Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-11-10

tcss vi EccouSlEuctiOfl, WITH tIle re0sOtls
for your faith in 1t, will commend itself
you, inspire our whole Northern people
with confidence in your administration.
The report Is meagre and unsatistac-
tory, but / think 1t conveys, for the
most part, the spirit OF our conversation.
Therefore, although the whole tenor of
your words led me to believe II was not
intended to be kept private, have re-
Trained from answering the specific in
quiries of anxious friends, whom met
on my way home, lest might, in some
way, leave wrong impression on their
minds. -'".t."
Truly your friend. -........
GEORGE 7. srrAnSs.
WAsuTSaroE, ID. c., Oct. 3D. 1865.
have just returned from an interview
with President Johnson, in which he
talked for an hour On the process Of re-
construction of rebel States. His man
ner was as cordial, and his conversation
as free, as in 1868, when | met him daily
in Nashville.
His countenancc is healthy, even
more so than when first knew him.
Il remarked that the people of the
North were anxious that the process OF
reconstruction should be thorough, and
they wished to support him in the ar
duous work, but their ideas We're con-
fused by the conflicting reports con-
stantly circulated, and especially by the
present position Of the Democratic par
ty. 1t is industrlously circulated in the
Democratic clubs that he was going
over to them. He laughingly replied:
" Major, have you never known a man
who for many years had differed from
yOurviews because you were In advance
of him, claim them as his own when he
came up to your stand point?"
replied, I have often. He said, so
have /, and went on the Democratic
party finds its old position untenable,
and Is coming to ours IL it has come up
and need no preparation for this con-
versation we can talk freely on this
subject for the thoughts are familiar to
us,-we can be perfectly frank with
each other. He then commenced with
saying that the States are In the Union,
which is whole and indivisable. 1893
individuals tried to carry them out,
but did not succeed, as a man may try
to cut his throat, and be prevented by
the bystanders; and you cannot say he
cut his throat because he tried to do so.
! individuals may commit treason and
! be punished, and large number of in
diyiduals may constitute u rebellion,
and be punished as traitors. Some States
tried to get out of the Union, and we
opposed II, honestly, because we belivcd
it to he wrong; and we have succeeded
in putting down the rebellion. The
power of those persons who made the
attempt has been crushed, and now we
want to reconstruct the State Govern
meats, and have the power to do its---
The State irstitGtions are pro5trated,
laid out on the ground, and they must
be taken up and adapted TO the progress
Of events. This cannot bc done in q
moment. We are making very rapid
progress; so rapid that sometimes can
not realize it; it appears like II dream.
We must not be in too much Of hur-
ry; ii IL better to let them reconstruct
themselves than to force them to it, for
If they 20 wrong, the power is in our
hands and we may check them at any
stage, to the end, and oblige them to
correct their errors; we must be patient
with them. did not expect to keep
out all who were excluded from the
amnesty, or even large number of
them, but intended they shocld sue
for pardon, and so realize the enOrlaity
of the crime they had committed. s-#
You could not have preached the sub
ject of equal suffrage, at the North sew
Ell years ago, and we must remember
that the changes at the South have
been more rapid and they have been
Obliged to accept more unpalatable
truth than the North has; we must
give them time to digest q part, for we
cannot expect such large affairs will be
eomprshcnded and digested at once
We must give them time to understand
their new position.
i have nothing to conceal In these
matters, End have no desire or willing
ness to take indirect COURSES TO obtain
what we want.
Our government is grand and lofty
struGture; in searching for its founda-
ton, we find it rests on the broad basis
of popular rights. The elective fran
chise is not a natural right, but a polit-
icnl right. am opposed to giving the
States too much power, and also to d
great consolidation Of power in the cen-
tral government.
IfI interfercd with the vote in the
rebel States, to dictate that the negro
shall vote, l might do the same thing
for my own purpose in Pennsylvania.
Our own safety lies in allowing each
State to control the right of voting by
its cwn laws, and we have the power to
control the rebel States Ii they GO
WIOHSs IL khcy ISDcI, VIC iIdNc tilc
my, and can control them by it, and, If
necessary, by legislation also. IF the
General Government controls the right
to vote in the States, ii may establish
such rules MS will restrict tho vote to a
small number Of persons, and titus ere
ate central despotism.
My position Is different here from
what II would be If was in Tennessee.
There should try to introduce negro
suffrage gradually ; first those who had
served in the army those who could
read and write, and perhaps a property
qualification for others OF $500 or $3.50.
1t will not do to let negroes have uni
versal suffrage now. 1t would breed n
war of races.
There was time in the Southern
States when slaves OF large owners
looked down upon non-slaveowners be-
cause they did not own slaves; the
larger the number OF slaves their mas
ters owned the prouder they were, and
this has produced hostility between tho
mass Of the whites and the negroes
The outrages are mostly from the non
slaveholding whites against the negro,
and the negro upon the on-slavoho!d-
ing whites.
The negro will vote with tho late
master whom ho docs not hate, rather
than with the non-slavehoiding white,
whom he does hate. Universal suffrage
would create another war, not against
us, but war Of races.
Another thing. This government is
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