n
annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of said
land as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year
1860, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal
can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated
value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner
as the commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe. At the end of
said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any
parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title
thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor
the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose
of determining the annual rent as aforesaid.

"SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That all acts and parts of
acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby
repealed.

"ROBERT C. SCHENCK, HENRY WILSON,
"GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, JAMES HARLAN,
"JAMES S. ROLLINS, W. T. WILLEY,
"_Managers on part of House._ _Managers on part of Senate._"

To have subjected the late rebellious States to military rule for a
stated term of years, say a decade or a generation, would have given
force to the hasty statement of rebels and their sympathizers in the
courts of Europe. It was charged that the United States Government
fought to subjugate the Confederate States. The United States did not
"begin it," and did not intend, at any time, to lay the mailed hand of
military power against the throat of the rights of loyal citizens or
loyal States. The _sine qua non_ of reconstruction was _loyalty to the
Federal Government_. But while this idea was next to the heart of the
Government, the sudden and horrible taking off of Abraham Lincoln
discovered many master-builders, who built not well or wisely. The
early education of Andrew Johnson was not in line with the work of
reconstruction. His sympathies were with the South in spite of his
position and circumstances. The friends of his early political life
were more potent than the friends of a sound, sensible, and loyal
policy upon which to build the shattered governments of the South. And
by indicating and advocating a policy at variance with the logical
events of the war, he was guilty of a political crime, and did the
entire nation an irreparable injury.

Congress seemed to be unequal to the task of perfectin