The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-07-08
The Difference.


The Difference.
On the morning that the late republican
state convention met at Columbus, Ohio,
appeared in the Columbus State Journal, a
letter prepared in Washington City, and
which was recognized by that convention IS
a semi.offical exposition Of President John.
sons policy on tho questions,of reconstruc-
ton and negro suffrage il tie South. That
latter, in the preparation Of which the Presi-
dent himself probably had hand, was IS
follows:
The true kew to the Presidents proclama-
ton is that he holds the doctrine that the so.
called acts of state secession are null and
void, and all acts done in pursuance thereof,
and hence that all Offices held under rebel
authorities can be declared vacant by the
military authority of the President Of the
United States Oh the q.elching of the rebel
lion.
Further, tina, the state constitutions and
Jaws in force nj the date OF the pretended
secession, having been held in allegiance dur.
ing the war, remain in full force and effect,
as they originally stood before they were
changed, and subjected 10 recognize rebel
authority. Therefore, his proclAmations re-
cite, "Tbat. whereas, the fourth Section of
the fourth a. ticle of the constitution of the
United States declares that the United States
shall guaran tee to every state in the Union
republican form Of government" therefore,
be, rs President of the United States, pro-
ceeds to put in motion the machinery that
may enable the legal loyal voters Of the state
to set in operation again the civil govern
ment, referring back to the date of the social.
led ordinance OF secession, to ascertain who
are the legal voters Of the state. However,
by his authority as COMMANDMENTS chief Of the
army. be prevents the rebel legal voters from
exercising the right of suffrage by requiring
the test.oa,h set forth in the Amnesty Pro-
clamation of May %. 1865. by this action
he enfranchises no one, bu', BY virtue OF his
pardoning power, prescribes the condition
on which legal loyal voter of the state may
exercise his perexistins right Of suffrage,
by acknowledging the authority of the gov
erument of the United States, without which
oath he is 20 voter under th= constitution and
laws.
President johnson believes that neither
himself Lor Congress has any constitutional
right TO create q voter; but that power the
people of,he several states composing the Fed
eral Union have ri3hyniy exercised from
the origin of the government 10 the present
time. See proclamation.)
1t by no means follows, as some argue,
that ii the states are rs they were ante 6et
lum that the officers whom President John.
son has displaced, are the legitimate state
govern nent, because there can be no leg,tt
mate state government that acknowledged
rebel authority and resisted the paramount
authority of the constitution of the United
States By armed rebellion; which forfeits the
right Of these officers to hold office, but not
the right of the legal loyal voters Of the state
to choose other officers who m ~ bring their
state again into proper practical relations
to the government Of the Union. IN the be-
ginning of the war, this principle was fully
recognized BY every department Of the gov
crnlnent in reference to Virginia, when Pier
pont was elected Governor by the legal, loyal
voters, and Messrs. Carlisle and Wiley ad
mit.ed as United States senators long before
West Virginir was separated from the balance
Of the state.
President Johnson, in his proclanaiions,
has not wiped cut any state constitution or
laws that the United States ever recognized
be has merely elected the rebel usurpers OF
Office, acknowledging nothing that did nj,
exist previous to the so-cailed secession.
Taking up the old state constitutions and
laws as they existed then, he gives the loyal
people an opportunity of filling the Offices
with loyal men. Slavery FL! .wl.h the opera
tons 0: The laws of war, and the people are
duly notified that it cannot be resurrected =;
but the President had no more power to con-
fer the right Of suffrage negroes than to
prescribe that minors of eighteen or wcmen
should vote, contrary.to the old state cousti'
tutions and laws.
This is plain, good English. and while its
meaning is palpable, its soundness as good,
constitutional law is no less clear.
But on .bi. point the radicals (and by this
term is IN ant at least two thirds Of the So
called republican party,) take issue with the
President. Sumner. Boutwell,, Wilson, &C.,
at their recen, great "pressure" demonstration
in Boston, Denounced the Presidents views
Of the requirements Of the constitution in
reference to the question Of Suffrage as no
better than seccssion:sm ITSELF If the Pres
ident could mancips.e slaves by proclama.
ton, if he could GUST rebel governors, pre-
scribe amnesty oaths, &c. why could he not
prescribe who should and who should not
vote in the recognized rebel states? Aud
Winter Davis, at Chicago, on the 4th Of
July, not only took the broad ground that the
President should admit the negroes to the
right Of suffrage throughout the South. but
that no southern state should be re-admiitcd
to the Union (the President maintains they
never we're out) unless it comes with a con.
stitu,ion recognizing the right of not only
negroes who can read, but OF all negroes,
equally with the whites, to vote.
The difference between the President and
his party, it is thus seen, is not one merely of
expediency, but of principle, and cannot be
reconciled except by a back down On, one
side or the other. On the part Of the Presi-
dent there has thus far certainly been no
sign of weakness in that direction. We
believe the love of the loaves and fishes will
be all powerful enough 70 twist in the radical
leaders to the Presidents views; but if not
then we shall again SEE what vas seen in the
FIRST year Of the late war-the President
opposed in his leading measures by tn party
that elected and claim to own him, and sap.
ported by the party that opposed his election
= nd who pretend to no claim upon his favor
A Democratlc Address.
A Washington dispatch Of Thursday to the
N. Y World says:
"Au address to the Democracy of the