saxony, and is
about to extend her travels through sev
eral of the German and Slavonic States, as
well as through Italy, France and Spain,
and possibly fuither East. She belongs
to one of our best American families, is
herself an amateur artist, has painted
some pictures for her friends that world
do credit to a professional artist. She is
moreover a lady of much culture and re
finement, a close and intelligent obser
ver with fine descriptive powers. Already
we have orders for, her correspondence
froth New York, Massachusetts and Ken
tucky, and we feel sure her letters will
prove a most agreeable intellectual treat
to our readers.
GEORGE M. BLACKSIOCK, ESQ
This gentleman's numerous friends will
be pained to hear that he -was attacked, a
few days ago, while on a business visit in
Philadelphia, with inflammation of the
bowels. The symptoms are so malignant
and his prostration so extreme, that ac
cording to the latest dispatches, his recov
ery is dispaired of. He is lying at the
Continehial Hotel, attended by attached
friends, and has been -joined from home
by his brother and sister, so that nothing
that affection or science can do, will be
left undone.
We sincerely hope that the imminency
of his danger has been exaggerated by the
reports, and that his vigorous constitu
tion will suffice to restore him to his
home and friends in his wonted health.
—Since writing the above ,we learn
that the gentleman died yesterday after
noon. His 'death will be universally re
gretted in this community, wheie he has
so lone resided and transacted business
as an Insurance; Agent. He was a man
of many: fine traits of character, and pos
sessed the confidence and respect of his
fellow-citizens.
THE CIIARYIERS RAILWAY.
We-regret to learn that failure has been
encountered in transferring the new sub
scriptions to the Chartiers,Valley Railway
Company, so aitto meet the views of the
managers of the
,Pennsylvania Central.
About two hundred thousand dollars
have been transferred, and the signers of
the other sixty thousand refuse to make
the desired change, though the latter con
ditions are easier than the former. Most
of the persons who refuse to transfer are
residents of Allegheny county. Their
idea probably is that the matter
has been puSbed so far that it
will go through without their aid.
It certainly will not, unless Mr. Timm
sori shall conclude to amend his proposi
tions, which were very liberal at first.
What he will do we have no means of
determining. Put spring is approaching,
1 1 1 T rSBURGH GAZETTE : IHURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1869.
and if the Work is to be prosecuted to
completion during the current year, ar
rangements to that, end must be made
without delay. The subscribers who re
fuse to transfer) are certainly subjecting
the enterprise to peril, which may prove
fatal. •
All the laWyers who have examined
I L
the original subscription papers, pro
nounce the to be valid, but whether
Mr. Tnontsos will accept them, iri the
face of probable litigation, must be re
garded'as altogether' doubtful.
THE NEW CONGRESS
In the oganization of the new House,
to-day, the Louisiana Representatives will
not be counted, their certificates of elec
llon being imperfect in many respects
knd widely t variance with the legal re
quirements which it is the duty of the
Clerk to he d. Two of the South , Caro
lina distric s send double delegations
with con file ing credentials. No question
will be presnted concerning Georgia, as
she has not 'et attempted to elect mem
bers for this Congress, but will do so on
the 6th of April. Nor do Virginia, Tex
as or Mississippi claim any representa
tion. , The Alabama election has not yet
taken place. New Hampshire eletts next
Tuesday, and Connecticut on the sth of
April. Thus the new House, which when
full will have two hundred and forty
three members, meets, withithirty-six va
cant seats. Of the Representatives elect,
one hundred and thirty six are Republi
cans and seventy opposition. The seats
of sixteen members, five Republicans and
eleven Opposition, are to be contested,
but the holders of the regular certificates
will vote until displaced. In but one of
these contested cases, that _of our adjoin
ing Westmoreland district, is the claim
ant without the regular credentials.
The terms of twenty-three Senators
having expired, seven of them, all Re
publicans, have been re-elected. The
other fifteen are new members, except
that two of them, HA.311.1N, of Maine, and
STOCKTON, of New Jersey, have had
previous Senatorial experience. Ten of
the new members are .Republicans and
five Opposition.
