Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-10-27

quuiss or abxious friends, whom ! me
On my way home, lest ! might, IN som'
way, leave a.wfong impression On lheil
minds. Truly yonr friend,
GE0 i. STEaRss
To The President o. the United States
YAms,e -. p. =, 0etobsr a-ii5z A. n.
have just returned Fl m an inter
view with President johnson, IA which
he talked for an hour On the process Of
reconatruclidn Of The rebel States. His
manner Ma as cordial, aud his CONVEX
salion as tree az 10 1865. when | met
him daily n Nashville.
His countenancs is healthy even
more 10 iIian when / Grst Knew Eial
remarked that the people ol the
North were anxious that lhe process n
reconstfuciion should b. thorough, and
they wished 70 support him in tbs ardu
Gus work, hat their idsas were confused
% the conflicting reports constantly cir.
calaled, aud especially BY the present
position 81 The Democratic party It's
iudustriousiy cifcuiated il The Demo.
cratic cl1bs that ha was going over Ia
them. He laughiogly replied, Major.
have you never known mab who f3r
many years had differed from Jour
views because g0u were III ADVANCE 81
him claim them as hiA owh wheel he
came up t. jour stand p0int2
replied T. haya often He said
. 80 have 1, aud went on the Demo
cratic party finds us old position uuien-
able aud is cpmiug to ours, i it has
come up "a our position | am glad 81 It.
You and ] need no preparation tor Ibis
conversation. We eau talk freely oa ihis
subject, for the thoughts are familiar 10
u.s. we can be perfectly frank with each
olhef 4 lie thsa commenced with say.
TO- lhal the States are in tho Union,
wlnsh IL nho.o and indivisihle
lgdhyidaala tried to garry them out,
bat did not succeed, as a man mas try
TO cut bis throat aad be pre- 5ented by the
hyslandefe, and you carrot say he cut
his throat because he tried 4.
Indisiduaianay Commit treason aud
10 published, aud a large number Of ia
dividuals may constitute a rebellion aud
be punished ss traitors. Some States
tried TO get oat OF The Uniou, add W. 90
posed ID, honestly, because we believed
Il 70 be wrong; and we have Bacceeded
IN pplting down the rebellion. The
power Of those persons who made the at
tempt haAl been crushed, and now We
want TO reconstruel the State govern.
mentE, aud have the power 70 do il.
The State institutions are FRUSTRATED,
laid oat OF lbe ground, and they must
ha ~ Ian do. Il 49, H..
OF events, this cannot be done IN mo
ment. We are making very rapid pro.
gress, SO Eepid | sometimes cannot real.
ize il IL appears Ike dream,
We msiat not be in too much of hur-
ry. ltis better 10 let them rseousiract
themselves than 10 force them 10 ia, toe
if they 10 wrong, the power IL in our
hands, and we can check them az any
stage, TO the end, aud oblige them 10
correct their errora We must be pa
iienl with them. did not expect 10
Keep out ali who we're excluded IRON the
amnesty, or even Large number Of
them; but intended they should sue for
pardon, and 90 realize Tie eaormhy OF
ihe crime they bad committed.
You could not have broached the cub
ject OF equal suffrage, at the North, seq.
en- years ago, and we must remcmbsr
that the changes AZ the South have been
more rapid. aud they have been obliged
to accept more unpalatabie truth than
the North has We must give them lime
to digest part, for we cannot exps 4
such large affairs will be Compensated
and digested at once. We must give
them time 10 understand their new DO.
si,ion
| have nothing 10 conceal IN these
matters, and have no desire or wiling
ness TO take indirect courses 20 obtain
what we want
Oar Government IS grand snd lofty
structure In searching for lis ioundn.
ton we hndsit rests on the broad basis Of
popular rights. The elective franchise Is
not q natural right, but politieatright,
1 am opposed 70 giving the States too
much power, aud also to great eousol~
idatiou OF power in the Central Govern.
M emit
Il iuteriered With the vote ia the
rebel States, to dictate that the negro
shall vote, might do lhe same thing for
my own purposes in Pennsylvania Our
only safety hes in allowing each State to
contro the right OF voting by It's own
laws, aud we have lhe power to control
the rebel States II they go wrong. III
they rebel, we have the army, and can
control them By L, and, il necessary. BY
legislation also. II the General Gov.
eminent controls the right 10 vote in the
States, it may establish such rules as
may restrict the vote to small number
Of persons, and thus create central
ieepotism.
MY position here is different from what
il would be IL we're in Tennessee.
There should try to introduce negro
suffrage gradually ; first those who had
served in the army those eho could
read and write, and perhaps a properly
qualification for others, say 5000 or $3.50.
1t will not do 10 let The negroes have
universal suffrage now il would breed
war Of races,
There was time in the Southern
States when the slaves Of the large own
srs locked down upon ron. slave-owners,
because they did not own slaves tie
larger the number of slaves their masters
owned, the proHder they were. aud this
has produced hostility belweeu the mass
Of the whites and the negroes The
outrages are mostly from non slave
holding whites against the negro. aud
trom the negro upon the non-slava,
holding whites.
The negro will with the late mas.
ter whom be does not hate, rather than
with the non-slave-holding white whom
he does hate. Universal Suffrage would
create another war, not against Us, but
war Of races. 9sssA2k " 1A
q. s1e9'As nGA %