assignment of military officers at will. Should he
stubbornly or capriciously assert this power he might seriously
embarrass the entire administration of the Reconstruction Acts in the
approaching registrations and elections in the Southern States. A
change of officers at a single point might frustrate all the
preparations for the reconstruction of a State, and a general change
might produce chaos in the South and possibly develop a spirit of
violence of which no man could measure the effect. The President's
words made a deep impression on Congress. Mr. Boutwell saw in them a
deadly intent "which provokes and demands the exercise of the highest
and gravest duty of this House"--meaning that the President should be
impeached. Mr. Randall of Pennsylvania taunted Mr. Boutwell with the
declaration that all the talk of impeachment was "mere bluster;" while
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, though believing that Mr. Johnson deserved
impeachment, considered it "a vain and futile thing." "There are,"
said he, "unseen agencies at work, invisible powers operating
everywhere in the country, which will protect a man like Johnson when
called upon." Debate, however, was very brief, and the House passed
the bill over the veto by _ayes_ 108, _noes_ 25. In the Senate there
was no discussion whatever on the President's message, that body being
content to pass the bill against his objections by 30 _ayes_ to 6 _noes_.

The Senate and the House were both ready to adjourn on the 20th of
July, but Mr. Sumner, Mr. Howard of Michigan, and others of the most
radical type in both branches, desired that Congress might remain in
session for the summer and autumn, or at least have such short
vacations as would practically amount to a continuous session. Their
object was to keep constant watch of the course of the Administration
and be at all times ready to neutralize its evil purpose. Aside from
the great personal inconvenience which this would occasion to many
members, the judgment of the majority was against so radical a step.
The more conservative members of the Republican party feared that a
continuous session of Congress would seriously increase the uneasiness
and excitement in the country by creating the impression that the
Senate and House were sitting as a committee of public safety, in the
apprehension of a civil revolution. The reply of those who opposed
the adjournment was that the condition of public affairs did actually
tend to revolutio