RETIRING PUBLIC SERVANTS
' At, noon, to-day Messrs. JAMES K.
MOORHEAD and THOMAS WILLIAMS, Rep
resentatives of the Twentf-Second and
Twenty-Third Districts of Pennsylvania
in Congress, will close their terms, and
retire to private life.
Mr. MOORHEAD was first elected to the
House in 1860, was afterwards re-elected
three times, and has consequently served
for eight consecutive years. This period of
service csivers_the most eventful years in
the history of the Republic. Entering
public' life with no other prepara
tion, than;`was acquired in active
business pursuits, his strong com
mon sense , and natural capacity _ for
the management of important affairs,
soon made him both conspicuous and in
fluential. What he lacked in oratorical
ability was abundantly compensated by
the accuracy of his judgment and the tact
Which he brought to the duties of his po
sition. Comprehending fully the peculiar
interests of this city, from long identifica
tion 4 with them, be has mode one I f the
most successful and honored repr nta
, fives it has ever sent to Washington
Mr. WILLIAMS was first elected in
and was re-elected in 1866; his per,
service extending to four year's.
scholar of exact and varied learni
' lawyer thoroughly trained in his p 1
sion, a rhetorician of surpassing ferl
and an orator of the highest type, hi
specially prepared , to grapple wit
great questions growing out of the
gress of the war and the reconstr •
of the States. In this departme
particular. he rendered services the
of which are beyond computatio
established a reputation honorable
name.
JOHNSON'S FARE ELL ADDRESS.
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S Fare W e ill Ad•
dress to the people has now a companion
piece in that issued yesterday to the dear
ly•beloved citizens of the United 13tates
by the unappreciated, misused, abused
patriot, ANDREW JOHNSON, who lets fall
from his shoulders this- day the robe of
office. The man of many vetoes, not
satisfied that his record is sufficiently
eiear in itself, utters a few solemn parting
words in vindication of his course. He
is not too modest to claim the honor of
the people for the disbanding i o l f an
army of a million of men, all ar 1 ed to
the teeth, and restoring them to their vo.
'cations in civil life. The people will
congratulate them Selves • that they were
spared the ruinous condition of public
ilaxt
affairs that would have resulted from the
continuance in service of so man men
after peace was declared. What a rand
military feat was that, for. the Co an
der-in-Chief to scatter a million f sol
diers and strip them of their arms and
ammunition,—anti not &man lost! GRANT.
won his laurels in handling armies, but
JOHNSON claims place in history for dis
persing them at the beckon of his hand.
He spared France the humiliation of be
ing.whippen in Mexico, and, the nation
is called to rejoice •that he did not wander
forth in search of new conquests when
the rebellion .was closed. ,He could
have kept the high office, now quit, for
any! length of "time if he had had
criminal ambition, but he hadn't, and
is satisfied to retire with a copy of
tle untorn Constitution to the quiet re
treats of Tennessee. His acts - have en
tered into history and need not be ex
plained, and in his own estimation at
least, unborn millions will laud him for
the innocent ambition displayed to pro
tect, defend and preserve the Constitu
tion and restore the Union. He calmly,
dispassionately and like a father tells the
nation that the war was a stupendous
and, deplorable mistake. Neither side
understood the other, (we fear the
President stole J. N.'s thunder,) but
in the future all such errors may be
obviated by clinging to that great pan
acea,-the inevitable Constitution, the en
croachments on which no President can"
prevent unless the people array them
'selves against the inexorable two
thirds of Congress, (no reference
intended to the -way they did interpose
in the November elections, we' imagine.)
We have not the patience to follow the
outgoing President in his remarks illus
trating his own devotion to the country
and his fear that Congress is engaged in
undermining the very foundations of
liberty, justice and good government.
We have no tears to shed over his polit
ical death, and after perusing his last
words to the people, can only accredit
him with that desire so commonly mani
fested by desperate men—to shame the au
thor of evil and die game.
