Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-23
.oUe-WAsHINeFoN LETTER.
Adjournment Of Congress The Spirit Of
the RadicaIs-Their War upon the
Presidenf-JuSsge Chase i'm the Lead
A Mixed Assembly mt the Beecher
Lecture-Impoiitic Action of the Mis-
sissippi and Tennessee legislatures.
Special Correspondence of the Union & American

sissippi and Tennessee legislatures.
Special Correspondence Of the Union & American.
WASHINGTON, December 19, 1865
Congress viii adjourn to-morrbw for some
weeks. What the object of this movement is,
it Is left TO conjecture By some it is thought
that the purpose is, on the part of the Radi
icals, to prepare for vigorous assault upon
the Presidents plan of restoring the Union,
by the time of the meeting in January.
| Others think that they wish to consult their
constituents and that majority of them
, will come back prepared to sustain the
Presidents policy. I am inclined to think
that majority of the present Radicals in
tend to maintain their position and sooner
or later to attack the President and his res
teration policy. do not think, however
they will be able to defeat, though they may
delay, the wise measures adopted by Presi-
dent johnson for re-uniting the broken
fragments of a once great country.
There are Republicans in Congress who
will not sustain the wild and disorganizing
schemes of Sumner, Wade and Stevens, and
| hope they will be powerful enough to de-
feat some of their plans. | am satisfied that
the radicals, now in Congress, do not repre-
sent the true feeling of majority of the
Northern people, and whenever their plans
are fully developed, they will be condemned
almost as much at the North as at the South.
Sumner, Wade and Stevens would place the
negro, ignorant and uneducated as he is. ND
on a footing of perfect equality with the
white man. Such is the tendency of all the
measures introduced by them into Congress.
The would give the negroes the right to vote
and sit upon juries, and, if this was ac-
complished, they would next propose to al
low them to hold Federal and State offices,
TO be Senators and Representatives in Con-
gress and the State Legislatures, and also
TO occupy positions on the Supreme and Cir
cult Court Benches of the Federal and State
Governments. This is the inevitable result
of their doctrines, and such is in fact the
substance of the bills introduced by the
radicals in Congress, when plainly expressed
Perfect equality before the law means not
only the right to vote, but also to hold office
and to enjoy all the social advantages en-
joyed by white people l am not prepared
to believe that the people of the Northern
States endorse the doctrine of the political
and social equality of the negro or that they
yet have such faith in man" as makes
them think there is no difference between a
white man and a negro.
The radicals are using every effort to
destroy the Presidents policy. They
are fighting at present from behind
masked batteries. Some few of them,
such as Stevens in Congress, and Henry Win
ter Davis at home, have the boldness to at
tack him and his policy. Many of them
fight very shy, and whilst they draw near
with their lips, their hearts are far from
him."
For the first time in the history of this,
or perhaps any other country, has the Chief
Justice of the highest court in the land, be-
come the head of political party. 1t is
understood that Judge Chase is guiding and
directing the policy of the Radicals, and his
conduct the other night at the Capital, when
he, Henry Ward Beecher, and a certain ne
gro preacher offciated together before
mingled audience of white and black
women, in lovely confusion, goes to sus-
tain this view. He wishes to give practical
demonstration ofhis negro equality doctrine,
and if he could, by any possibility, be made
President of the Uuited States perhaps one
Of his first acts would be to appoint what he
calls colored gentleman, alias a negro, to
be Chief Justice of the United States, to
show his faith in man." do not believe
these men can succeed nor do l believe the
enlightened sentiment of the Northern PEG
pie will sustain them in their wild revolu-
tionary schemes. They resemble more the
men who had control of affairs in the DAYS
of the French Revolution, than any that his
tory speaks of The same thirst for blood,
the same cry for liberty, equality and frater-
nifty, which were the catch-words of Robes
pierre and Danton, are. those now used by
Sumner, Stevens and Wade. They are in
reality the worst enemies, not only of the
white race, but also of the poor negroes them
selves. The people of the South, with but few
exceptions, and all the good and true men of
the North, without regard to former distinc-
tions are anxious to confer upon the negroes
such rights and privileges of person and pro-
perry as will secure to them the fruits of their
labor and the protection Of their persons.
Every attempt to go farther than this at pre-
sent by comforting upon the negro race poll
teal and social power and privileges has
tendency to injure him, by arraying against
him the prejudices, if they may be so called,
Of the laboring white men, who must and
will control this country If these Radical
fanatics are really friendly to the negroes and
are not using him merely as political in
strument for their own advancement, let them
beware how they bring him politically in
conflict with the laboring white men of
the country, both North and South. 1t is
because am the earnest and true
friend of the negro that | am so
much opposed to the mad schemes .of the
men who now seem to have control of both
branches of Congress. The Legislatures Of
Tennessee and Mississippi have failed, as is
the opinion Of most all Southern men here
to give the negroes such privileges as they
ought to have, and which are necessary to
their protection, and which would not be
injurious to any one. The right of a negro
TO testify in court before a white jury who
could and would judge of his abikty as a
witness, it seems strange should be opposed
by any one Tho right to purchase proper
ty and to testify in courts must and ought
to be given TO the negroes, and the sooner it
is done the better il will be for all parties
The right TO hold Office or to vote stands
upon different grounds. Let the South be
calm and quiet develop their own resour-
ces, repair their ruined fortunes by industry,
economy and labor. Trust in the President
and the good sense of the Northern people,