St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1865-04-20

stood ready, but.was not in reach to take
BY these recent successes the re-inaugu
ration Of national authority and recon
struction which has had large shared
thought from the fret, is pressed muel
more closely upon our attention. ~ =
fraught with great difficulty Unlike th'
case of war between Independent nstionl
thel 9 is no authorized organ for us to trea
with. No ono man has authority to givs
up the rebellion for Any. other man. WI
simply must begin and mould from disor'
ganized and discordant elements; nor IS =
small additional embarrassment that w
loyal people differ among ourselves as t.
the mode, manner and measure Of recon.
- ~ ~
AS general rule 1 abstain from reading
reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not
70 be. provoked !. By that 70 which sIsssanno'
properly offer answer. In spite ofthispre.
caution however, it comes to my knowl.
edge that I am much censured for some
supposed agency in setting up and seeking
to sustain the new government of Louisiana
I'd this I have done just so much and nj
more than the, public knows. In myan:
nlal message Of December, 1863, andsac.
companyipg proclamation, presented .
plan of reconstruction, as the phrase goes
which i promised If adopted by any State
would be acceptable and sustained bysthe
Executive Government of the nation
distinctly stat ed that this was not the only
plan which might possibly be acceptable,
and distinctly protested that the FL.
ecutive claimed NO right to say when OF
whether members should be, admitted ia
seats in Congress from such States. This
plan was in advance submitted Ito
the Cabinet and approved. by. every mem
Der Of it. One Of them suggested that
should then and, in that connection apply
the emancipation proclamation, exceptin
parts of Virginia and Louisiana; that
should drop thes suggestion about aPpren-
2ticeship, for freed peoples. and that should
omit the protest against my own power=ln
regard TO admission to members Of Con
gress, but even he approved every part and
parcel Of the plan which has been employ
ed or touched by the action of Louisiana.
The new constitutional Louisiana, declar:
ling emancipation for the whole State, prac-
ideally applies the proclamation to the parts
previously exempted. 1T does not adopt
apprenticeship for freed people, and is 81
lent as it could not well be otherwise about
admission of members to Congress, so that
as it applied to Louisiana, every member
of the Cabinet fully approved the plan.
The message went to Congress and receiy-
ed many hearty commentators of the plan,
written and verbal. and not single objec-
tion to- it from any protested emancipa-
Zionist came to my knowledge until after
the news reached Washington that Louisi-
ana had begun to move in accordance with
bit. "a : 80 - '>''' s.
:from about July, 1862, I had correspon-
ded with different persons supposed to be
interested in helping the reconstruction Of
the State government for Louisiana. When
tthe message of 1863, with the. plan before
mentioned, reached New Orleans, Gen.
Banks wrote me that.he was confident that
The people, with his military cooperation,
would reconstruct substantially on that
Eplan.. wrote to him and some Of them "a
|sryi it. They tried it and the result IS
Known" Sach has been my only agency
lin getting up the Louisiana government.
AS to sustaining it. my promise is now as
before stated; but as bad promises are bets1
ter broken than kept, shall keep that as q
bad promise and break it whenever shall
Ibe convinced that the keeping Of it is ad 4
verse to the public interest; but have mott
been SO convinced. have been shown a
letter on this subject, supposed to be AM
able one, in which the writer expresses re-
|gret that my mind has not seemed to bel
definitely fixed on the question, whether
|seceded States so-called, are in the; UnionI
Tor out Of it; 1T would perhaps ada aston
|ishmcnt, to his regret, were he to learn that
since have found protested Union mem
|cndeayoring to answer that question, lhave
|purposely foreborne any public expression
upon, it, asst sappeurs to me that the ques-
ton has not been, nor yet is, practically
material, and that any discussion of it,
while it thus remains practically inmate
|rial, could have no effect other than. mis-
|chiev0QsI Offending our friends Il - -AsS-s
As yet, whatever 1t may become, that
Question is had as asbasis of controversy,
|and good for nothing at all. We all argue
That seeded States, so-called, are: out Of
their proper practical relstionwith the I'M
ion, and that the same object Of the govern
tment, civil and military, in regardsto those
States, is to again get them upto that prop
Ter practical relation. believe that it isl
bot only possibie, but in fact easier to dol
khis. without deciding or even considering
whether these States have ever been out of
The Union than with it. Finding them
selves safely at home, st swoutda sbe:lmerely|
|immat erial whether they had been, abroad.
Let us all, doing acts necessary to restore
the proper practical relations between these
States and the Union, each forever after
'innocently indulge his own opinion wheth-
Ter In doing these acts he brought States
from without into the Union, or only gave
them proper assistance. they never having|
been out of it.
The amount Of constituency soto speak,
|on which the Louisiana Government rests
would be more satisfactory to all if it con-
tanned fifty or sixty thousand, Or, event
twenty thonsands instead of twelve thou
sand as it does, 49,. ,a..~ ...,....,,,...s,.,.
1t is also satisfactory to some that ,tleI
||elao,iSs franchise is not given to the col.
bred man. would, myself, prefer that It!
s. J. ! Al