SOLUTION OF THE IRISH PROB-
LEM.
How to deal with Ireland, has per
plexed ten or fifteen generations of British
statesmen. Each Cabinet has sought to
detect the real causes of the distress and
discontent which have been the heritage
of the Irish people, and to apply an effec
tual remedy, and each has fallen into sub-
stantially the same mistake as its prede
cessor. The conclusion arrived at has
uniformly, been that the great evil un
der which the Irish were laboring was
their attachment to the Catholic faith, and
that if a change could be wrought in that
particular, all would instantly be well,
or, at least, such ameliorations would
forthwith spring up, with inherent power
of perpetual expansion, as would soon - re
move all real ground for complaint. The
fallacy that lurked, in this conclusion
was the product of religious bigotry and
fanaticism, which never will allow those
who are victims thereto to fully perceive
more than one side of a case. The English
people, for many ages, professed the
Catholic faith; but they never were in so
miserable a condition as the Catholic
population of Ireland is now in, and
have been in through successive genera
tions. Nay, when the Catholic religion
was introduced into England the popula
tion were still in a (state of barbarism,
from which they gradually emerged, un
til they, attained those degrees of civiliza
tion, learning and refinement in posses
sion of which the Reformation found
them. These reflections ought to have
convinced British statesmen that they
were searching in the wrong direction
for the evil to be cured, and that reme
dies devised under a broad misapprehen
sion of the malady, would be certain to
do no good, and probably would• result in
making the ease worse: But those states
men were smitten with a judicial blind
ness and could see nothing , except
through the medium 'of their own uncon
querable prejudices.
Measures of repressibn were devised
from time to time, and executed with ap
palling rigor, under the absurd expecta
tion that disabilities and seventies would
suffice to superinduce new ecclesiastical
affinities. Even in the face of successive
defeats this fatal policy was persisted in
for a long period. At last came an era
of Religious Toleration, followed by the
admission of Catholics first, and after
wardti of Jews, into Parliament. This
apparent concession was of ne use. It
rather served to make the dissatisfaction
greater. In 'the nature of the case, it
could not do otherwise. If there is any
thing in which a person has a right to de
mand to be left entirely free, it is in his
relations to his God. Between the indi
vidual soul and its Maker, all interfer
ences are wrong.' Invariably they,excite
antagonism. In any matter in which a
man feels that he is by Nature endowed
with Liberty, he,resents as an insult the
offer to grant him Toleration as a favor.
Mr. GLADSTONE now perceives this;
,though even he was in 'almost complete
ignorance of it until he was subjected to
- defeat and ferced to relinquish the admin
istration of the government. Adversity
has been useful to him: The bill he has
introduced into Parliament for the discs
tablishment of the Irish church, is much
more thorough and complete than any
previous formal proposition to the legis
lative bodies on the subject. But little
doubt remains of the passage of this bill.
Upon that consummation all cause of
religious discontent will be removed from
Ireland; and the way will be open for the
elevation of the inhabitants by means of
an educational system in which all classes,
and of all shades of opinion, can partici
pate. . •
• But something more, than this must
• done if the British Government is in
tent upon effecting such an improvement
in the pecuniary condition of the people as
will suppress discontent by making them
prosperous. Ireland is essentially poor.
The traditionary policy of Great Britain
has been to prevent the diversification of
Irish industry by the introduction of man=
ufactures. A popnlation subjected to that
policy cannot fail .of being poor acid
wretched. There is an abundance of cap
ital in England; and if the men who
hold it, encouraged thereto by the Gov
ernment, will employ it in establishing
manufactures in Ireland, a new and per
manent prosperity will be witnessed, in
the presence of ,which the past will be
'1864,
od of
g, a
• fes-
''lity,
was
, the
pro
ction
. I t, in
!value
'
and
to his
forgotten, and the populations of the two
islands become so identified in interest as
to constitute, for practical purposes, but
one nationality.
