The fortieth Congress assembled on the 4th March, directly after
the thirty-ninth Congress had expired, and immediately .elected Mr. Wade, a strong Republican and an able man, Presi- dent of the Senate, and Mr. Colfax Speaker of the House of Representatives. It appears to be pursuing precisely the same policy as its predecessor. It has passed a supplement to the Act for the military government of the South, instructing the commanders of military districts in the South to complete the registration of voters for an impartially elected Conven- tion in each State by September next. The majority of the voters thus registered are to decide whether a Convention should or should not be held in pursuance of the Act in ques- tion, in order to form a State Constitution, to be submitted to Congress. This supplement to the Military Act will pro- bably be vetoed by Mr. Johnson, like the Act itself, and imme- diately carried over his veto. Virginia intends to test the con- .stitutionality of the Military Government Act in the Supreme Court. Should a majority of the judges declare it unconstitu- tional, the real crisis of the North,—a struggle with the Supreme
• Court,—a constitutional god whose worship has even survived the Civil War, and who cannot be constitutionally overruled,— will come.
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