The weekly union record., 1866-03-10
General Bidven on the Crisis.

The following letter from Hon. John Bidxell,
Member of Congress from this District,
although addressed to q private individual.
without any design to its publication, says the
Solano Press. is so opportune that, with the
consent Of the recipient, We give it entire; and
from the high position which the writer occu-
pies in the confidence of the people of this
State, his carefully considered opinions,
expressed at time when there was no occasion
for undue excitement, viii, as they should,
receive due consideration
WASHINGTON, January 80 1866.
| GEO. A GILLESPIE, ESQ, Suisun-My Dear
Sir Your favor of December 18th was
received on the 2lst inst; not in time to answer
by the last steamer thank you for the inter-
estiDg account given Of the Senatorial contest.
| hope TO hear from you from time to time.
My position is certainly an arduous one. /
am here 10 do duty. I may not be able to
come ont uusca,hed from the most important
held the country has ever seen. save the war
for the Union. now so happily ended. but the
consequences unprovided for.
| The President is not, fear, 10 harmony with
Congress. We try to claim that be Isl fearful.
however. that the contrary is true. During
| the war, it was easy to be right; it was then
country or no country. The issue was clearly
defined. We were then running in a deep
groove that held all loyal men, beyond the
| possibility of error or escape, to their country
cause. The track would still be clear, but for
the course which the Executive has seen proper
to pursue. lie seems to ignore Congress alto
gether in bis work of reconstruction, and If his
policy is carried out, really believe We shall
have trouble. The freedmen would be reduced
by State laws TO condition worse than slavery.
The feeling against the Union in the South is
as bitter now as it ever has been. The Presi-
dents policy, giving immediate and uncondi
tional control to the States, would silence the
| Union sentiment in the South, which is in the
minority. and drive away every practical advo-
cate of enlightenment from the Southern plant
ations. l feel it to be the duty Of Congress to
insist upon adequate protection to the freedmen
and the right to instruct and elevate them.
The Copperheads object TO the Freedmen's 5
Bureau, and to everything that will give the
negro a chance to be free and useful. With
these views l am at war; and shall not wayer.
| l shall not return TO California the coming
Summer, unless we can adjourn early in June.
During the vacation, propose to make short
tour in Europe.
My great desire while here is to secure such
legislation as will result in Fastening the
selection and adjustment of the State school
lands swamp and overtlowed lands, ETC.; but,
GO far, l have met with every conceivable
objection on the part of the General Land
Office 1t seems to ignore the rights of all
who hold under tie State, and appears in the
attitude of special advocate for the pre- emptor.
| wish to secure the rights of oil. The pros
perity of our State depends on the early settle
ment of our land titles. 1t Is highly important,
too, for US to preserve our school fund; this
cannot be guarded too carefully. The youth
of the Pacific Coast are so alarmingly precoc-
ious, they must be instructed in the very
morning of life, or they are beyond the control
of education.
One word as to the duty of the Union party.
They who have saved the Union must sustain
the efforts to meet and arrange the logical
consequences. They must labor to make intel
ligent the freedmen, that their presence may be
the less perncious, and protect them against
tie prejudice that would keep them degraded
Traitors and Copperheads deny the colored man
the means Of obtaining intelligence, and then
seek TO degrade him because be is ignorant.
they will howl NEGRO equality" Let them do
so. We will meet them with an unbroken front,
satisfied that our party will be sure to triumph
if we take hold of the question boldly and 10
the principle OF equal justice. Yours. ever,
j. BIDWELL.