but in the Senate five, and in the House seven, members classed as Republicans voted against it. So, in spite of the President's vetoes, these two very comprehensive measures became the law of the land, and in them was fully set forth the Congressional plan of reconstruction. The contest was virtually over. Congress was master. Although the vetoes still came in, and Mr. Johnson lost no opportunity to vindicate his reputation for stubbornness and courage, he was little else than an Executive figure for the remainder of his term. The history of reconstruction would now more properly attach to the history of Congress, and only as a matter of courtesy and convenience is it gathered around Mr. Johnson.

Congress adjourned on the 28th of July, and besides the important measures mentioned, the following acts, bearing more directly upon the history of the times, were passed: Granting the franking privilege to Mrs. Lincoln; transferring the library of the Smithsonian Institute to the library of Congress; reimbursing several States for money advanced the Government during the war; authorizing the coinage of five-cent pieces; punishing kidnaping with a view to carrying persons into slavery; providing that no person who had served in the army or navy of the "Confederacy" should thereafter receive an appointment as a cadet in the Naval or Military Academy; providing for the sale of the public lands in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, according to the provisions of the Homestead Law of 1862

and 1864; incorporating "Howard Institute," in the District of Columbia, for the education of freedmen ; reviving the grade of General of the Army; regulating the election of United States Senators; and authorizing the use of the ridiculous metric system of weights and measures. A resolution was also passed enabling the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish each State one set of the standard weights and measures of this French system. In the museums at the State capitals these things should be kept as perpetual remembrancers of national folly. Few of the men of the generation, who attempted to introduce this vulgar pretension in this country, could pronounce correctly the unknown tongue in which it is expressed; and it is to be hoped that somewhere in the good flight of time, the American who would revive the metric folly and scandal on his own simple, beautiful, expansive, universal language, should be declared a vagabond and an outcast on earth, and his name held in contempt by a straightforward, wise, and refined race.

And it should

Tennessee was also restored to her former place in the Union during this session. A resolution also provided for the publication of the official or documentary history of the Rebellion. not be forgotten "in this connection," as President Johnson was in the habit of saying, that towards the last day of this session Congress authorized a contract with Vinnie Ream for a statue of President Lincoln at ten thousand dollars.

After the adjournment of Congress, in the sum

mer and fall of 1866, President Johnson made an extensive tour through the country, which in many respects was shorn of the dignity which had attached to the Presidential office, and which for a time brought him into constant ridicule. The irritable temper of the man, and the disjointed condition of the times, political and otherwise, may furnish an apology for his unseemly performances while "swinging around the circle," as it was facetiously called. At all events, those who read these speeches now, and reflect upon the course of Mr. Johnson's life and conduct, will hardly be able to avoid the conclusion that he was honest and sincere, and felt himself to be right.

CHAPTER XIV.

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE — CONGRESS HEEDS IT NOTMEASURES AND WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION-VETO AFTER VETO-WHO WAS RIGHT?

ON

N the 3d of December, 1866, Congress again convened, and the President sent in at once this plain and interesting message :-—

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:After a brief interval, the Congress of the United States resumes its annual legislative labors. An all-wise and merciful Providence has abated the pestilence which visited our shores, leaving its calamitous traces upon some portions of our country. Peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority have been formally declared to exist throughout the whole of the United States. In all of the States civil authority has superseded the coercion of arms, and the people, by their voluntary action, are maintaining their governments in full activity and complete operation. The enforcement of the laws is no longer "obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings;" and the animosities engendered by the war are rapidly yielding to the beneficent influences of our free institutions, and to the kindly effects of unrestricted social and commercial intercourse. An entire restoration of fraternal feeling must be the earnest wish of every patriotic heart; and we will have accomplished our grandest national achievement when, forgetting the sad events of the past, and remembering only their instructive lessons, we resume our onward career as a free, prosperous, and united people.

In my message of the 4th of December, 1865, Congress was

informed of the measures which had been instituted by the Executive with a view to the gradual restoration of the States in which the insurrection occurred to their relations with the General Government. Provisional governors had been appointed, conventions called, governors elected, Legislatures assembled, and Senators and Representatives chosen to the Congress of the United States. Courts had been opened for the enforcement of laws long in abeyance. The blockade had been removed, custom-houses re-established, and the internal revenue laws put in force, in order that the people might contribute to the national income. Postal operations had been renewed, and efforts were being made to restore them to their former condition of efficiency. The States themselves had been asked to take part in the high function of amending the Constitution, and of thus sanctioning the extinction of African slavery as one of the legitimate results of our internecine struggle.

Having progressed thus far, the Executive Department found that it had accomplished nearly all that was within the scope of its Constitutional authority. One thing, however, yet remained to be done before the work of restoration could be completed, and that was the admission to Congress of loyal Senators and Representatives from the States whose people had rebelled against the lawful authority of the General Government. This question devolved upon the respective Houses, which, by the Constitution, are made the judges of the elections, returns, and qualifications of their own members; and its consideration at once engaged the attention of Congress.

In the meantime the Executive Department, no other plan having been proposed by Congress, continued its efforts to perfect, as far as was practicable, the restoration of the proper relations between the citizens of the respective States, the States, and the Federal Government, extending, from time to time, as the public interests seemed to require, the judicial, revenue, and postal systems of the country. With the advice and consent of the Senate, the necessary officers were appointed, and appropriations made by Congress for the payment of their salaries. The proposition to amend the Federal Constitution, so as to prevent the existence of slavery within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction, was ratified by