Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-20
VOLUME XVII.

ing their immediate admission to Con
gress without security for loyal ser
vice are making common cause with
them. You once had courage to re
sist unprincipled swindling, but you are
craven now. You could once cry dough
face, thief, robber, as long and as loud as
any one, but you are silent now when thick
est of the fight has come. For the shame
You say, had these States been admitted
at once, a healthier feeling would now ex
ist at the South. But what prevents a
healthy Southern sentiment, to-day, but
Southern injustice The South complains
of condition they brought upon them
selves. They concocted their own troubles,
invited their own misfortunes they threw
off in disdain their connection with the Un-
ion,--every stab at the North was stab
at their own life, every blow they dealt
rebounded upon their own head And
now what can the North do to relieve them
of difficulties which are legitimate result
of their own vices, without undoing all that
| has been done in the direction of truth and
justice? Can we reduce the freeman again
to servitude? You, Mr. BEEcHER, would
oppose that step with all the power God
has given you. Shall we repeal the Civil
| Rights and Freedmens' Bureau Bills? That
would indeed be a satisfaction to them
since it would enable Southern gentlemen
to filch nnfrom the freedmen all they can
earn, as they have done before But would
it be right? These Bills are the only pro-
lection the freedmen have from the most
grasping oppression, and their repeal would
be the first backward step, in this, the
greatest revolution of modern times. Shall
the Republican party cease all it's efforts in
the way of suffrage? Here again, we come
face to face with that characteristic of the
age we call moral necessity. We must per-
SeUere. "God help US we cannot do other
wise" Our human nature demands it. You
! can no more suppress the a pirations, the
hopes, the efforts for universal suffrage,
than you can the surges of the Atlantic.
The Republican party having entered upon
its path of restitution to an oppressed peo-
pie cannot hold its hand. You may say we
can concliatc the South, we can bind it to
US yet-we cau intermit our efforts in re-
spect to the suffrage question and the
South will meet us but we ask again, if
it is Gods will that we advance in this
path that lies before US, so plain and so
clear, can we stop at a word some weak
mortal has spoken? Can all the words
framed hy the mouth of mortal man arrest
the flow of this tide toward universal suf
frage, toward the complete emancipation of
race from the curses and consequences
of an undeserved and cruel bondage? Did
you in all your reading of history or in
your experience of human affairs become
acquainted with a revolution which has
made the progress this has, that all at once
! ls-+n afS hYC 70 4ln hon ,lHr
partial success =? You never have, nor has
any other man. God is not Knocked with
impunity.
You write, Mr. BEEcHER, as if no party
had been formed in advocacy of the Presi-
Dental policy; as if the instant admission
Of the Southern States to Congress. was a
san effort If you mean that some blame
| is to be attached somewhere for the pres
ent attitude of parties, please to attach it
to its true source. Why, Sir, among the
first acts Of Mr. JOHNSON was the concoc-
ton and elaboration of this very party
which we now see disputing with Congress
| and the people, and opposing the true poll
cy of the country. ANDREW JOHNSON was
faithful to the oppressed race until some
rebel dsorganizer or Northern Copperhead
| whispered in his ear, that he might become
the next Presidential candidate. 1t was
then that we first heard of My Policy" He
no longer sought the leadership of people
fleeing in the wilderness--he resigned the
place of Moses, the prophets rod devour-
ed no more serpents--it smote no more
rocks, but it cudgeled Post Masters with a
will. Of this party of the President you
are distinguished advocate. Like your
Moses, you have surrendered the place you
have held in the hearts of the people, and
you now consort with partizan black-legs,
and heartless schemers, and wire pullers.
If you are satisfied with your associations
and position SO are we, and so are the peo-
pie. We bid you go. Honest men have
| honored you as an hOne=t man, and hoped
you might be satisfied with your lot-not
as the first man in the nation, but as one
who deserved we'll as long as you did well,
and no longer. Many of us have read your
sermons from week to week, from the Ply
mouth desk, not, however, without some Sc
cret misgiving that your versatile talent
might one day be employed in subverting
the reputation you had built up. But of
this nothing more now. You have leagued
yourself with a party, even when you de-
cry parties, and with that party you must
stand or fall You, clergyman as you are,
leader of the elect, are dancing in pup
pet show to the catgut Of some low fiddler
from the slums, and enacting the partisan
as well as disappointing your friends You
are seeking the friendship of men who have
ever been your enemies, and identifying
yourself with the assassins Of one you once
professed to honor more than any living
man. You have said, repeatedly, that be-
fore the rebellion, Southern politicians man
aged the nation why may they not do sc
again? And why are those who fear they
may, and who seek some security lest they
may, to be charged by your chief with trea
son, as though they had been caught with
torpedoes in their pockets to blow US all tc
the moon?
If, as you say it is, the style of thought
! IS ireer to-day, why do you give currency
to ideas that would disgrace politician o.
| the sixteenth century? If the young men o
: our times are regenerated, as you say
they are, why do you inculcate princi
, pies long ago overwhelmed by the
advancing wave of intellectual freedom
principles which should never have founC
t a harbor in ary American breast since
tho Dacl fion Of Tndapandanca WhI