The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-11-23
The Presidents Position and Views as to
Reconstruction,

and speculatlons III which Mr.. Mcclure him
self INDUCES in must pass for what they are |
worth. He says * layrs-s =. -
However reticent the President NAV be |
on some issues, he seems to have no reserve
as to the policy he conceives to be the true
one to bring back the insurgent States. |
He discussed the position of those States
and their people with great interest and &C.
casional warmth, and with frankness that I
left no doubt as to his purpose. He holds |
that they were never out of the Union; that |
secession, however accomplished as fact, |
cannot be accomplished in law; that the su- |
preme authority of the Government in those |
States was not overthrown by the rebellion,
but simply III allegiance, and of course illogi- |
cally follows his premises that, since rebel |
lion has ceased, the States resume their prop |
Ter place in the Union, and restoration is &C
connplished. This in brief was the stand
point from which the President discussed
the question OF reconstruction for more than
an hour. and answered suggestive obiec-
tons ut times with an earnestness that dem
onstrated how ardently he is working to
give success to his policy. could not but
remind him that his theory stripped all
traitors OF the protection they might claim
| AS public enemies that 1t would stamp as
guilty OF treason within the law, every man
who aided the rebellion, and Of necessity
demand AT his hands comm ensurate punish
ment for what he must hold as uDmitirated
crime, as appalling murder aud desoation
to which there Is no extenuaton to be plead.
You have" | added, ''given us on every
hand the nations monument of Mercy
where will be its monuments of Justice !?
Davis is proclaimed assassin, as well as
a traitor-hs agents have died. another
I(Wirz) will follow-how are the principals
to atone to people doubly bereaved in
their home and in their chief sanctuary of
power ?"
To this the President answered, with
J much animation, that the measure of and
the time for atonement were yet for the fu-
ture to determine | shall not soon forget
the emphasis with viii CHI he declared that
J the South must come back aud be part of
, US, and" he added, sit must come with all
: its manhood" To this proposition, abstract
y, there could be no objection made We
want the South with all its manhood, which
: | would conceive to be the Southern peo-
J pie with their treason abandoned and their
5 crimes punished-not punished revengefui-
J Iy; not IN imitation of the guiIlotine of
? France, or the lnquistion of Spain; but by
f making the leaders who conspired to over
throw the government, strangers to its hon
J ors and its citizenship, and thus, through
life, the monuments Of the power, the JUS
! tice and the magnanimity of the highest
s nation of the earth. The President said
t that such may be the measure of punish.
, nent, that he had pardoned but few who
would come under such rule; that there
d are exceptions to all rules, and there were
4 both civil functionaries and army officers
= who might be pardoned with propriety He
o said that he had not yet gone as far in his
: amnesty, either general or special, as Mr.
u Lincoln proposed. He explained, what is
t not generally known, that his pardons are
2 mainly OF business men, many of whom
were Union men, who must have pardons tc
= enable them to sell or mortgage their lands
t or to get credit in their business operations,
u and added that he had not yet reached the
# consideration OF such cases as Lee, Steph
ems Longstreet, Beauregard, and others Of
j. that class. .af
2 He spoke freely Of the proposed trial Of
S DAVIS, and sad that as yet the government
had not taken any steps in the matter. Ii
he Is to be tried in Richmond the trial must
r necessarily be postponed until the civil au-
thorlty is fully restored and then it will be
S a question for consideration under the con
Y dltlon Ut affairs which may at that time ex-
t ISL. AS Virginia is still practically under
/ martial law-certainly wholly under mill.
: tary rule judge that many moons may
r wax aud wane before we can have a great
+ State trial do no question the wisdom
t Of Tins delay,for it is certainly better for the
, government TO avoid the danger of defeat in
Z attempting to convict of constructive treas
on, III Washington. than to force trial
f which might afford a technical escape for
/ DAVIS and leave the great question undeter-
mined. If We're going to guess on the
subject, | would say that Davis is more
, likely to be paroIed during the next year
than to be tried ana if he is ever hanged, he
must do it himself
, The President is clearly adverse to con-
tiscation, and that question il practically
settled Whatever might be the views Of
Congress- confiscation is not possible with
an Executive determlnedly hostile to it,aud
with the pardoning power ~ bis hands
infer, however, that on this point Congress
will harmonize with the Executive, as a
number CT even the radical leaders, such as
ICreeIey and Sumner, openly oppose it, If
content. Five Years hence we shall all be
wiser on that point than now
believe that the President will WELD all
his power to affect the admission of the rem
resentatives of the rebellious States into
Congress during the next session. The
Senate being organized, the question cannot
come up there until it is brought up in Or
der; but there will be a strong pressure to
ID, 6 ~
members, by placing their names ON the
roll when the House meets. This. Mr.. Nc
Pherson will not do, and al! votes of instruc-
ton he will call only those who are return
ed from States clearly entitled to represen-
tation. The law forbids him to do other
wise, and he will be faithful to do it. The
question of their admission will then aeitate
the House; and | fear make sad breach be-
tween the President and Congress. The
South is encouraged by the position of the
administration tn be importUnate iu its de-
maud for admission and it is not improba
BILE that it will in the end be admitted. /
have seldom seen Congress struggle against
power and hold out to the end.
On the future of the freedmen the Presi-
dent talks well lie displays more sense
than sentiment on the question, aud means
to solve tne question, and means to solve
the question fairly, as demanded by civil
cation and humanity. Of their ability to
win position that will enable them to be
incorporated into our system of Government
as citizens. he is not eninently hopeful, but
feels that it must be fairly tried, with an
open field for the negro. That failing. he
looks upon colonization as the only alterna
tive.
1t would be foolish to disguise the fact
that the President, both by word and deed.
discalms the position of partisan Execu-
tive, and that he is not insensible to the fat.