The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1865-11-02
A CONVERSATION
WITH
PRESIDENT JOHNSON.
his POLICY ON RECONSTRUCTION,
Views on Negro Suffrage.
Medford, Mass. Oct. 8. Is


My Dear Sir l was SO much impres
sed with our conversation of last Tuesday
that | returned Immediately to my room
and wrote down such of the points made
as | could remember, and having ponde
red them all the way home, am to-day
more than ever, convinced that. if cor
rected by you and returned to me fo
either public or private use, it will go fal
to promote good understanding between
you and our leading men.
1t will also unite the public mind Ii
favor of your plan, so far at least as you
would carry it out without modification.
You are aware that do not associate
much with men in politial life, but rath-
or with those who representing the al
vanced moral sense Of the country, earn
estly labor for the good of our people,
without hope of, or even desire for Office
or other immediate reward. The latter
class desire earnestly to understand your
administration.
think the publication of your pro-
cess of reconstruction, with the reasons
for your father in it, will commend it
self to their candid judgment, and, as [
told you, inspire our whole Northern peo
pie with confidence in your administra-
! ton.
The report is meagcr and unsatisfac-
tory, but think it conveys. for the most
part, the spirit of our conversation.
Therefore, although the whole teeor of
yoar words led me to believe it 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 a wrong impression on their
minds. Truly your friend,
George l.. Stearns.
The President of the United States
Washington, d. c., Oct 3-ll3 a m.
| have just returned from an interview
with President johnson, in which he talk
ed for an hour on the process of recon-
struction of Rebel States His manner
was as cordial, and his conversation as
free, as in 1868, when [ met him daily
in Nashville.
His contenance is healthy, even more
so than when | first knew him.
remarked, that the people of the
North were anxious that the process of
reconstruction should be thorough, aud
they wished to support him in the ardu-
Gus work, but their ideas were confused
by the conflicting reports constantly cir
culated, and especially by the present
position Of the Democratic party. 1t is
iudGstriously circulated in the Demora-
tic Clubs that he was going over to them.
He laughinely replied. "Major, have
you never known a man who for many
years had differed from your views be-
cause you we're in advance of him, claim
them as his own when he came up to
your stand-point?' ~
| Ircplied, | have often. He said, So
have /, and went on the Democratic
party finds its old position untenable, and
is coming TO ours; if it has come up to
our position, | am glad of it, You and /
need no preparation for this conversation;
We can talk freely on this subject, for the
thoughts are familiar to US; we can be
perfectly frank with each other. lie then
commenced with saying that the States
are in the Union, which is whole and in
divisble
individuals tried to carry them out,
but did not succeed, as man may try to
cut his throat and be prevented by the
bystanders and you cannot say he cut
his throat because be tried to do it..
Individuals may commit treason, and
be punished, and large number Of in
dividuals may constitute rebellion and
be punished as traitors. Some States tried
to get out of the Union, and we opposed
it, honestly, because we believed it to be
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 Governments and have the pow
er to do it, The State institutions are
Frustrated, laid out on the ground, and
they must be taken and adapted to the
progress of events this cannot be done
in a moment. We are making very ra-
pid grogress, so rapid | sometimes cannot
realize it F; it appears like dream.
We must not be in too much of a hurry;
it is better to let them reconstruct them
selves than to force them to it; for if
they 90 wrong, the power is in our hands
and we can 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 should sue for pardon, and SO realize
the enormity of the crime they had com
mitted
You could not have broached the sub
iect as equal suffrage, at the North, seven
wears ago, and We must remember that
Il Ion,os OF tho Sonth have heen more