long line of
compeers--should be overthrown and demolished by the single arm of the
gentleman from New York. I pray the gentleman to quote authority; not
to put too heavy a load upon his own judgment; he might sink under the
weight. Give us your author."[1050]

[Footnote 1050: _Congressional Globe_, Vol. 37, Part 2, pp. 1307-1308.]

As the debate continued it became evident the President's friends were
losing ground. Aside from the withering blows of Stevens, unseen
occurrences which Raymond, in his eagerness to champion Johnson's
policy, did not appreciate or willingly ignored, had a most disturbing
influence. The Northern people welcomed peace and approved the
generosity of the government, but they wanted the South to exhibit its
appreciation by corresponding generosity to the government's friends.
Its acts did not show this. Enactments in respect to freedmen, passed
by the President's reconstructed legislatures, grudgingly bestowed
civil rights. A different punishment for the same offence was
prescribed for the negroes; apprentice, vagrant, and contract labour
laws tended to a system of peonage; and the prohibition of public
assemblies, the restriction of freedom of movement, and the
deprivation of means of defence illustrated the inequality of their
rights. Such laws, for whatever purpose passed, had a powerful effect
on Northern sentiment already influenced by reported cruelties, while
the Southern people's aversion to Union soldiers settling in their
midst intensified the feeling. Moreover, Southern and Democratic
support of the President made Republicans distrust his policy. If
States can be reconstructed in a summer and congressmen admitted in a
winter, it was said, the South, helped by the Democracy of the North,
might again be in control of the Government within two years. These
considerations were bound to affect the judgment of Republicans, and
when Stevens began to talk and the real conditions in the South came
to be known, it aroused party indignation to a high pitch in the
House.

Raymond, in his brilliant rejoinders, endeavoured to recover lost
ground. He had created no enemies. On the contrary his courtesy and
tact smoothed the way and made him friends. But after weeks of
discussion an effort to adopt a resolution of confidence in the
President met with overwhelming defeat. Stevens asked that the
resolution be referred to the Committee on Reconstruction--Raymond
demanded its adoption at once. On a r