The Portland daily press., 1865-05-05
From the N. Y. Evening Post.
The Right Course for the Shin.

begin to repair damages. Jurymasts are rig
ged to replace those which were carried away
by the gale; new sails are dragged out Of the
lockers and bent to jury yards; standing and
running rigging is spliced, set up and rove,
and one by one the indispensable pieces which
make up the motive power of the vessel are
replaced. But while the skill and energy and
perseverance of the crew are thus EMPLOYED
day and night, the captains first and constant
care is to lay his ship upon her true course,
that what way she makes. however little, shall
be in the direction of her proper port, and
even if she drifts, she may drift towards her
| haven.
What seamen do after great gale, is our
business just now. Our ship has been for
these many months storm-ridden, and now
that at last the gale has subsidized, all hands are
called to make good the losses and repair the
breaks. There are many things to do, and as
at sea, SO here, the heavy ground-swell which
lasts for many days after great gale, makes
the footing insecure and the needful labors
toilsome, difficult and often dangerous. But
| while the busy crew work, it must be the first
and chief duty of our captain to lay the ship
upon her true course, and see to il that she is
held there. If we drift, let it be in the direc-
ton in which we would steer, and if we have
ever SO little Roadway, let him take care that
we point right.
| Whatever we do, let it be done in the right
direction. That all men are equal before the
1 Iavu nd Ilxy lad - &
injury, and to the just rewards of labor, and
that free discussion, by press and voice, is
sacred safeguardsof the republic-these are
the points which above, under, and in all
schemes for Reconstruction we are constant
| ly to bear in mind. There are many ways to
rig jurymast, but only one way to lay a
course. There are many ways to carry out the
details Of Reconstruction !" but whatever
method is adopted, in one state or another,
whatever expedients may seem best to secure
the desired ends of establishing order and
industry, the motive power of society, in the
South, let us take care that none conflict with
the fundamental principles on which our safe
ty depends.
The workingmen of America begin to see
that their rights are not secure so long as any
one of their number, whatever his color or
condition, may be oppressed, and robbed of
the fruits of his toll. To compel one man to
labor without wages is to lower the wages of
all his neighbors. To wrong one class of
workingmen is to strike at the rights of ALL
| When we free the slaves Of the South, we free
all labor there, and all labor in the lie I'm
ion, which suffered, and was robbed, because
these three millions were compelled to work
without pay. Mr.. Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation will add a shilling per day to
the wages of every day-laborer and mechanic
Ia the Union for twenty years to come. To
make free the slaves is to open the whole
South, an area greater than the free states, to
free mechanics and laborers. The free labor
ing force Of the country before the war was
j confined to the free states-when all the states
are free, all will alike afford them employment
and wages. And more than this, the new en-
terprises, the development of the almost un-
touched natural resources of the South, will
increase an hundred fold the demand for in
dustrlous and skilled labor.
All Americans OF the free states are agreed
that discussion, by voice and press, should be
free. Even in time of war and public dan
ger, great party insisted upon the widest
liberty Of speech and writing. There is no
doubt that if this right had been protected in
the South, the people would have been too
well informed to suffer the slaveholding con-
spirators to misead them. But in the slave
states freedom of discussion was not tolerated,
because slavery could not bear discussion
They stiaed press and voice to perpetuate a
gross wrong; 1t is our duty to insist that
wherever our flag floats, there an American
citizen may say what he thinks, to whoever
chooses to hear him.
II we establish these two points we are safe.
While men are free and while the press is free
the republic will not go far wrong. 1t may
lurch to one side or the other, but it will con-
stantly forge ahead, and in the right direction.
If we neglect these points we shall go wrong,
and fall back into the old slough, no matter
how shrewdly or cunningly the multifarious
details of reconstruction are managed. When
we say 'the people" hereafter, it must not be
a part of the people we speak; and when we
praise "freedom of the press" it must not be
freedom to speak only on certain subjects
Wendell Phillips and Lloyd Garrison have
the same right to speak in Montgomery, Rich
mond or Charleston that Toombs had to
speak in Boston, or Jefferson Davis in Port
land, or Yancey in Cincinnati, before they be-
came traitors. The Union is not safe and
peace is not secure until an honest American
citizen can travel the length Of the land with
out having his opinions called in question, ex-
cept in fair debate.
| Il is very true, as the shareholders used to
say, that 1t is impossible to maintain slavery
If free speech is permitted-and that is the
very reason why slavery must be rooted out
wherever it exists within the Union. Mat
thew Stevenson Of Tennessee wrote, in 1884 :
eve hold 1t wise policy in every government
to make it the interest of all its subjects to
support, defend and perpetuate its civil insti-
tutions;p and he asked: SIS it reasonable to
suppose that any would desire the permanent
existence Of that government which denied to
them all the rights Of freemen? ?" The true
way to secure permanent peace and lasting
and fraternal Union, is to ensure so every man
within our bounds the full exercise of the
rights which Jefferson declared inalenable-
'life, liberty and the pursuit Of happiness
II we make sure of these main points, the de-
tails will certainly fall into harmony with
them, and all will go right.
For The Daily Press.
Andrew Jackson-Andrew johnson.
Two Presidents of the U. S. A. The arst
was the seventh President, the second is the
| seventeenth. Both have the name If AN