e obvious to the most superficial observer; the natural
inference is, therefore, that he will act after his kind; but this is an
inference which dispassionate statesmen have hesitated fully to draw.
They have been continually surprised at acts which they should have
foreseen. They were surprised that, during the months he was left to his
own devices and to the counsels of Southern politicians, he matured his
policy of reconstruction. They were surprised that he would not abandon
his policy rather than break with the Republican party. They were
surprised when they learned that he meditated a _coup d'etat_ on the
assembling of the Fortieth Congress. They were surprised when they found
that no law could be made which would bind him according to its intent.
They were surprised when, as soon as Congress adjourned, he began to
take measures which can have no other intelligible purpose than that of
making him master of Congress when it reassembles. And to crown all,
though it has been apparent since February, 1866, that he was the enemy
of the country, they have still had technical reasons for retaining him
as the proper executive of its laws.

It would then seem that, in dealing with such a man as Andrew Johnson,
it is the part of wisdom to suspect the worst. Without any special
knowledge of the treasonable intrigue now going on in Washington, it is
still possible to fathom the President's designs, and to understand the
resources on which he relies. In the first place, his conceit makes him
believe that he is the first man in the nation, and that he is not only
adored at the South, but popular at the North. The slightest sign of
reaction in Northern and Western elections he considers a testimony to
his individual merit, and an indorsement of his policy. In case he
refuses to recognize the present Congress, turns its members by military
power out of their seats, and appeals for support to the white
population of the Rebel as well as Loyal States, he will count on being
sustained by the nation. The Democratic party agrees with him as far as
regards the constitutionality of the laws which he will, in the name of
the Constitution, be compelled to disregard in order to get possession
of the military power of the country; and he thinks that party will
support him in resuming those functions as commander-in-chief of which
he has been deprived by a "usurping" Congress. The army and navy, with
all Republican officers removed, including