Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-02-22
O9lo Statesman.
from the Cincinnati CommerctaI.l
The IBresIdent'A Position.

cepts the responsibility; and who believes
the people are with him. Such paper
constrains respect, for it Is emphasized by
power, and it should receive the calmest
and closest consideration from all good and
thoughtful citizens, for the subject Is i'm
portant and the times are critical. I"HE-
Certainly we have the highest testimony
that the President has acted from pro-
found sense of public duty, for the bill
which he has vetoed would confer upon
him unexampled powers. Neither the
Russian Car nor the Austrian Emperor
rules over the conquered provinces of PO-
land and of Italy as the President might
rule over the States of the South under the
provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau bill.
He could fill those States with his creatures,
planting them as thickly as Postoffices, and
support each one with a military force.
He declares, however, that the power
which would thus be placed in his hands Is
such as ought never to be intrusted to any
one in time of peace; and this sturdy rejec
ton, upon principle, Of the allurements of
enhanced and almost unbounded authority
affords spectacle of austere Republican
virtue, that even the enemies of the Presi-
dent must admit is exemplary and admira-
BILE.
1t is telegraphed from Washington that
the President, and there are absurd sugges-
tions that he must be held to have commit.
ted an audacity. This comes from the cir
Gle that has assumed to be exclusive in 10y
atty, and that some time ago made procla-
nation that If the President presumed to
differ with them, he must be traitor. The
occasion Is one of too much gravity for the
discussion of the issues presented to be per-
mitted to proceed in the spirit of this vim
dictve trifling. At the outset, at least,
let the cries of passionate partisans be dis
regarded by the people. Here and now, If
ever and anywhere, is question to be an
alyzed with care and determined upon its
merits. The President does not inaugurate
new policy or advocate one. He simply
pursues the even tenor of his way. The
last days of President Lincoln were, as is
well known, largely given by him to refec-
tiOn, in maturing a magnanimous policy
for the restoration of the Union and Pres
ident johnson has walked right on in the
line his predecessor had traced. His policy
was well known on the first day OF this
Congress, having been clearly defined in
his proclamations of amnesty, and estab-
fishing provisional governments; and the
warfare against him by the Radicals has
been bitter and without intermission, while
he has avoided an outright conflict with
them, as far as possible, consistent with
decent sense of respect for himself and his
own convictions.
Democrats rejoice over the veto. OF
course they hail with satisfaction every
evidence of the discomposure of the Union
party, hoping in its disintegration to find
the way for themselves to resume the
places of power. They are probably acting
upon impressions that are wholly unwar-
ranted. 1t does not follow because the
President avoids one extreme that he will
rush to the other. 1t is not needful TO be
a Copperhead If one is not Radical. The
Democratic party has no principles, and
the country will never revolve around it
any more. Wea are not aware that any of
the old partisan organizations are essential
to the welfare of the nation. The people
will be divided, as they ought always to be,
between the supporters of the Administra-
tion and its opponents. The President is
not going to the Democrats. They can go
! to him at their pleasure.
National obligations to protect the Union
men of the South, of whatever color, are
confessed by all butth careless or inhuman.
The.poOrer and more helpless our friendsare
in that particular part of the country, the
more urgent is our duty to befriend them
according to the best of our ability. But
shall we do it by such a measure as that
described in the message? Is there not a
| better way? ... .." ..
The Freedmen's Bureau is in existence
now, in full force throughout the South. A
mighty and almost irresponsible power Is
vested in its agents. In very many places
tits sustained by garrisons of colored troops.
| And yet we hear of outrages upon the
persons and property of the freedmen. The
incapacity of the Bureau system to watch
| g. aNf, t. II
onstrated. General Howard has well said
that his is the bureau of impossibilities.-
Welmay multiply agents, augment their au-
thority, and increase the military force at
their disposal and yet we cannot guarantee
to millions scattered over the South, ex-
emption from insult, or immunity from ma
| licious enmity. There is the terrible antag-
onism, the ancient prejudice of race, and
| the bitterness that rankles after defeat that
| all the bayonets of all the armies of the
| Union cannot overcome. Jackson, the cap
ital of Mississippi, has military garrison
and supply of agents of the Freedmen's
Bureau, and yet our correspondent at that
point does not assure us of the happiness of
the negroes of the town, but complains
sharply of their i'll treatment; and so it is
in many other places.
When Beecher indorsed the policy of
| President Johnson as "apt, fitting and most
wise" ,"he said, in substance, that all the ap-
pliances of power would be comparatively
unayailing for the protection of the freed
men, if the good will of the whites of the
South were wanting. Obtain this good
will, and the welfare of both races is secur-
ed and the restoration of the Union an ac-
complished fact. Without it, there is con-
stant trouble, and no adequate remedy for
the grievances Of the weaker race. That
we can not reach the desired end through
the. merely restrictive and coercive process,
is plain enough to all who have profited by
the lessons of history, or who are studous-.
| ly observant of the daily experience Of the
country. The President believes that
trustful and generous policy would 'be re-
1 sponded to gratefully, and have results vim
| dicating its wisdom as measure of phi
lanthropy as well as proposition of States
manship!9 1t lisa misfortune that che dis
agreement in sentiment between the Ex-
ecutive and Legislative departments Of the
Government, has prevented a satisfactory
test of the virtueiot magnanimity In per-
forming the most difficult task of restoring
| the Republic, after great civil war, and
protecting newly-emancipated race from
those who have for generations been their
| 0ppreSSorSsrs rot IflO liiW 39uNisrIbnB
h. The negroes mus, learn to take care Of
! themselves, and the President is entirely
right when he says that they can attain a
| condition of respectability and prosperity
only through their own exertions, and tho
query that he puts Is q most pertinent one,
| whether the system proposed by the bill
| twill NOT when nut intO conn nlete ODerationf