CONGRESS
Congress has begun its work with a will. It seems very conscious that it
is not to remain in session for eight months, and that after the long debates of the year
the country looks seriously for results. There has been some boyish effervescence, and, of
course, there has been a profuse shower of propositions from every side to solve the
problem of the time. We repeat the hope which we expressed during the last winter, that
some representative whose radical convictions are as unquestionable as those of Mr.
Thaddeus Stevens will save Congress and the country from the disgrace of his unchecked
talk and action. The motion of this gentleman that the House should adjourn during the
reading of the Presidents Message was not so much an insult to the President as to
the whole country; and his remarks at the banquet of reception were both untimely and
foolish.That the
President has disgracefully assailed Mr. Stevens is true. Does Congress then mean to make
the President its model of decency? He is quite as good at the game of vindictive
vituperation as Mr. Stevens. Did the President help himself or his cause by the 22d of
February speech or by his Western speeches? Will Congress help itself by imitating him?
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens should be taught that Congress is the immediate representative of the
people of the United States, and that its forgetfulness of dignity and propriety is
infinitely more offensive than that of the Executive officer.
It is a very common and a totally false
idea that decency of manner and language is incompatible with strong conviction or
effective action. We hear it said that the President is a coarse man and must be coarsely
encountered. No conclusion could be more untrue. A Congress which should steadily pursue
its course, tranquilly fulfilling the popular will, quietly passing necessary bills over
the Executive veto, without a word of derision or acrimony, and while it paralyzed any
unwise or dangerous Executive attempts, preserved profound silence toward the Executive
officer, would confound him a thousandfold more than a Congress which bandied insults with
him. And so a leader who should represent the unbending popular will, and refuse to
abandon himself to rhetorical or sarcastic fury, would have a power in the House, with the
country, and over the Executive, which Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, with all his brilliant
antics, can never reach. Let us hope that some members will reflect that it was the
apparent assent of the House to the vagaries of Mr. Thaddeus Stevens a year ago which so
seriously disturbed its hold upon many of the most loyal men in the country, who, however,
had no alternative but to support Congress when the issue was fairly joined in the
canvass. If it be an impeachable offense, as General Butler seems to suppose, for the
Executive Department of the Government to bring the Legislative into contempt, what is the
remedy when the Legislative branch retorts? May not that account be considered settled,
and the Impeachment be reserved?
The very power of Congress, however and
its support by the country, will tend to make it moderate and mannerly. There is really no
contest between it and the President, for the force is too much on one side. Even the
Democrats desert him. Surely no public man ever encountered such sudden and bitter
retribution. It is not much more than a year since the chief orator at the Democratic
Albany meeting nominated him for next President. And now a Democratic leader in the House
says that to attempt to shoulder the present Executive would destroy any party. After that
nothing can be said. The country has a right to expect hearty, honest, and efficient work
from its representatives, and neither sneers nor sarcasms upon the President. There was a
time when they were legitimate weapons, but it is happily passed.
Articles Related to the Initial Impeachment
Discussions:
The President Judged by Himself
August 25, 1866, page 530
Reconstruction and How
it Works (cartoon)
September 1, 1866, pages 552-553
Which Is The More
Illegal (cartoon)
September 8, 1866, page 569
The New Orleans Report
October 20, 1866, page 658
The New Orleans Massacre
IMarch 30, 1867, page 202
Text from Illustration of Andys Trip
October 27, 1866, pages 680-681
The Great Campaign of
66
September 29, 1866, page 610
What Next?
October 27, 1866, page 674
King Andy (cartoon)
November 3, 1866 page 696
Shall the President be
Impeached?
November 3, 1866, page 690
The Popular Will
November 24, 1866, page 738
Andy Makes a Call on
Uncle Sam, Who Rises to the Occasion (cartoon)
December 1, 1866, page 768
Impeachment and General
Butler
December 15, 1866, page 786
Congress
December 22, 1866, page 803
What Next?
December 29, 1866, page 818
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