The Portland daily press., 1866-04-14

WHO have WdtcHeu the COURSE WHICH affairs art
taking can doubt that it is to this complexion
that the greater portion of that region of oul
land is rapidly tending.
And now the solemn question comes, who i.
responsible for this change? At whose dool
lies the accountability OF shadowing thus the
| fair promise of year ago, and of lifting upof
us the cloudy prospect which rises before III
to-day?
And the answer, 1 think, must come without
equivocation, PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON
Is REsPoNsIBLE FOR 1T, and with him, bis up.
holdersin his present unpatriotic and disloya
| course. The accountability is his mainly, and
subsidiarily theirs who support him.
And he has brought this accountability fol
the widespread and disheartening change in
the aspect of public affairs upon himself, by d
change in his own utterances and official be-
havior, which in all the annals of political
tergiyersation and apostacy, is in its sudden
ness and extremity, without parallel or exam
pie.
The chapter of American History which a
few months past have been inscribing, howev-
er it may eyentuate, will be always an import
ant one in our national record. And not a lit
tie of its memorableness will lie in actions of
the man who has stood before the nation in
the brief period of less than one year, in as
poets SO diverse and mreconcilable. Asa part
of the duty laid by this day upon me of giving
what l deem truthful utterance on the conz
dition and responsibilities of the hour, must
speak briefly Of the man and his changes,
whom l hold mainly accountable for the EN-
barrassment and anxieties which are now up
on us. shall endeavor to speak fairly, not
undertaking to impute motives for conduct,
however plain those motives may seem to be-
\ shall state facts Y ntterancs and Action, let
Upon the lamented death OF Mr.. Lincoln,
the Presidency of this Republic constitution
ally devolved upon man to whom the atten-
ton ofthe people Of this country bad besns
drawn by bis radical andNehement loyalty to
the government and denunciation Of treason,
through four previous years of the war. It is
not impeaching at all the good reputation he
enjoyed, to say that Mr.. johnson was never
in the public estimation, a man whom the ma
ton would have voluntarily entrusted with
the office of its chief magfstracy. No one will
pretend that the nomination of Mr.. johnson
as Vice-President added anything material to
the. strength of the ticket. The popularity
Of Ma lincoln would have carried into Office
any man who could have got a nomination
with him. Nevertheless Mr.. johnson stood
high in the public estimation, and he did so,
let ii be remembered, mainly on the basis Of
his intense and almost radical opposition to
treason and to the advocates ofdisunion. His
denunciations of the traitors in the Senate, in
the winter of 1850 81, are still remembered for
their terrible vigor and severity. His course
as Military Governor of Tennessee won the
admiration of all who loved courage, and re7r
ioiced IN devotion to the loyal cause. The
strong and almost savage assertions of the in
through all this period, are fairly characteriz-
ed by an utterance in his speech at Nashville,
accepting the nomination to the Vice Presi-
dency: "The rebel leaders" he says 'fmust feel
the power of the government. Treason must
be made odious, and traitors must be punish
ed and impoverished; their great plantations
must be seized, and divided into small farms,
and sold to honest men" W. Fl &E-
1t was upon this man, and on account of
such record, that the people of the United
States, almost regardless Of any possibility Of
more important functions devolving on him.
conferred the office of Vice-President. And
upon this man. with, such record as this, the
Assassination oil the beloved Lincoln devolved
the Chief Magistracy of the nation. In con-
templating his accession to this high Office
many loyal men were filled with apprehension,
lest such bloody severity would characterize
his course in dealing with the vanquished i
traitors, as would excite sympathy for the vic
tins, even more than it would create terror
for the crime. In the ranks of the secession
lists themselves his assumption of Office was re-
garded as the direst calamity which could be-
fal them. 1t forced from Richmond papers
the confession that in the assassination of Mr..
Lincoln the South had lost its truest friend,
and laid itself PROSTATE before its worst foe
All through the North there was rejoicing
amid tears, that a hand now. held the sway,
which, however less skilful than his who was
gone, was yet strong as the grippe of death in it's
hold on the loyal principles for which the land
had bled, and terrible as thunderbolt in its,
stroke at treason andithe nations foes. An
through the South there was a "fearful look
ing for Of Judgment and no name SO dreaded
as Andrew Johnson's.
pass over a period of ten or eleven months,
and lit the curtain on any day of the past
four weeks. l do not know as can state the
altered condition of things more truly than by
saying, Almost every traitor or sympathiser
with traitors, North or South, is now the eu-
lOgist and supporter of the President: al
most every man who cordially stood by the
measures of the government during the war,
is now divided from him. In the loyal North
there is chagrin, anxiety, trouble. In the
disloyal South there is exultation, confidence,
triumphG The patriot feels that he has lost,
the rebel that he has gained a friend. With
Trumbull and Fessenden the President has
parted company, With Fernando Wood and
Aiken, the miserable defender of Mrs. Surratt,
he is in intimate fellowship. The once exiled
Vallandigham said few days ago: Il have
suspicion that political draft on the White
House bearing my name would be as readily
honored just now, as one bearing the name of
Stevens, Sumner, or Schenck.". = The always
loyal Brownlow says: every rebel in this
country and every ex-guerrilla chief, is enthu-
80 81
structed traitors are openly cursing loyal men,
and threatening that they have the President
on their side, while ce all feel that the Presi-
dents policy is ruinous to u.s. Ks
Nor is this amazing change without its
tangible reasons. 1t results from change in
the attitude and utterances Of the President
which is, as have said, unparalleled in the
history of governmental Schicane That we
may get concise view of this alteration let
us, on one or two salient points Of present af-
fairs, bring the Andrew johnson of a few
months ago, face to face with the Andrew
johnson of to-day.
I. Take the dealing with rebels as a first
point. A few months ago if there was one
class of utterances for which the President
was more distinguished than another, it was
the earnestness of his protestations Of an in
tention TO mete out to the rebel leaders severe
and impoverishmg PENALTIES To this day
not single rebel in the entire South has ever
been brought to trial. A few months ago.
they were to be made "odious." To day they
hold, by thousands, full Executive pardons.-
A few months ago they were to be in risk of
arrest and execution. To day many of them
hold Offices under Executive appointment, and
one Brigadierg general of the Confederate ar
my was pafdoned by the President that he
might be appointed Provisional Governor of
Mississippi. And so widespread and fragrant
has been the dispensation of thees pardons,
that, ingmoIe than, one instance, Provisional
Governors of the Presidents own appoint
ment, have begged him for the sake of order
in their States, to suspend for awhile his gen
eral jail-de.ivery of traitors.
Ii. Or look at the positions of the Presi.
dent ON the question of the province of Con
gress in the grab business of restoring the
practical workings of the Union. Through all
the Summer and Autumn past, the President
met every criticism on his course, whether
proceeding from loyalists North or South, sub
stantially with the reply: "My course is only