Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-17
PRESIDENT JOHNS0N
HE HAS OFHER"INTERVIEW.s
Talks With a Foreign Correspondent.


In the perplexed and uncertain state
into which public affairs have fallen, it is
impossible for me TO send you any infor-
nation more important or valuable than
the particulars of an interview which l
had with President johnson at the White
House or Thursday last. The Presidents
opinions, especially with reference to the
Freedmen, have been so wilfully misrep-
resented in the Radical press of this coun-
try, and his general policy toward the
Southern States has been exposed to so
much unjustiiable perversion, that Mr..
Johnson's own explanations on both these
subjects may have some weight even with
those who are most embittered against
him.
The President first adverted 10 the con
dition in which he found the country on
his accession to office, and pointed out that
ever since that time the Radical party,
which now has the control over Congress,
had been preparing for the issue forced
upon him. Their object was manifest, and
which, from their point of view, they
could scarcely be blamed for pursuing so
eagerly. They knew perfectly well that
when the South came back into Congress
LlClA OAN VI BOhC4 hOuAo bD ONGA"tLC
Southern representatives, would stand as q
unit; they would probably fall into al
lance again with the Democratic party,
the old issues of slavery and state SOW
ereignty would be dead and buried, and
the party which now ruled would be
stripped of its power. Their talk about
philanthrophy and benevolence TO the
negro meant nothing more than a desire
to work upon the feelings of the North,
so that they might be enabled to carry
everything their " way. 1t was a re-
newal of an old conflict. The two sections
of the country were readyto go to war be-
fore the rebellion broke out-the one to
preserve slavery, the other to destroy il.
Each side was willing to sacrifice the Gov
eminent in order to gain its object. The
South struck first; the rebellion was sub
dued at the southern end of the line, and
now it is swinging round to the other end.
"These men, continued the President
and he always used these words to denote
the Radical party-aare almost ready to
go into rebellion again rather than have
their supremacy destroyed by the reintro-
duction of the South. They know moth
ing practically of the real state of the
South. The very man who had drawn up
the Civil Rights bill-what are his means
of judging? l left him in the Senate dur
ing the war, and went out to Tennessee
and saw it all, and bore my share Of the
troubles. He stopped at home, and now
endeavors to make his theories square in
to the events of the war, and legislate on
ideas which he has never put 10 the test. y
The President then wen Oh to speak of
slavery and the negro. He said he had
been brought up under the very shadow
of the institution of slavery. He had
bought and owned slaves, but still he had
always been for abolishing slavery upon
any basis which could be adopted with
safety to the country. When it came to
the question whether slavery should be
abolished or the Government broken up,
he never had a doubt as to the course he
ought to pursue: he decided TO give up
slavery, and he abided by that decision.
But the South now would treat the negro
with greater kindness than the North if it
were left alone and not exasperated. "They
| talk of Justice to the negro" continued the
President "God knows my heart yearns
toward him when l think of the end
which these men are preparing for him.
l see that end clearly enough-they are
clearing the way for a conflict OF races.
| When that occurs we all know how it will
fare with the negro. How has such Il con-
test always ended When the time comes
there will be no struggle. The result will
be decided without. Now then, what do
we find2 The very thing which we said
| these Southern States could never do,
which we fought these four years to pre-
vent them doing, these men affirm that
they have actually done-namely, been out
| Of the Union. The Southern States are
ready to come back upon our terms, take
loyal oaths and acknowledge their al
~legiance, but these men say they shall not
Why, if they had offered to come back, OF
any of them, during the rebellion, should
we have turned them away on the ground
that they had placed themselves out of the
Union? Mr.. Lincoln offered to receive
the whole Legislature of Richmond
rebel Legislature-and would have vel
coined them with open arms. Would he
have refused to receive these States now
that they have fully submitted p
The President next referred to the mis-
representations of his policy which have
been so industriously spread abroad.
"These mel" had for some months past
had the public mind open to them, and
had poured into it whatever they pleased.
| Now it had become incrusted, as it were;
but once let that incrustation be broken
through, and the truth would beginto find
its way. I am not discouraged" added
the President; "either these States must
be brought back, or they must be kept
out. Its like doing a sum in addition
some sums want figuring up more than
others before you can get the answer, but
1 believe il will all come out right in the
end"
Mr.. johnson then enlarged with con-
siderable detail upon the operations of the
Freedmen's Bureau, and said that its ma
chipery was now beingused TO get negroes
conveyed from the North 5aek to the
South b. the very men who were asserting
that the lives of the freedmen were not
safe in the South. They had hired OF
bought lands, they wanted labor, and they
got their negroes transported at the ex-
pense of the Government. The Freed
mems Bureau compelled the negroes to
90, or they stopped their subsistence al
lowance. 1t was little better than anoth-
er form of Slavery, only that it was solely
conducted by Abolitionists; for the Freed
mems Bureau would not assist a Southern
man in getting negroes from the North,
where many thousands ofthem have taken
refuge during the war. A gentleman
from Falkland county, Virginia, had been
to him, the President said, only a few
DAYS ago, saying that he had sent 300
negroes to the District (of Columbia) for
security during the war. He now wished
to hire them, but the Freedmen's Bureau
interposed obstacles, and would give him
no help in transporting them whereas
the Government railroads were placed al
the service of other spectators. In all
that he said it was evident that the Presi-
dent approved some plan for protecting
the negro and giving him suecor, but that
he considered the administration of the
Freedmen's Bureau was not all that could
be desired. 1t did not accomplish the
true object for which it was founded.
Passing from this subject the President
said that the radical party in Congress
talked to the people as if they had to fear
some act of oppression on the part of the
Executive because the Civil Rights bill
hsd been vetoed. u But the veto power -
he said, could never be made an engine
of oppression. 1t has only a negative
force-it originates nothing. 1t can only
say when it sees unwise CT unconstitu-
tional legislation attempted, Now stop.
Consider this thing q little further. Pass
the hill If Won will by your constitutional