Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-09-05
THE .TOHNsON MEETING.

A large mass meeting was held at the
Atheneum last evening to listen to a speech
from Gen. j. HI. Geiger before the National
Union johnson Club. Preceding the open
ing of the meeting, the Soldiers Home
Band played some fine airs in front of the
Atheneum, with that skill and artistic ex-
ecution, for which they have become noted
The ,Atheneum was filled to oyerfowing,
and had its capacity admitted Of 1t, the au-
dience would doubtless have been much
larger. The meeting was presided over by
G. Douty, Esq, of this city, by whom Gen
Geiger was introduced to his fellow citizens,
and proceeded to address them with his ac-
customed humor, wit aud convincing argu-
mentation, interrupted by frequent bursts
/ of merrlment and applause. We shall not
attempt a report of his speech, but give
merely sketch olson Of its points, 3
He repelled the charge that the johnson
men from the Republican ranks were
bread-and-butter men, and fastened itupOn
those who made it. He showed that four
of the six members of the Republican State
Executive Committee were and had been
for long time Office holders.
Reference was made to the Radical
charge that the President is traitor,
put lished Broadcast in their party papers
all over the land. The General gave a
sketch of the Presidents course during and
since the war, and showed that in no single
act, could he be charged with treason. 1t
was not In his power to punish rebels or
traitors. That was, now in time of peace,
in the province of the Courts alone.
why were not traitors punished2 Simply
because the majority In Congress had re-
fused to recognize the Southern States as
in the Union, and have Federal Courts In
them in operation. The President had
requested Chief Justice Chase to proceed
with the trial OF JEFF. Davis, yet Davis had
not been tried. 1t was not the Presidents
fault. .i's.f "f ....
If President Lincoln had lived, the same
charges of leniency toward rebels would
have been made against him as have been
made against President johnson. In this
connection, the General related the follow
ing incident: .. ". F.. r l......
remember being in Washington and
there met g. Washington Mclean, of the
Cincinnati Enquirer, and Col. Jos. Cooper.
Mclean was very anxious to get Roger A.
Pryor out Of Fort Lafayette, and insisted
on my going with him to see A. Lincoln,
the President. Through the kindness of
Gov. Dennison, who knew nothing, pre-
sumo, of McLean's object, we got an audi
eace. / introduced the gentlemen. Nc
Lean Immediately opened his business with
warmth and ardor, presenting letters from
Horace Greeley and John w. Forney in
favor Of Pryor's release. Mr.. Lincoln
listened attentively and then in his own
way asked Mclean "What is the milk in
the coaconut that you are so inter-
ested In PryorP He has been
country" Mclean told him that
Pryor had befriended him when he needed
help, and he stood by Pryor in his adversity,
and he had no doubt but his release would
benefit this Government. The President
asked me if knew Mr.. Mclean 1oeH. / said
/ did. Said to MIR. Mclean, shall tell
him who you arep Said he ''tell plainly
every thing you know. i want him to
know It," / then said that as a personal
friend Mr.. Mclean was one of the truest
men knew, that he was liberal and manly
and influential, and that would place en-
tire reliance on everything he would state
but that he was an active politician
against us and proprietor of the Cincin-
natl Enquirer, the worst Copperhead paper
In the West, and doing our cause more harm
than any other. The President looked at
my friend Mclean, whom return eyed him
steadily, then took card and wrote the or
der for Pryor's release, and then, at Nc
Leans request, ordered that Mclean get
Pryor from prison and he should report to
John w. Forney. That was the conduct of
Mr.. Lincoln toward a man who had gone to
Charleston ere the sound of rebel gun
had been heard, and by his extraordinary
exertions induced the battering down of
Fort Sumter, because Pryor alleged that
Virginia would not leave the Union until
hostilities commenced. No single man in
Virginia did so much as he to hatch and
nourish the rebellion, and yet Mr.. Lincoln
released him on the application of politi-
cal opponent. Twas not In favor of his re-
lease. ...rr
The General read from the platform
adopted at the Republican National Con-
vention in 1854 to the effect that when the
rebel States ceased from hostilities, and re-
turned to their allegiance to the Constitu-
ton and the laws, they were to enjoy their
rights and privileges as States in the
Union. These States had done what was
required of them, and still a majority of
Congress claimed they were out of the
Union for representation, and in it for tax
alton. They were dead for some purposes,
and alive for other purposes. Such was
the Radical paradox.
General Geiger referred to resolution
adopted by the Republican State Conven-
tion Of Ohio, in 1866, indorsing and eulo-
gizing President johnson, and which was
not rescinded, annulled or modified at the
State Convention of the same party this
year, but suffered to stand as the sentiment
of the party in this State. He believed it
was the real sentiment of two-thirds of the
masses Of that party at the present time.
The General spoke Of the excuse Sam.
and the Radicals in Congress
made for imposing negro suffrage on the |
District of Columbia, that 1t was to keep
rebels from controlling the District. He |
showed by facts and figures that this was
but shallow pretense, and that the real |
object was to put white men down, and put |
The negroes up. He referred to the Phila- |
lelphia Convention, and said that 1t was a |
of whitsmen, with no negsoes |
In it. If any one chose to 60 into Conven-
lion with negroes, be had no objection to