But the disestablishment of the Irish
Church will not finish the task Mr.
GLADSTONE and 'his associates have before
them. All the reasons which suggest
perfect equality of religious rights and
privileges in Ireland, suggest the recog
nition thereof in England. There may
be questions of degree, which can be of
fered in abatement, to stave off immed
iate action, but all the questions of prin
ciple involved are identical. A Church
Establishment in England or Scotland is
Just as much out of place, and as abso-,
lately in conflict with the essential idea of
Religinus Liberty, as in Ireland, and
cannot long survive the demolition of the
Irish establishment.
The example of the United States, ex
tending through nearly a century; dem
onstrates that Religion can lose nothing,
but must gain much, by avoiding all en
tangling alliances . _ with governinents.
Statesmen, intent on bolstering up politi
cal systems, based not upon the consent
of the people, but upon assumptions, sus
tained by force, may find advantages in
misdirecting religions sentiments, which
are among the rqost powerful incentives
to action. Despots are always. ready to
invoke and profit by the sanctions of re
ligion; thus misapplied and abused,
,and
whether they feel any genuine respect for
religion or not. But the essential con
ception of pberty requires that men and
women shall be free in all relations; in
those which are religious as *well as in
those which are social or political. Hence,
while the English friends of Reform will
gladly aid in the proposed movement in
Ireland, they will not stop there; but will
go en and demand the application of the
same principles to all parts of the Empire.
`-- IT IS BELIETED, at Washington. that
the gentlemen selected for the new Cab
inet were notified yesterday of the Presi
dent's choice. The latest speculations
give the Treasury to Mr. BOVMELL, of
Massachusetts. Ohio is ' counted out. I
The New Yorkers divide their expecta
tions between Pisa and PIERREPONT.
The selecticn from Pennsylvania begins
to be very freely assigned to Hon. G, A.
GROW. A. diipatch says:
1 "One reason cited by General Grant
1 for refusing to disclose the name of his
Cabinet before his inauguration is not a
little curious. He said, a few days ago,
in explanation of his reasons for keeping
his Cabinet a secret, that few of the
Presidents who had done otherwise had
been successful in forming their Cabi-.
nets as they desired, and cited among
others Mr. Lincoln, declaring that. of the
Ibriginal Cabinet list prepared by him in
1861, only two were permitted to take
i their portfolios: All the rest were t
dic
tated to him by parts , leaders and inter
ests. He ° did not explain how he had
come into possession of this fact, but sim
i ply stated it as a fact by which he had
taken warning." • _ 1
Washliigtou Items.
The Inaugural Address of President
Grant will endorse the new suffrage
amendment, and it will take decided
ground against all forms of repudiation,
and in favor of paying all our indebted
ness in gold, except where the law under
which any part df it is made explicitly
provides for payment in currency.
Four. bank bills from' the Senate were
acted on in the House this afternoon.
That requiring additional reports from
National banks at the call of th Control
ler of the Currency was sent to a Confer
ence Committee without muchopposi
tion. That looking to partial redistribu
tion of bank currency and of wh ch the Co
burn amendment is the las section,
.which was adopted the other ay, was
taken up again, and after so e debate
sent to a Conference Commi tee by a
small majority. That prevent* g certifi
cation of checks when there are no fluids
was unanimously agreed to, as was also
that making accessories in Nati nal Bank
frauds liable to the same penalti s as prin
cipals, and both measures will go to the
President to-morrow for his si ature.
There is little doubt that a n w policy
in regard to the Alabama cl s, West
Indian annexation, , &c., wil prevail
under the next Administration and that
it will be acted upon at once It may
not boas discreet and wise as that now
being pursued, but it will certainly be
more in accord with public fee 1 . g in the
matter. . .
Among other prompt and p
Lions of the new President, on
tion into office will be the re :
Rosecrans from Mexico.
I:I3IDiSIISADM:
—Wednesday morning, by a vote of
sixty-two to twenty-nine, the Constitu
tional amendment was ratified by the
Wisconsin Assembly.
