The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-10-20
President johnson and Negro Tes-
fimOny.

timOny.
Welaia before the readers Of the UNION
Yesterday, correct version OF the interVies
between President Johnson and the delega
ton from South Carolina. We reproduce
this morning, revised copy Of his speecl
% the colored regiment in Washington
These occurrences have an important bear
ing on each other. They indicate, very
couelusivelv. whet the policy Of the Presi
dent IL relative 10 the freedmen, snd whs
he expects Of the recent slave States
He told the colortd regiment that this wa
their country; that they were citizens, and
mpst rive evidence to the world that they
are competent and capable Of governing
themselves; that he is the most exalted VIII,
Is the most meritorious, without regard 70
color. He told the-sOuth CArolinisns that
they mnst pass laws 70 protect the freed
men il, their rights Of person and property,
ana 70 admit them to the witness stand in
the State Courts. After reading these
things. It is impossible 10 come 10 any other
eonclusien than that the President expects
all the southern States 70 confer upon the
freedmen the civil rights the white man
enjoys, with the single exception Of the
right Of suffrage.
what ought the Southern States TO do2
is il not The best thing they can dc, to re-
spond iavorably 10 the wishes Of the Presi-
dent, and sustain him in his policy through
out. The n. Y. World-certainly very Jar
removed from adicalism-eounseis them as
follows: sThe matter concerns the Southern
States very much more than it can possibly
concern any one else, and the sooner the
disqualification 10 testify imposed upon the
negroes during slavery Is removed the more
rapidly will the social order Of the South
resettls itself upon the new tasis which the
war has laid down. So long as the negro
wss a chattle, subject TO the viii and liable
70 be eoerced by the power Of his owner,
there were some very real and subststial
reasons sgainst admitting the testimony Of
negroes 10 Judicial trials. But with the abo-
lition Of slavery every vsstigc Of ajustifica-
ton for this disqualification has disap-
pesreS, and that which may very well have
operated under the institution Of slavery as
. soeial safeguard must soon become, under
free institute ms, grievous socialsperil.
ssThe questions Of negro suffrage and of
negro teetimoay have no more 70 dc with
each other than the questions Of female suf-
frage and female testimony. The most ad-
vanced nations Of ChTistendom have not yet
thought il wise or safe 10 admit women and
children 70 direct participation in the
shaping Of public policy but they do not
therefore, refuse 70 women and children the
right 20 be heard before the public tribunals
in cases directly affecting their personal and
social interests, or the personal and social
interests Of other members Of the oOmmu-
nifty.
'erhe provisional governor Of Mississippi,
Governor sharkey, has just issued a prOcla-
nation, framed 10 accordance not only with
the policy Of President johnson but wish the
recommendation Of General slOcum while
Commanding in that State, by which proc
laination be transfers all suits between freed
men tnd other persons in Mississippi ir, m
the txtra-iegsl tribunals Of the Freedmen's
Bureau 10 The regularly constituted courts
Of law; providing, also, very discreetly and
Justly, that the evidence Of the freedmen
shall be received and acted upon in all such
cases like any other evidence. Il is a per
fectly natural incident Of the state in which
the public feeling at the South must neces-
sarily have been lsft by the war, that this
proclamation should have provoked some in
cansiderats astonishmcnt aud indignation
among portion Of the people Of Mississippi.
In the most pacific times tuddea and decisive
changes Of any kind. not only in the social
organisation aud the fundamental laws Of
community but even in the mere material
machinery Of is life, are always at ended
with such opposition. When Stephenson
invited England to travel by steam on rail-
ways instead Of BY horsepower on turn
pixies, be was met by sharp outburst Of We
hement denuuciation as uo better than a
public enemy. when sn en'erprising gen
uemun proposed 10 light the streets Of Phil
ndelphia By gas, scarcely a generation ago,
I'M'IAAl flttNet NbAAAHt wv ltNfe'tN'''-i
s. subversive and irsught with infinite dan
gers 60 ihe public, was put forth in She daily
pres, with the signatures Of more than
twenty Of the leading and most intelligent
citizens Il that great city. Il would indeed
be amszinr. therefore, if the proposition Of
Governor sharkey. moderate and sensible as
81 h., should have been received without op-
position by the citizens Of Mississippi. But
the opposition 90 has encountered will lead
Co q thorough discussion Of the subject, and
90 90 cheerful and rational instead Of a
suiisn aud enforced aequistcence Of the Peo-
pie in special change OF their laws, rem
dsrcd imperative by the general change
which has come over the whole form and
spirit of their community