“Let them consider the remedy for these usurpations, and, having found it, fearlessly execute it.”[[343]]
The authors of this remarkable paper were eminent in the councils of their party and stood high in the estimation of Union men everywhere. Senator Wade was distinguished no less for his physical than for his moral courage—qualities impaired somewhat, it is true, by a temper fierce and vindictive. Henry Winter Davis, whose zeal for civil liberty will constitute his best claim to the gratitude of posterity, possessed literary gifts scarcely surpassed by any statesman then in public life. Though treated with extreme fairness, not to say generosity, by the President, he pursued toward the Administration a course of consistent hostility. This opposition, which even Mr. Lincoln’s tact could never disarm, has been ascribed to disappointment at his failure to obtain a place in the Cabinet. While the selection of Montgomery Blair from his own State of Maryland may have been a cause of estrangement, a sense of what Mr. Davis regarded as public duty contributed, doubtless, to intensify this feeling, which led him ultimately to think the President scarcely entitled to courteous treatment. With the Ohio Senator the pitiless maxim, vae victis, had an undoubted influence. Both were gentlemen of wide experience and acknowledged ability, and yet their vigorous and fearless arraignment of the President revealed an astonishing lack of political sagacity. They inquired, for example, on what foundation he rested his expectation of an adoption of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. The incorporation, soon after, of such a provision in the fundamental law shows their want of insight into the tendencies of the times. The fire of the prophet, indeed, was present in the protest; his inspiration was altogether wanting. Their absurd assertion that the electoral votes of Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee were the prime consideration with the President must be attributed to the passion rather than to the reason of his critics, for few men of that generation were more familiar with the Constitution in all its relations. Better than most of their readers they knew that the duty of counting such votes was entrusted not to a possibly interested Executive, but to a joint convention of both Houses. If the Maryland member believed the President had committed the misdemeanors charged and insinuated it was his duty to bring before the House the question of impeachment. Far less than was expressed in the protest would have been ground for investigation. If tenderness to Lincoln, a weakness of which Mr. Davis at least was never suspected, or a concern for party welfare prevented such a step, then he was himself guilty of a gross neglect of duty. Doubtless this consideration, together with the want of moderation shown in the manifesto, subjected its authors to a suspicion of insincerity. Indeed, one does not read a dozen lines of their arraignment without discovering the chief if not the sole cause of its publication. “The President,” they say, “did not sign the bill ‘to guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped, a republican form of government’—passed by the supporters of his Administration in both Houses of Congress after mature deliberation.” In brief, the political departments of Government had entered upon a struggle for power; Congress had been defeated, and its discomfited leaders sought to relieve their feelings by railing at the President.
Except that it probably defeated the renomination of Mr. Davis for Congress, their protest was followed by no political result of moment.[[344]] In it the mass of Republicans perceived only the seeds of dissension within their ranks. In this view it was a source of delight to Democrats, though they felt little sympathy with either the defeated bill or the purposes of its chief authors.
VIII
AN ATTEMPT TO COMPROMISE
When Congress met in December, 1864, Mr. Lincoln, who received the electoral votes of twenty-two of the twenty-five States participating in the contest, had again been chosen President. In the struggle for power he had refrained with his usual prudence from improving his advantage over the Legislative department. The annual message omitted all reference to the controversy occasioned by his failure to sign, and his proclamation concerning, the bill of Messrs. Wade and Davis; the question of reconstruction was noticed in only the most casual manner. A statement of the satisfactory condition of foreign relations introduced the Executive communication; the subject of finance received the consideration that its importance required. The vast proportions and the efficient state of the navy were mentioned as matter of congratulation. General Sherman’s projected march of three hundred miles through hostile regions was characterized as the most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year. This with other evidences of approaching disruption in the Confederacy led logically to a summary of what had been accomplished toward reorganization in those States already wrested from insurgent armies. On this subject the message observed: “Important movements have also occurred during the year to the effect of molding society for durability in the Union. Although short of complete success, it is much in the right direction that twelve thousand citizens in each of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organized loyal State governments, with free constitutions, and are earnestly struggling to maintain and administer them.”[[345]] Movements in the same direction, he said, more extensive though less definite, were in progress elsewhere and should not be overlooked. No plan of reconstruction was proposed, or even alluded to in the message.
Among questions beyond Executive authority to adjust was specified the admission of members to Congress. In disclaiming power over this subject he anticipated the criticism of those Senators and Representatives who later in the session ascribed to him a design to usurp important functions of the Legislative branch of Government.
From its concluding paragraphs we are enabled to collect the sentiments of the President relative to his offer, a year before, of a general pardon to designated classes upon specified terms. In this connection he said: “But the time may come—probably will come—when public duty shall demand that it [the door open to repentant rebels] be closed; and that, in lieu, more rigorous measures than heretofore shall be adopted.” This seems to establish beyond question the fact that Mr. Lincoln feared some measures more stringent than he had been hitherto pursuing might be rendered necessary by the failure of a policy of clemency to recall any large number of insurgents to their obedience to the Constitution and the laws.
He ventured to recommend a reconsideration of the proposed constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout the United States, which at the preceding session had passed the Senate, but failed to receive in the House the requisite two thirds vote. Though the present, he reminded them, was the same Congress and composed of nearly the same members, their judgments were, no doubt, influenced by an intervening election, which, though it imposed on them no obligation to change their views, made it reasonably certain that if they did not submit the amendment to the States the succeeding Congress would. He inquired, since its passage was merely a question of time, whether they would not agree that the sooner the better? The voice of the people, he added, had for the first time been heard on that question.[[346]]
As the President believed, the House had been so far converted to his views that a joint resolution adopting the amendment was passed early in the session by a vote of 119 to 56.[[347]]
When Congress assembled the public was occupied chiefly in watching the progress of naval and military operations. The sinking of the Alabama and the capture of the Florida practically ended Confederate privateering, for any expectations based upon the escape of the Albemarle were frustrated by the enterprise and daring of Lieutenant Cushing. One army had been destroyed by Sheridan, another crippled by Thomas. Tidings of telling blows inflicted by General Sherman gave something like assurance of his safety. Though not without heavy loss, Grant had forced Lee within the defences of Richmond and Petersburg. Some of the lesser Union advantages had, it is true, been offset by Southern victories; signs of disintegration within the Confederacy, however, were multiplying, and this condition forced upon Congress the inevitable question of reconstruction.