The Portland daily press., 1865-12-11
oopperhead "support" of the President.


~ Reading Matter on all -Four Pages.
Copperhead Support of the President.
That delectable supporter Of the admins
tration known as the Eastern argus, on
7 Thursday morning-the day after the Message
was first published-contained the following
paragraph: 70. TO- ssrla
1t as difficult yesterday to find radical who mac
real the Presi lent's message Some OF them nao
read part of it, and answered every question as u
how they liked it with shrug Of the snouiuenS; nj
ty, had read it and was delighted with It.. Wht
''supports the government" now?
We call that Juicy" 1t is so,-as juicy as
a jelly fish, which seems to be little else than
thin finn filed with thinner water; as juic,
asthe rinsings of the glasses in three-cent
beer shop. 9tIGYG88
The idea intended to be conveyed by the
above-lf an idea can, be extracted from sucI
vapid bosh--is that the Democrats, copper
head Democrats like the Argus, are PLEASED
with and endorse the Message OF Presiden
johnson. How true this idea is may be in
ferred from the fact that while they lnslS
no conditions shall be imposed upon the rebel
to secure their restoration to former privilege
In the Union except ceasing to rebe
Pre- ident johnson vigorously exacts tn
regulation of the rebel debt, the abol.
ton of slavery, the ratification of the COZ
.stitutional amendment, and the recognition
the civil rights of the freedmen, securing t.,
them their full rights in the judicial tribunal
OF the STATES. afW less gsHsss1 fsssz .f-f
The approval of the Presidents policy b. &
VI the Democrats is seen in another fact; in tina
while he makes the constitutional amendmen
a sine qua mon, and insists that it alone cal
guarantee ser urty for the future, they have la.
bored from the first to defeat that amendment
voted in a solid column against it in the leg
islatures of those Northern States which hav>
ratified it.; made it the issue in New Je1
sey and got gloriously whipwed on it; reject
ed it by every legislature that had Demo
cratic majority, and have ratified it in no rebe
State until they found there was no other dool
through which restoration to the Union Icoult
be attained.
si6 The cordially of the love of Copperheadi
for President Johnson's course may be Scent
another fact. They have insisted for month
that Congress had no light to bar out sing {
representative or senator from the South wht
should apply with regular formal credentials
and that PRESIDENT johnson would take Athi
ground and insist upon it, He, on the con
trary, says in his message, that the wholS
question of qualification and admission
members from those States is for Congress
alone to determine, and that he has no RICH
even to suggest. "a gisx
= One other fact shows the, ardent nature
the support yielded to President johnson b,
the late non combattant rebels of the country
They insist that the negroes and whites canno
live together except as master and slave; b,
scouts this idea in emphatic terms, and insist
there is no ground for it; they insist the Negro
is indolent and win not work, while he repu
dates the suggestion, and says, it is no ev.,
dence that the negro will not willingly worl
because he disinclines to do so while he ha
nomeans provided by law by which to enforc
his claims to just compensation for his labor
Once, more: the peculiar ardency of thei
sympathy for the Presidents views is seen il
the fact that they ridicule the idea of anegrs
being clothed with the right of suffrage; den,
that he has any right to voice in the govern
mcnt to which he is to yield allegiance and tx
uphold which he has CALAMITY fought; tina
this is white mans government, &c. Presi
dent johnson, on the contrary, undisguisedl,
declares his desire to see suffrage granted t.
the negro, so that he may be stimulated to be
come worthy of the privileges of selfgoyern.
msnt; declares that this is their government,
and declines to impose upon the rebel State
the necessity of providing for suffrage for til,
negro only on the ground that he finds n
constitutional authority for SO doing, and tina
the States will, in his opinion, sooner or latel
do this work Of simple justice and Of true pc
-htical economy better than it can be done b.
the general government q ii
Such are the points of agreement { p be {
tween the Copperheads and President John
son such the ways in which they uphold am
support his policy and views. We have sal.
nothing Of the support they yield in thei
constant and maiigant attacks upon tn
chosen members of his cabinet. g9
The truth is, modern Democracy is efectu.
ally Eplayed out" What there is left of it i
as unsdbztantial and powerless as the ghost
which fit through old graveyards, to frightel
weak women and little children, and to kee.
up excitement in superstitious neighbo1
hoods. In fact, it is only the ghost of what
once was, and a singularly mean ghost at that
President johnson so looks upon it. He ha
no more respect for it and its protested "sup
port than a gentleman would have for the
e-with-your-honors" of the meIican.
population of the Irish boys or the Neapolital
lazaroni. = ~ Y - AsttSt
Since the foregoing was written and in type
the argus Of Saturday has come to hand, ant
in it we find several very funny paragraphs
1t suggests that the Press is afraid to speal
OF the message, Git had not seen our issue O..
that day. charges us with "unaccustomed ST.
Ience," thinks the tone Of the message does moi
comport with our character, talks of our "out
rageous fanaticism," judges that the soup O.
the Press was about filed by the message
and that our sprayer would, be 'Oh! that tina.
TINS cup might pass" and caps the climax o,
Its waggery by advertising for s'the lost politi.
cal opinions of the Daily Press" &c.
Inls funny fellow of the argus is not unlike
Fled. Douglass' dog, to which he once com
pared the Northern Democrats. The South
taking acracker from its pocket and shown,
it to this dog, has been accustomed to make
him speak, stand on his hind legs stand on hi
head, turn a summerset, lie down, roll over
roll over again, and after the poor supp,icant
dog would do all this and more, the aggravat
ing master has coolly put the cracker in hi.
vest pocket, saying, "rH keep this for anothe.
dogP That is what the argus politica
friends have done, and their reward from the
South has been the mere sight of the savory