Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-06-28
Noticeable Speech Of General
Frank p. Blair,
HIS VIEWS ON RECONSTRUCTION.
EXTRACTS FROM TT
AZ the 81. LouIs Banque, on the asd

EXTRACTS PROM 1T
Ii our minds were nIied with preiudices on the
question OF slavery, il re allowed ourselves 70
DE still kept Ia a state of alarm and exctement
about this question OF slavery. We would not be
able to consider fairly and displssionatsly, and
with that caimness which the magnanimity OF
the people demands, ibis gTea; question of the
reorganization OF Ogf Government Is ttor
g-ntzaiion 4 mean all the States that have been
In rebellion. Therefore. The sooner We get rid
OF the dead. and bury then, the better for the
living Now. believe, for M own part, in the
theory proclaimed by Nr. Lincoln FOR the reor.
ganization OF the Ststes aud shich has been sane
toned by the people at the last Presidential elec
ton. and which has been announced IN the pfoela
mation of Mr. JohDson Cheers IL ia. believe
satisfactorily known 10 everybody tina, those who
maintain a different attitude on this question
and who sat in the Convention at Baltimore,
that nominated Mr. Lincoln, wanted TO vote
against him. and would have voted against him
1T they dared to. Mr.. Lincoln had announced
himself again and again, 10 different letters, 10 re-
gard TO the State OF Louisiana. and again in re-
gard TO the State Of Arkansas, ia letter Of in
struc,ion which ne addressed 20 General Steele
as TO the manner in which the States should be
reorg anized, and allowed to resume the functions
of government. Well, the people indorsed these
sentiments because they liked them; and Andrew
Johnson. true to the pledges which no made to
the people, and which we're sanctioned by the
people in this election, has issued his proclsma-
ton for the reorganization OF the Government in
North Carolina and several other States in
which he assumes the position maintained by Mr..
Lincoln In bis last utterances. Said be-: | don't
know that these States have been abroad" The
States have never been out of the Union, and
The man who maintains that they have been out
of the Union, because there were certain traitors
in those States, ia just as much secessioDst as
the secessionsts themselves who ATTEMPTED TO
carry these States out Cheers
Now, what Is the difference between that cl ass
of peoplei They act from different motives, as
Q matter Of course. aud ought to have the bene-
| fit OF their motives; but they maintain the Union
was actually dissolved by the declaration Of
secession IN the Southern States; they must
maintain IL, because they undertook TO las on the
Southern States conditions which they DO not
put on other States, and they say We have autho-
| rity and power over these States that we have
not over other States. Now every State in the
| Union as heretofore held, has had the right TO
decide and exercise the right of suffrage as il
| chose for itself Cheers. Rhode Island ex-
| cludes large class of IT'S foreign population
Irish aud German born-no matter how much
| property they have influence no matter
/ whether tney nave a mllllOn I'D Ddnk or railroad
stock, or own any amount OF real estate, aud in
the State of Rhode Island they would have to
cut it very small Laughtar Why a man who
does not own a freehold OF the soil, amounting to
a certain value, cannot exercise the franchise in
! the State of Rhode Island aud Providence planta
tons. W BIO has questioned the right of Rhode
Island in this respect2 Who has ever question
ed he power OF any other State 20 declare who
shall have the right of suffrage in those States,
| A Il q
lious States. where men have usurped power, and
put down the people and the Government OF the
| people, that they have subjected themselves to
certain conditions; that they not now return
to the Union unless the Congress OF the United
| States preScribes who shall be the electors in
those States Well, Andrew johnson has put
his foot upon that proposition cheers, and
Andrew johnson was compelled to put his foot
| upon it, II he was au honest man.
| Who is most to blame in this natter The
State OF Virginia voted, by $4,000 majority,
| against secession, and these armies, these con
spirators armed by the officials of our own Gov
ernment, forced the State out of the Union aud
our Government stood by-aye, my friends for
months after we had Republican President
not alone while We had President of the Dem
ocratc school, but for months after We mad
| Republican President, the Government stood by
with folded arms, and refused to feed its sol
ders who were cooped up in the beleaguered
forts of the South In Louisiana an ordinance
of secession was passed by the so-called Con
| venton and submitted to the people, and il il no
torious that it was voted down by a majority of
the people, aud those who had been the conspi
rators seized the arsenal Of the State, and turned
the arms against the majority of the people, who
| refused To take the State out of the Union and
drove the Union men into this rebslon. That
was the condition affairs. People will say, and
| people do say, that these men, these dissrmed
| Union men OF the South, who were majority
of the people. ought not TO have submitted that
they ought TO have had their bodies torn asun-
der rather than submit to the dismem-
oerment of the Union after they were
compelled by the Unian to submit Look
how these very men treat the question
when il affects other questions Ii is notorious
that the negroes built all the fortfcstions that
wsre erected to resist US at the South Who
else than the negro is responsible for this thing
Does any man OF sense hold him responsible
Would there not be outcry made by that class
of citizens who are so revengeful agans, the
other class Of citizens, if we should undertake TO
punish those negroes who built the Notifications
around Atlanta, Richmond, and other places
around which so much blood of our soldiery was
poured out in Intellectual contests. /, would be
absurd and ridiculous TO hold these negroes re-
sponsible for doing that work and assisting as
they did, in this rebellion, because they did i, !
reluctantly; because they were coerced and
compelled TO do it, and this Government had not
the power TO relieve them in their hour of trouble
and trial. And SO it is with vast majority of !
the people OF the South, and we all know il TO
be So Now, therefore, l consider the Procla- /
nation of President johnson, in granting amnesty
all this class of people, stamps him as a wise
statesmanlike person. | would have, instead of
the sentiment which | understand was uttered
here the otner night. that these men shall not be
allowed to return To this State would have the
Proclamation Of the President carried out in good |
faith. When an amnesty has been given by the /
President. an amnesty should be given in good /
faith bv the people Now, these things of poli, !
zeal persecution and execution, when they are not
necessary for the safety OF our Government, are /
repugnant 10 every sense OF justice and right /
They are contrary TO the character of a great
and magnanmous people like that to which We
BELONG people who has the power to maintain
their own institutions against all adverse for /
tune-not like the miserable idynsstes of Eu |
rope. that suspicion lurking in every shade. |
and who are ready to hedge themselves around /
with terror, and to execute any man who utters
sentiment OF disloyalty TO their crown-but we,
as people, are great and msgnanimous, and can .