President Grant halt given a New
York benevolent society 'the exclusive
right to publish tor its benefit a fac
aim
iie of his certificate of election.
—Over two hundred complaints have
been made to Government special agents
at New York by widows of soldiers and
sailors that they have been swindled out
of money collected by lawyers.
Col John Van Horn, an ex-Alderman
4Chicago, was arrested Tuesday night
for shooting at his two daughters, one of
whom he slightly wounded.: He was
held in 15,000 bonds to keep the peace.
—Tueiday night the Wisconsin Senate,
by a vote of twenty-one t 6 six, indefi
nitely postponed the House bill propo
sing to submit to the people in 1870 the
question of extending the suffrage to
women.
—On Friday the four Chesapeake pi
rates, Wm. Wilson, Wm. Wells, Frank
Romunds and George' Bailey, are to be
hanged at Princess Anne, Somerset coun
ty, Md. The crime for winch they are
*to Buffer death was the murder, in March
of last year, of the Captain and Mate of
an oyster schooner in the Chesapeake.
—At the Commencement of the Medi
cal University of New York on Tuesday
the degree , of Doctor of Medicine was
conferred upon R. C. Graves, of Indiana;
W. Hughes, of Ohio; J. W. Palmer, of
,Ohio; R. R. Stockard, of Mississippi; J.
Paul and R. B. Townsend, of Ken
tucky. Professor Thompson delivered
the valedictory addresQ., in which he
ridiculed the idea that nature was the
only healer of disease. - and argued that
no true physician could entertain such a
heresy without moral paralysis.
PR LSIDEAT JOHNSON'S LAST WOE
(Continued from First Page.)
net be censured, if my efforts have been
Impeded in the interests of party fac
tion, and If a policy which was intended
to reassure, and conciliate the people of
both sections of the country was made
the occasion of inflaming and dividing
still further those who were_only recent
ly in arms against each other, yet as in
dividuals and citizens - were sincerely de
sirous, as I shall ever believe, of burying
all hostile feelings in the grave of the
paSt. The bitter war was waged on the
part of the government to vindicate the
Constitution and save the 'Union, and if,
I have erred In trying to bring about a
more speedy and lasting peace, to extin
guish heart-burnings and enmities, and
to prevent trouble in the 13outh, which
was retarding material prosperity in that
region and injuriously effecting the whole
country, lam quite c •ntent to rest my
case with the more deliberatejudgment
of the people, and, as I have already in
timated, with the distant future.
The war, all must remember, was a
stupendous and deplorable Mistake.
Neither side understood the other, and
had this simple fact and the conclu
sions been kept in view, all that was
needed was accomplished by the ac
knowledgment of the terrible wrong.
and the expression of better feeling and
earnest endeavor at atonement shown
and felt In the prompt ratification of the
Constitutional Amendment by the,
Southern States atlthe close of the war.
Not accepting the war as a confessed
false step on the part of those who in
augurated it, was an errOr, which now
only time can cure, and which, at this
late date, we should endeavor to palliate.
Experiencing, moreover, as all have
done, the frightful cost of the arbitra
ment of the sword, let us in the future
cling closer than ever to the Constitution
as our only safeguard. It is to be hoped
that not until the burdens now pressing
upon us with such fearful weight are re
moved,iwill our people forget the lessons
of the war, and that remembering them,
from whatever cause, peace between
sections and States may be perpetual.
The history of late events in oar coun
try, as well as of the greatest govern
ments of ancient and modern times,
teaches that we have everything
to lose by a departure from
the letter and spirit of the. Constitution,
and the unane ascendency of men al
lowed to assume power in what are con
sidered desperate emergencies. Sylla,
on• becoming master of Rome, at once
adopted measures to crush his enemies,
and to consolidate the power of his party
he established initiatory colonies through
out Italy, deprived of the full Roman
franchise the inhabitants of the Italian
towns who had opposea his usurpation,
confiscated their lands and gave them to
-his soldiers, and conferred citizenship
upon a great number of slaves be onging
to those who had proscribed him, thus
creating at Rome a kind of body-guard •
for his protection. After having given
Rome over to slaughter, and tyranized
beyond all example over those opposed
to him and the legions, his terrible in
strument of wrong, Sylla could yet feel
safe in laying down the insignia of power
so dreadfully abused and 'in mingling
freely with the families and friends of
his myriad of victims. The fear which he
had inspired continued after his volun
tary abdication, and even in retirement
his will was law to a people who had
permitted themselves to be enslaved.
