Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-10-25
BEECHER ON RECONSTRUCTION.
His Endorsements of the Presidents
Policy.

mon endorsing President johnson, which
has been referred to by telegraph. We
copy from the New York Times
The two great questions now unfolding
into practical politics are First. The ad-
mission of the Southern States to the partici-
patton of the administration of national
government; and second, the granting of
the rights of the black man. 1t is best
for us that restoration should at once com
mence. 1t is part of our belief that all
men should partake actively in the ad-
ministration Of civil affairs. Some prece-
dent qualifications should be made, of
course. The one prime cause OF our diff
Guilty should be done away with. States
should be conditioned upon the restoration
of slavery. Communities should not be
permitted to take part in the government
until so conditioned that they cannot de-
stroy it. They must swear never again to
attempt to destroy US. They must not
only declare their act of secession null and
void, but ab initio false and heretical.
They should also establish the
RIGHTS OF THE FREEDMAN
to work when, where, and as much as he
pleases; to be made the equal of all other
men before a court and in the eye of the
law, and nave as ready access to the court
as any other man. / hold also, that he
should have had the suffrage, because it is
a natural right. He has the right to make
the laws which govern him, and to deter
mine the magistrates under which he
lives. He has a right to be a citizen, be-
cause he is a man. I think it would have
saved the land trouble if these rights had
been given to the freedmen.
1 do not know whas the
PRESIDENTS MIND IS,
t, indeed, he knows himself. Much com
iplaint has been made of his r~eticence, but
confess that / think his reticence is ad-
mirable in one who has nothing to say.
In his answer to South Cardinals delega-
tion-South Carolina that before she was
received again into the family sends her
advice to Washington, and suggests TO
the President that he would better do,
how refreshing-he (the Presidency
said we must be practical in our efforts,
and l think his course is eminently wise,
and we have never had a man in the Presi-
dental chair who has proven himself more
wise in the solution of questions brought to
him than President johnson. IthiaE his
Tearing Of these questions to Congress emf
nentLy G0iSe and much better than would
be the Cesarian practice of deciding for
himself, and by himself alone. But in re-
gard to criticism and advice, 1 don't think
we are so very free from censure. When
a back man can ride in the cars, can APP
pear in court, can own property, can attain
to the full stature of citizenship here, we
may turn to the lecturing of our Southern
brethren. / confess that if l want to ad-
wise them, 1 should speak very mildly, be-
cause if they should ask me in what State
l was born 1 should be compelled with
bushes to admit That it was the loyal State
of Connecticut.
Let me express my gratitude to God that
He had appointed without our forethought,
and almost without u knowledge, a man
singularly fttedto take upthe work where
his martyred predecessor left it. Thus far
1 cannot lay my hand upon an act which
does not seem apt, fitting and most wise.
With a clear eye, a skillful hand, he has
gone on weaving most c~leverly the robe
which was to cover the entire brotherhood |
of the States of the Union. The extraor-
binary unanimity in the nation, in respect
to him, is most gratifying. We who voted
for him and made him our Vice-President,
of course, are proud of him, but what most
fills my heart with gratitude, and is an I'M
qualified marvel and thanksgiving, is the
complete conversion of our enemies, who
opposed him at the date of his election,
with such virulence and spite. Let us,
however, be charitable, let us hope and
even pray that this sudden conversion may
be genuine, and hat they never will back
slide. In regard to the President, our
President, the country's President, 1 think
he believes that all measures for the relief
of the blacks, must have the cordial sup
poat and countenance of the South. We
here cannot aid them; they are at arms
length, and it is not wise for the
CENTRAL GENERAL GOVERNMENT
to attempt to regulate thoi--af The
laws and interests of the government and
of ourselves will prove of no avail if they
are hostile and unpleasant to the white
men of the South. Oaths and obligations
won't help the matter, and if President
johnson is waiting for the adoption of
these plans by the people of the
South, he is acting with charac-
%teristic prudence and sagacity. Al
colored mans testimony is to be taken,
like any one else's, for what it's worth; but
let it be taken for just that. l thank God
the President is the Southern man; he's
Just the man we want, if we are going to
reconstruct. You can't manage hearts as
you can bricks and mortar. No New
England man could do as well as Mr..
Johnson, although he might know more.
He is of the South, he knew them, and
will, 1 know, do more for them than any
one else. Now is the winning time; the
to make by affection IN the whole.
BELIEVE IN HIM.
We never can deny man in this coun-
long any civil right for which he is
well fitted. If the negro can be proven
for the suffrage, for the holding of pro-
perty, he will not long be kept out of it.
AS a point of transition, a property quail
might be accepted-not as final,
but as a transitory measure. Nor do |
that this nation would put guns
INTO the hands of $50, 900 negroes, andthen
leny them the right to vote. l believe, 1
With Sherman, that a man who has carried
musket has a right to carry a ballot.
Let us have this
FOR A BEGINNING,
ct those who have fought our battles have
he right to vote, and I would like to see
he Democrat, the man who can look this
lack hero in the face and say he is not fit
0 vote. He himself is not fit to vote.
people say "are we never to hear
he
LAST OF THE NEGRO"
We have heard nothing but negro since
he day of our birth. Well, why don't
GU suppress him? 1 tell you you've got
. dine and sup on the negro until you do
i'm justice. When you do, he'll sink
way11from oauousses, conventions OF par
.es; but unless you do he'll haunt you,
ell haunt you here and haunt you there,
ntil a blaeker than he haunts you here I
S
he Weight and Length of the Nation
al Debt. S
Mr.. James Fair, the calculating prodi-
= has made the following calculations of
le national debt, taking as a premise