Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-11-10

n GVuC1ltANOry an0 FNuhNNI POLICY
What He Says OF Negro Suffrage.
BosroN, Oct. 2lst, 1885.
sIn:--I send the following documents for
publication. They win need no comment.
Yours, GEO. l.. srEARNs.
-... MEproRp, Mass, Oct. sti, 1866
DEAR SIR II was so much impressed
with our conversation of last Tuesday,
that returned Immediately to my room
and wrote down such of the points rs i
could remember, and having pondered
them all the way home, am, to-day,
more than ever convinced that, ii cor
rected by you and returned to me for
either public or private use, il will go
far to produce n good understanding be-
tween you and our leading men.
1t will also unite the public mind in
favor of your plan, so far at least "a you
would carry 1t out without modification.
You are aware that do not associate
much with men In political life, but
rather with those who, representing the
advanced moral sense of the country,
earnestly labor,for the good Of our peo-
pie, without hope of, or even desire for.
Office or other immediate reward. The
latter class desire earnestly TO under
stand your plans, a,d, If possible, sup.
port your administration. ....... ....
i think the publication OF your pro.
cess of reconstruction, with tile reasons
for your faith in 1t, will commend itself
to their candid Judgment, and, as told
you, inspire our whole Northern people
with confidence in your administration.
The report Is meagre and unsatistac-
tory, but l think 1t conveys, for tho
most part, the spirit of our conversation.
Therefore, although the whole tenor of
your words led me to believe il was not
intended to be kept private, ! have re-
Trained from answering the specific in
quiries of anxious friends, whom met
on my way home, lest l might, in some
way, leave wrong impression on their
minds.
Truly your friend. .......
GEoRaE Z. srrAnSs.
wAsuisaroN. d. c., Oct. Sd, 1865.
Ihave just returned from an interview
with President Johnson, In which he
talked for an hour On the process of re-
construction of rebel States. His man
ner was rs cordial, and his conversation
as free, as in 1863, when / met him daily
! in Nashville.
His countenancc is healthy, even
more so than when first knew him.
| Il remarked that the people of the
North We're anxious that the process OF
reconstruction should be thorough, and
they wished to support him in the ar
duous work, but their ideas Were con
fused by the conflicting reports con
stantly circulated, and especially by the
present position Of the Democratic par
ty. 1t is industriously circulated in the
Democratic clubs that he was going
over to them. He laughingly replied
Major, have you never known man
who for many years had differed from
your views because you were in advance
of him, claim them as his own when he
came up to your stand point"
l replied, I have often. He said, &C
have /, and went on; the Democratic
party finds its old position untenable
and is conliBg TO ours; ii 1t has come uI
to our position, ! am glad Of it. You
and | need no preparation for this con
versation; we can talk freely on this
subject for the thoughts are familiar Il
us,-we can be perfectly frank with
each Other. He then commenced with
saying that the States are in the Union
which In whole and indivisabie.
J Individuals tried to carry them out
but did not succeed, rs a man may try
to cut his throat, and be prevented b,
, the bystanders; and you cannot SOY b.
= cut his throat because he tried to do SO
individuals may commit treason an,
be punished, and large number of in
dividuals may constitute rebellion
and be punished as traitors. Some State
- tried to get out of the Union, and w
, opposed il, honestly, because we belivCt
it TO he wrong and we have sueceedet
/ i'm putting down the rebellion. Th
, power of those persons who made tn
: attempt has been crushed, and now "
: want to reconstruct the State Govern
ments, and have the power 10 do its-7
The State Institutions are prostrated
laid out on the ground, and they mus
be taken up and adapted to the progress
Of events. This cannot bc done III
moment. We are making very rapi,
progress; so rapid that [ sometimes can
: not realize it; it appears like dream.
We must not be in too much Of hur
: ry; it IN better to let them reconstruc
: themselves than to force them to it, 70
: if they go wrong, the power is in OH
, hands and we may check them at All,
: stage, to the end, and oblige them L
!, correct their errors we must be patien
| with them. did not expect to keel
out all who We're excluded from tn
. amnesty, or even large number o
them, but intended they shoc'd SUI
for pardon, and so realize the eaorlait.
of the crime they had committed.
You could not have bfoschcd the sub
, ject of equal suffrage, at the North sev
EN- years ago, and we must remembe
that the changes at the South hav
been more rapid and they have beer
obliged to accept more unpalatabl
: truth than the North has we mus
; give them time to digest part, for "
cannot expect such large affairs will b
eonsprehcnded and digested at once
| We must give them time to understau
; their new position.
/ have nothing to conceal In tles
, matters, End have no desire or willing
ness to take indirect courses 10 obtain
!. what we want.
T Our government is grand and loft,
strueture; in searching for Its founda
ton, we find it rests on the broad basi
Of popular rights. The elective fran
t cllise is not natural right, but polit
, ical right. / am opposed to giving tn
States too much power, and also to
! great consolidation Of power in the cen
tral government.
| If interfered with the vote in tn
rebel States, to dictate that the Degr
shall vote, l might do the same thiiil
T for my own purpose in Pennsylvania
Our own safety lies in allowing cacl
State to control the right of voting b.
. ita own laws, and we have the power {
, control the rebel States if they q
wrong. If they rebel, we have the ar
. my, and can control them by it, and,
necessary, by legislation also. If tn
General Government controls the righ
to vote In the States, IL may establis
such rules as will restrict tho vote to
small number Of persons, and titus ere
ate a central despotism.
f My position is different here frof
what IL would be If l was in Tennessee,
!, There / should try to introduce negr
, suffrage gradually; first those who Ina
+ served in the army /; those who coul
read and write, and perhaps % propert
qualification for others of 5000 or $3.50.
1t will not do to let negroes have uni
: versal suffrage now. 1t would breed
t war Of races.
/, There was time in the Souther
+, States when slaves of large owner
/, looked down upon non-slayeownersb bs
cause they did not own slaves; th
larger the number of slaves their n
, ters owned the prouder they We're, on
this has produced hostility between I'll
> mass Of the whites and tho negroes.