What but a subtle knowledge and con
viction that the Roman people had
come changed, discouraged and utter:
broken in L spirit, could have hindere
this glaring assumption ? - What but pn o
lit indifference to consequences so terri
ble as to leave Rome open to every cal
amity which subsequently befel her
could have justified. the conclusions of
the dictator and tyrant in his startling
experiment?
We find that in the time which has
since elapsed human nature and exi
gencies in governments have not greatly
changed. Who, a few years ago, in con
templating our future, could have, sup
posed that in a bitter experience every-
thing demanded in the name of military
emergency, or dictated by capriee,
would come to be considered as mere
matters of course; that conscriptions, .
confiscation, loss of personal liberty, the
subjection of States to military rale
and dhdranchisement, with the extension
of the right of suffrage merely to accom
plish party ends, would receive the pas
sive submission, if not acquiescence, of
the lieople of theßepublic. It, has
been clearlydemonstrated by recent oc
currences that encroachments upon the
Constitution cannot be prevented by the •
President. However devoted or deter
mined
he maybe, unless the people •
i
interpose, there s no power under the
_Constitution to check a dominant major
ity of two-thirds of the Congress of the
United. States. An appeal to the nation
is attended with too much delay to meet •
the emergency, while if left free to act
the people
. would correct in time such
evils as might follow legislative
usurpation. There is danger that
the same power which disregards the
Constitution, will deprive' them of the
right to change their rulers, except by
revolution.
We have already seen the jurisdiction
of the JudiCiary circumscribed, when it
was apprehended that the Courts would
decide against laws having for their sole
object the sunremacy of party, while the
veto power, lodged in the Executive by
the Constitution for the interest and pro
tection of the people, and' exercised' by
Washington and his successors, has been
rendered nugatory by a partizan majori
ty of two-thirds in each branch of the
national Legislature.
The Constitution evidently contem
plated that when a bill is returned with
the President's objections, it will be *.
calmly reconsidered by Congress. Such,
however, has not been the practice under
the present party rules. lt has become
evident that men who pass a bill under
partizan influence are not likely, through 7.
patriotic motives, to admit their error,
and thereby weaken their own organize
lion by solemnly confessing it under the 1;
official oath. Pride of opinion, if noth
ing else, has intervened and prevented a
calm and dispasscionate reconsideration
of a bill 'disapproved by the Executive.
Much as I venerate the Constitution, it
must be admitted that this condition of
affairs has developed aflefect which, un
der the aggressive tendency of the legis
lative department , of the government, •:c.,
may readily Work its overthrow.' It
may, however, be remedied without dis
turbing the harmony of the instrument.
The. veto power is generally exercised
upon Constitutional grounds, and when
ever it is soapplied, and the bill returned
with the Executive reasons for withnold
luithis signature, it ought to be immedi
ately certified to the Supreme Court of
the'United States fir its decision. If its
constitutionality shall be declared by i
that tribunal. it should then become al .
law; but if the, decision' is otherwise, it
should fail without potver in Congress to
re-enact it.
In cases in which the veto rests upon 1
hasty and inconsiderate legislation; and
in which no constitutional question la in- ;
volved, I would not change the !nude
mental law, for in such cases no perma
nent evil can be incorporated in the fed- •
eral system. It is obvious that without
such an amendment, the government, as..
it existed under the Constitution prior
to the rebellion, may be wholly subvert-
, I sitive ac
'hi induc
i of Gen
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