Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-03-07
Beecher on the Veto.

a Beecher on the Veto.
: Henry Ward Beecher delivered lecture
in Brooklyn on last Tuesday. We make tht
. : following extracts:
D "There is a Freedmen's Bureau. There
was in Congress bill for tie more efficient
organization of it. All mems hearts have
!. been to day excited by the tidings that thai
,, Freedmcn's Bureau bill Las been vetoed BY
f the President. (Somc hisses.) l am sorry
I that he felt it to be his duty to veto it, and
am sorry that the bill was so drawn that he
was obliged to feel it to be his duty to uet0 it.
, But, mark this is not vetoing q bureau, MOI
an amended or re-organized bureau, but only
that particular form of bureau which that bill
contained. It does not commit the P,esi
dent agninst any proper department admin
isterirg to the blacks throughout the South.
We know, on the other haad, that LIE is 10
favor Of such bureau. And confess that
on reading his message, it has left profound
impression upon my micd that be Urges most
serious and wcighty reasons why, in the form
in which it went before him, it should not
have become lie law Of the land: Bat he
lieyc and am sure that no man in this land is
more in favor of some legislation that shall
amount to an efficient protection for the
black man than President johnson himself.
(Applause.) Men who have knowledge Of
the freedmen may be warped by their sym
pathy aud by their generous sentiments so
as not well to consider that while legisatihg
to save the freedmen it may be at the e1-
peuse Of those laws and those instruments in
which his very safety itself resides; and if
they are carried pasi the point Of moderation,
it is ,uc4 there should be opportunity 5orre-
construction"
The words in italics are clear expression
of BeecLer's opinion, that the bill was very
objectionable. We feel confident from this
and other indications, that the President will
secure the support of two-ihirds OF the peo.
ple even of the North on this issue between
himself and the radicals. Again, says DIR
| Beecher:
"Do you suppose that YOU will always have
President like Mr.. Johnson But l aia
mistaken in my Judgment if there has, since
the earliest and best lays Of our Presidency,
been q man more huIiest, more single-minded
for liberty, who, without bias of the feelings
or OF the heart, without bias Of amy kind, ell
deavored to do that which he thought best
for the interests oc the country, and tue
whole country Ap, p,lause.l Not another
man.
81 hold it would b. better that the States
should be brought into the Union tomorrow,
every one of them. And in this regard al
low me to say that cannot 20 with either
the President CT Congress. would bring
all in at once They mean to keep thcm al!
out at once. Laug hter. They would let
i'll a part, ard let the rest wait and see how
they would like it."
Beecher is representative man. He speaks
the thoughts of the property holders of the
North.
In relation to the South and the Southern
people, he has the following remarks:
"But then you say, We want guarantees
this: they won't medlle with and disbonor the
puh!ic deht., I dc. not doubt that they would
f'iiEe to do it. Ijudge it from my own feel
ngs. If l were in their place should hate
TO be taxed to pay for whipping myself. We
nueh not toexpcct that this morscl should be
roi.c0 as a peculiar luxury under their tongue.
The bonds Of the United States are the basis
of the rational banks, and all the banking
business of these United States are the guar
antee that the national honor is to be pre-
served. Do you want anything more than
that 2. (AppIuusc.) Formerly the South had
| au interest aad an ambition in breaking away
and in putting herself ID an antagonism 10
the National Government Her statesmen
were drunk with van;ty-her reason e:s wero
| wild in their political theories. They heliev-
ed that slavery, do not doub: it, was the
brst foundation on which TO build States, and
they meant TO build up a.power in the South
such as the world had.neVcr seen. They be
gan by taxing labor, as tie North by honor
ing laber; they began b. building up with
Lespised workmen, as the North did Will
hopcst intelligent workmen they Built their
country of clay, and the North her5 Of iron,
and God took the two balls in his hand.
snote them together in tie war, and the
South fell to dust and ashes, while the North
is solid, and unfractured yet. Loud ap
plause)
"Now circumstances laYe changed, and
having no longer this illusion, that slavery is
to stand in the State, they have no longer
ambition for that empire in the future in
which they shouli run with cotton for their
king. That is all gore, and they are where
Belsbazzar was when he had feathers on his
.body aud grass in his M nth. Each day will
develop the prosperity of the South moving
upon new basis, and each day will make it
palmer and palmer to them that nationality
is necessary for their prosperity. Old asplra'
tious must die. The war passions must
cease. 1t i, n,w South ne arc talking
about. Ithas r'w political economy. 1t
has new future. God has said by the :e
pulchre. South, zone FORTH and the South
| has come tn ugh board band and foot. Me
thinks hear the Saviour say, Loose her and
let her go.'
"On the other hanI, look for one moment
at the effects of prolonged exclusion OF the
Southern. States. 1t is weaniug the citizens
of those States more and more from the Ma
tional Government. For6ve years they have
not thought of nshngton, except to curse
her. They have n felt the need ofit. They
have no, felt any blood running through them
tbat.came from tie national heart. It is
nronosed to make them live five years more
ont of the Union. Ia that the way to make
them love it, Is that the way 10 make them
feel their necd of the Government
/, .I will now glance at the state OF feeling
IN the South. When we consider waat
they suffered; who they we're that suffered;
when + consider where they started from and
where they brought up; when consider the
whole history of tho case, the state of pHb'ic
feeling South Is far more peaceful than We
could expect. 1t is lad enough, but it is far
better than we could expect. Letter writers,
travellers, say RECONSTRUCTED South "a nice
condition the South is in TO be reconstructed
They are our bitter enemies they gnash their
teeth and all. / wonder if you. think that
after you souudly whip a man that he is 60, %.
ing to thank you for it4 Do ,you suppose
that Gen. Lee, when he surrendered, shouid
- thrown hi hands round Gen. Grants