Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-06
President JOhnsOn's First Message.

hO"SNof Hucu ne may diner nH Lne
ideas advanced and positions takentherein,
to recognize and acknowledge the con-
spicuous ability, moderation and dignity
which marks it from beginning to end.
In its language, in its terse yet fluent style
of expression, in its logical arrangement
in its cogent and pithy argument, it is
surpassed by few American state papers
since the days of jefferson. The wisdom
of the document is shownnot only in what
it says, but in what it omits to say. Its
recommendation to Congress will meet the
cordial endorsement of all or nearly all
r%ight-thinking Unionists; while its emin-
ent sagaeity in remaining silent upon
other topics and leaving the national legis-
lature to unembarrassed and u~npreiudiced
consideration of them is equally to be
commended. Its sense and moderation,
on most of the subjects which it discusses,
are SO eminent that even those who oppose
the President will be at a loss to find any
thing at which they may eavil; while its
dignity and temperance, combined with
its irmness, viii call forth admiration as
well as respectful attention in the courts
of France and Great Britain.
We shall attempt no detailed review of
the positions, arguments and recommen-
dations of the message. They are presen-
ted in a form as condensed as is compati-
bic with clearness and accuracy in the
document ITSELF and can only be under
stood by reading it. Embracing as they
do all the questions arising from our pres
ent position, the momentous history of
the last twelve-month, and the complica-
ted and perplexing problems which the
future must solve-refuting the heresy of
state sovereignty; declaring the para
mount supremacy of the Constitution and
the Federal Government; laying down
with ~unequalled clearness the great prin-
ciples upon which the Union was con
s%tructed passing thence to practical top
les and explaining the causes which
Influenced the adoption of the
present reconstruction policy discussing
the subjects of military government
ment, negro suffrage, our duty to the
freedmen, the amnesty, the constitutional
amendment, and Indirectly the trial of
jefferson Davis; turningover to Congress,
without a word of advice, the whole ques-
ton of the admission of the rebel repre-
sentatives; ~denouncing all monopolies and
all restrictions on commerce between the
States; briefly presenting noteworthy facts
in regard to the operation of the executive
Departments; graphing ably with the
manifold questions in regard to revenue,
taxation and currency which arise in con-
sideration of our financial affairs; taking
firm and decided ground in relation to our
claims upou England and our duty to en-
force the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico; and
closing with a glowing panegyric upon
the excellence and glory of our republican
institutions-it would be a hopeless task
to discuss or even to comment upon these
diverse but most important topics in the
limits of a single editorial.
On only one point in the whole message
will the radical Union men feel co%nstrain-
ed to differ with the President-and that
is upon the question of negro suffrage.
The President reafirms his reconstruction
policy. on this subject and sustains it upon
the old argument-that the regulation of
the elective franchise is left exclusively to
the States, and that to interfere with it
would be to transcend his duty. The an
swer to this argument has been urged so
often and SO conclusively, that wo need
only TO restate it in the briefest terms.
The President has interfered over an3
over again with the franchise regulations
of the rebellious states. He did-so when
he provided hat none but loyal men
should vote. He did so still more en-
phatically when he set aside the recent
elections in North and South Carolina. If
he has the right 10 say; "Noae BAT loyal
men shall vote" he has the equal right TO
say: "AU loyal men shall vote"
But the President fortifes his position
with another argument, which has at least
the merit of novelty. He declares that a
concession of the elective franchise to the
freedmen, by act of the President of the
United States, must have been extended to
I'll colored men, wherever found, and so
must have established a change of suffrage
n the Northern, Middle and Western
moi less than in the Southern and
southwestern 1t is hardly credible that
he author of so able a state paper as this
We are considering should have deliberate
' introduced into it an argument so trans
,arently illogical and baseless. 1t ignores
.ntirely the fact Of the rebellion. 1t as
umes that the South has forfeited no
lights or privileges, and that it standsin pre-
.isely the same relation to the Union with
he States of the North. 1t assumes that
he extension of the elective franchise
would be made to the negroes be-
they are negroes, not be-
.ause they are the loyal citizens of
-ebellious communities. 1t proves too
much. If it is accepted as true it would
overthrow the entire reconstruction policy
If the government. If it is accepted as
rue, the President has as much right to
ippoint a Provisional Governor in Ohio
IS in South Carolina.
But while we protest against the Presi-
argument on this subject, we are
lad to observe that he uses it only in JUS
ifcation of his " policy, and in defini- :
ion of his own duty. He makes no re-
,o~mmendation to Congress upon the sub
ect, and evidently desires to leave it sole {
Judge of what it ought to do and can do :
n regard to it. Meantime the message {
ndirectly confirms the position taken
the President, as a private individual, !
n favor of the gradual and qualified adj !
of the freedmen to suffrage. !
We have said that this is the only point
pom which the most radical Union men {
7ill find fault with the message. In all :
Their respects,-in its declaration of the :
ational duty to the freedmen, in its as G
of their inslienable rights, in its
ncompromising stand in favor of the !
-; -1a-orr IN fba poOsfifu- !