Then, under date of June 14th, another, also from Caledonia:—
“Is there no way to arrest the insane course of the President in ‘reorganization’? Can you get up a movement in Massachusetts? I have thought of trying it in our State Convention. If something is not done, the President will be crowned king before Congress meets. How absurd his interfering with the internal regulations of the States, and yet considering them as ‘States in the Union’!”
Also, under date of August 17th, from Caledonia:—
“I have written very plainly to the President, urging delay. But I fear he will pursue his wrong course. With illegal courts and usurping ‘reconstruction,’ I know not where you and I shall be. While we can hardly approve all the acts of the Government, we must try and keep out of the ranks of the Opposition. The danger is that so much success will reconcile the people to almost anything.”
August 26th, Mr. Stevens wrote from his home at Lancaster, Penn.:—
“I am glad you are laboring to avert the President’s fatal policy. I wish the prospect of success were better. I have twice written him, urging him to stay his hand until Congress meets. Of course he pays no attention to it. Our editors are generally cowardly sycophants. I would make a speech, as you suggest, if a fair occasion offered. Our views (‘Reconstruction and Confiscation’) were embodied in our resolutions [in the Republican State Convention, recently held] at Harrisburg, amidst much chaff. Negro suffrage was passed over, as heavy and premature. Get the Rebel States into a territorial condition, and it can be easily dealt with. That, I think, should be our great aim. Then Congress can manage it.”
In the same spirit, Hon. B. F. Wade, of the Senate of the United States, July 29th, wrote from his home at Jefferson, Ohio:—
“I regret to say, that, with regard to the policy resolved upon by the President, I have no consolation to impart. To me all appears gloomy.… The salvation of the country devolves upon Congress and against the Executive. Will they be able to resist the downward tendency of events? My experience is not calculated to inspire me with confidence.”
Hon. Henry Winter Davis, the able, eloquent, and courageous Representative in Congress from Baltimore, June 20th, in a long letter to Mr. Sumner, on our perils and duties, wrote:—