The Daily Dispatch: December 11, 1865., [Electronic resource]

Admission of Southern Representatives.

‘ There was a report yesterday to the effect that the Radicals in Congress would soon make a great show of magnanimity by admitting to their seats the representatives, first from Tennessee, second from Arkansas, and third from Virginia, provided those from the latter car take the test oath. I was inclined to doubt the truth of the report at first, but after investigation I believe it is well founded. What the object in view can be does not yet appear. It cannot be that the Radicals look upon it as an accession of strength to their party, for it will be the reverse. There are three (so-called) Republican members from Tennessee, but they are no more Republican in their feelings than Andrew Johnson is. All of the three members from Arkansas, six of the members from Tennessee, and seven of the members from Virginia, are Democrats. If the whole nineteen members from the three States are admitted, sixteen will certainly vote with the Democrats, and only three with the Radicals. The strength of parties in the House will then be: Radicals, 142; Democrats and Conservatives, 52. Your readers can see that the Radicals run no risk in the admission of the representatives from these three States. They will still retain an overwhelming majority, although the Democrats will receive a large accession to their numbers.

’ Thaddeus Stevens's resolution will meet with decided opposition in the Senate. It is understood that Reverdy Johnson and Senator Doolittle will make strong arguments against it. The most strenuous efforts will be made to amend it, and faint hopes begin to be entertained that it may not pass the Senate without amendment. There is no prospect, however, that any of the Southern members will be admitted this session, except those from Tennessee and Arkansas, and possibly those from Virginia.

Of the same subject, the Washington Star says:

‘ The Republican members of the Senate yesterday were in caucus upon the resolutions of Mr. Thaddeus Stevens relating to reconstruction. They are not likely to pass that body without important amendments.

’ It is reported that prominent Republicans in both Houses favor the admission of the Tennessee delegation.

The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune writes:

‘ It is expected that there will be a strong opposition to the passage of the Stevens resolution in the Senate, mainly on the ground that it would make the action of that body as to the admission of its own members dependent upon the concurrence of the House. This, in fact, was the objective trait urged in a caucus of the Republican members of the Senate today. But whatever modification it may undergo in point of form, there is no doubt that the principle of the restoration will be adopted and that the investigation will be read.

’ About the meaning of that resolution there can be no doubt; it is a declaration on the part of Congress that the representatives of the people have a word to say with regard to the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion: that they mean to investigate the case for themselves, and to act upon their own judgment. The resolution involves neither a direct approval nor a direct censure of the policy followed by the President; but it does, indeed, indicate that the results of that policy will not be accepted without having first been closely scrutinized, and that the national authority will not relax its hold upon the late rebel States until the guaranties given for future good behavior are clearly understood to be satisfactory. It is rumored here that the passage of the Stevens resolution was received with little favor in Administration circles; but, in fact, the President has no right to complain. That the final closing up of so tremendous a revolution as that through which we have passed should be confided to the discretion of one man, could not be expected in a country in which the exercise of Democratic government has become a fixed habit with the people. The President has assumed responsibilities almost without precedent in the history of this republic, and even his nearest personal friends will hardly ask for him an unqualified endorsement without a close examination of the case, where the stake consists in the future peace and happiness of the nation. There was a way for him to escape this responsibility. He might have called an extra session of Congress immediately after the close of the war, and the legislative and executive branches of the Government might have unanimously proceeded together in an attempt to solve the great problem before them. But as the President undertook the business alone, it cannot be surprising to him that the National Legislature, when at the regular time entering upon its functions, should ask for an account of what has been done, and insist upon being heard concerning what is to be done hereafter.

The National Intelligencer thus argues specially for the admission of the Virginia members:

When the body of Virginia seceded, the northwest and eastern sections refused to desert the Union, but they proclaimed themselves a loyal community at the outset; and these relations with the Federal Government have never been suspended, but have continued uninterruptedly, without intermission.

What is recognized as Virginia was even before Tennessee in the abolition of slavery and the adoption of the constitutional amendment, and in the acts of repudiating the rebel debt and of declaring the ordinances of secession to be null and void.

The Alexandria Legislature was entirely loyal. The Senators elect, Messrs. Segar and Underwood, are everywhere recognized as loyal; the Governor of Virginia, regularly elected, is of indisputable loyalty; and we can recognize no technicality which, under radical reasoning, should exclude Virginia even for an instant on the score of the loyalty of the State, since it first unfurled the flag of the Union in a community of armed and defiant secessionists.

We are becoming more and more sanguine that it is out of the power of politicians (even if they shall see fit to manifest a strong will to do so) to defeat the speedy triumph of restoration now nearly accomplished by the President.