abama, and handing the State Government
over to the officers elected by the people.

The Senate having requested information from the President as to the
condition of the rebel States, the President, on the 20th of December,
sent in a message which Mr. Sumner characterized as an attempt to
"whitewash" the unhappy condition of the rebel States. The message of
the President was accompanied by reports from General Grant and
General Schurz, in which Congress found evidence that the late rebels
had little sense of national obligation, and were chiefly anxious to
regain political power, and compensate themselves for the loss of
slavery by keeping the negroes in abject servitude.

The passage of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, by a large majority in
Congress, and its veto by the President, presents the next phase in
the contest. To Republicans the most alarming feature in the Veto
Message was the evidence it gave that the President was ready at once
to give to traitors who had fought fiercely for four years to destroy
the Union an equal voice with loyal men in determining the terms of
its reconstruction.

In this instance the President prevailed. The bill failed to pass over
the veto, from the fact that six Senators--Dixon, Doolittle, Morgan,
Norton, Stewart, and Van Winkle--who had voted for the bill, now sided
with the President. This was the first and last triumph of the
President.

Two days after, on the 22d of February, the President greatly damaged
his cause by denouncing a Senator and a Representative, and using the
slang of the stump against the Secretary of the Senate in the midst of
an uproarious Washington mob. The people were mortified that the
Executive of the nation should have committed so serious an
indiscretion.

The incident received notice in Congress in a humorous speech of
Thaddeus Stevens, who declared that the alleged speech could never
have been delivered; that it was "a part of the cunning contrivance of
the copperhead party, who have been persecuting our President;" that
it was "one of the grandest hoaxes ever perpetrated."

Congress, now aware that it must achieve its greatest works of
legislation over the obstructing veto of the President, moved forward
with caution and deliberation. Every measure was well weighed and
carefully matured, since, in order to win its way to the favor of a
triumphant majority in Congress and the country, it must be as free as
possible from all objectionable features.