The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-08-04
PIosldeat yohnson's Views On Recon

Ths WauhinTton correspondent a. The
~. =. Word, Democratic PapeID, after
a ALLEGED htervieW, sets forth the fol.
X, y - Substance Of = oonyerl
tim is ] iasnt johnson; M
,AfSish ~ bsen said about the elset-
Iye filhehis 1lr ~ he was eoa-
cerned. he should q glad 20 SEQ every
man exercise & II it could properly y
done but he asked the question II i
were proper for the federal Qyernmept,
or Its executive, to tnteFioTo IN the mnt.
teri The position assumed BY, ~ had
lJ6Iln that the 6cHi Of dacel Ion lGeUo
void: that the States claiming 70 be ont
were sill IN the Union. TINS Wa not
only Correct, bat the only position
which VIC could safely assume, Now
FIN the Union, those States were 70 be
recognized as possessing the rights OF
States. what should be done. What
would the State ofPennsylVaTIiR say II
he were TO attempt 70 dictate aS 70 who
should exercise the elective franchiSein
that State? He presumed such
interference would not be agree
Shly considered. He did not
think, either, that II was enough 20
say that the slave had served the coun.
TN. Bows OF sixteen had faithfully
served their country, and many ladies
mad. in their sphere, rendered valuable
aid. There must be some controlling
principle, and what was that to BE- Z He
had been In favor Of the Union, with
slavery: ne was now for the Union,
without slavery. The white man had
gone Into this war possessed Of certain
bowers. and he Ind come out Of tho con-
lest pOssaased Of no more power than
when he entered II, ind had even In
certait, cases forfeited his right In part
To those he then possessed; the black
man entered the service 0 slave, he
cameiout q freedman as he was termed
TINT Il. he was possessed Of the power
10 control his own destiny, which he
had not hitherto possessed. He could
now moi for himself, a. far as human
being NAV do, for absolute liberty did
not exist for any one; In fact there was
no liberty without Law, Was the blRck
man nny the less free because he did
moi voter TO be sure he had IN obey
tho law, but that law had been provid-
cd to preserve liberty, and II the man
ofcOlor had not taken part In prepar.
ING the law, might he not wait, at least
for a while, until he should exhibit
ability to appreciate, his nGw-fOund IL
berty. before no should claim the law
no 1mendedS He would not require
the States to grant the elective fran!
chIse. II the executive might confer
that privilege in one particular, he
might substract in another, and finally
he might determine who might or might
not vote, and that would be the worst
kind OF decentralization Of power. Aeon.
sOlinated gOvornmeuenthen ever would
consent tOinAnyform. We were hkelyt 70
be led aStray by terms-for instance, the
term elective franchise. He said that
when this government wasS formed II
was let down, as 1t were, from above
among tho nations Of the earth ~ that
| Il was necessary for all nations to have
sonlO foundation on which to rest, and
our government in settling upon a ba-
sis finally rested upon that OF popular
representation, MS shown in our House
Of Representatives, whose members
were elected directly by the people
every two years. 1t was also recognize
ed that the people OF the several States
shOnh determine who might choose
these representatives. The case was
not altered now, It was tho basis on
which our government rested, and
could not be changed without distlrb-
ing the whole structure. This duty up
peared entirely plain, and he should
pursue IT, ere