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ponced a golden tribute into the National Treasury. Shall
all this continue to be lost to us ? Shall we madly attempt to
hold these State« by standing armies—by despotic restraints,
or by the good will and co-operation of the people themselves.
That is the simple question which presents itself for our solu-
tion. The Southern States will hang like a sickly and wither-
ing incubus upon the body politic, until their relations to the
Union are restored. The issue involves no sacrifice of honor
on the part of this Government. It is an issue of prosperity—
of finance—of destiny. I should look upon the subjugation
of these States and their reduction to territorial dependencies,
as the greatest calamity that could befal this country; and
we must trust to the wisdom and magnamity of Congress,
to avert the confusion which is certain to flow from the adop-
tion of so suicidal a policy.

"History affords no instance where a people so powerful in
numbers, in resources, and in public spirit, after a war so long
in its duration, so destructive in its progress, and so adverse
in its issue, have accepted defeat and its consequence, with so
much of good faith as has marked the conduct of the people
lately in insurrection against the United States. Beyond all
question this has been largely due to the wise generosity with
which their enforced surrender was accepted by the President
of the United States, and the generals in the immediate com-
mand of our armies, and to the liberal measures which were
afterwards taken to restore order, tranquility and law, to the
States where all had for the time been overthrown. No steps
could have been better calculated to command the respect, win
the confidence, revive the patriotism, and secure the perma-
nent and affectionate allegiance of the people of the South to
the Constitution and laws of the Union than those which have
been so firmly taken and so steadfastly pursued by the Presi-
dent of the United States."

The Executive, Legislative and Judicial Departments of
this Government are clearly defined in the Constitution.—
Congress makes laws in accordance with the Constitution and
the President executes them. But the Constitution never in-
tended that the President should stand by and witness the
passage of unwise laws, without the interposition of his veto
power. I am yet to learn that in the exercise of his own, the
President has ever encroached upon the functions of the co-
ordinate branches with which he is associated, in his plan of
re construction. There can be no conflict of authority if each
keeps within its prescribed sphere, and we may safely assume
that an attempt at usurpation will never tarnish the fame of
the present Executive.

The great obstacle in determining this vexed question of
re-construction, is the future status of the negro race.

The Constitutional Amendments means this and nothing