Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1866-08-15
The President CONDEMNED BY the
Conservatives.

conduct of the New Orleans rebels aroused anon
the loyal people of the North, is fntensined POI
learning that they openly aided and aoetteo II
their fragrant acts of awlessness by the President
the United States Not only is his action unhesita
tingly condemned BY the entire well-pronouncet
Union press of the country, but even those so-caet
Republican journals which have been disposed 4
deal tenderly with his criminal blunders can find NJ
excuse for this latest development CT that terrible
calamity to the country which the President egotis
tically terms my policy" As might be expected
the COpperhead and rebel press, without exception
is in ecstacies over this new evidence of "gres
statesmanship" upon the part of Mr.. johnson
They, however, are only the opponents of that elias:
OF the American people, happily in the minority
out of which the New Orleans mob was composed
As samples of many others of the same Glass, We
have selected three prominent journals from whose
columns the rebel organ Of the President here is
fond Of quoting. The New York Evening Post
says:
We do net see how all this can be explain ed We
trust the President, by publishing the whole CORES
pondence, of which we have now only his order
VIII be able TO justify not only the manner of his
interference but the of interference itself For
the present we can only say that his order appears
70 have had as unfortunate effect as his 22d OF
February speech. Instead of comforting and pro-
tectng the lawabiding and loyal citizens, it seems
to have encouraged bloody-minded and vindictive
mob of men lately engaged in rebellion instead of
"suppressing all illegal unlawful assemblies" in
the words OF the order the effect TO have been
to give full reign TO most lawless and w-defying
mob, and 10 secure complete immunity from pun
ishment TO the rioters.
Who made the President the Judge of the le-
gality of State Convention When did he hear
evidence upon the matter? Where does he get his
authority for interfering? By the Constitution,
the United States shall protect each State against
invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or
of the executive, when the legislature cannot be
convened,) against domestic violence Where was
the invasion? where the domestic violence?
where the application of the legislature or of the
executive? Where was even the danger to the pub
lie peace? A convention numbering twenty-six
men met in hall in New Orleans. Was it feared
By the murderous mob or by Mayor Munroe that
these twentysix would rise and put the whole order
Of Thugs to the swOrd2
1T does not escape the attention of the Union
loving people that every outrage like the New
Orleans riot in the Southern States, is done in the
interests of oppression and against equal rights and
i'm partial justice by who were but lately zeal
GUS and fragrant rebels, and who continue TO boast
Of their crimes against the country and the flag
Whether at Memphis or New Orleans, in Richmond
it is the violence, the brutal lawessness of men
lately engaged in an attempt to destroy the Union
and their victims are men, women and children
whose loyalty to the Union active during the
war that no history of the be written with
out recording their courage fidelity and selfsacrce.
II is not pleasant to Unon-loving people to the
President Of the United States, no matter by what
accident lnadveTtence, placed in the position of
giving encouragement to such lawlessness and make
less endurable the sufficiently hard position of men
who, with him, are hated and revied by the late
rebels as Southern loyalists.'"
The New York Commercial Advertiser, another
conservative Journal is equally forcible in its de-
nuncistion Of the Presidents conduct. 1t says:
The course of the Presid ent thus far in connec-
tion with this outbreak OF certainly meet with
approval at the North The result shows that his
reply 10 the Lieutenant Gov ernor, that the courts
should be sustained by the military, interpreted
by the enemies of the convention an invitation
to go forward and break it up. He now after learn
ing of the details of the massacre, telegraphs not
to the Governor but to the Attorney General of the
State, TO sufficient force to sustain the civil
thorities in suppressing all illegal unlawful
semblies who usurp or assume to exercise any power
or authority without first having obtained the con-
sent of the people Of the State. Nothing is said
about 'suppressing' the angry mob who were hav-
ing control of the city yesterday. But what will
strike the reader most significant in this dispatch
is the manner in which the existence of the Cover
nor is ignored. Mr.. Wells was chosen Lieutenant
Governor long before Mr.. johnson was elected TO
the Vice Presidency, and be is now the Governor of
the State recognized such through bis election to
that Office last November If the President is there
fore, as he claims, carrying out the reconstruction
policy of his predecessor, then Mr. Wells Cover
nor, is the very embodiment of that policy and
can no more be ignored than the Governor of New
York. His own theory of reconstruction is thus
completely set aside by the President and be acts
on the supposition that the recovered States are
nothing more than conquered territory, subject to
the authority Of any person to whom he may for
ward instructions. Mr.. johnson, in his veto mes
ages and recent addresses has asserted that he was
influenced by q desire to combat the centraliZing
tendencies of the day But we hear find him guilty
of an assumption OF power such as the most ardent
believers in a centralizing government would never
have dreamed Of exercising. If as he asserts, the
Southern States restored to their full rights with
the exception of being represented in Congress,
how, then can the ignoring of Governor Wells be
regarded otherwise than clear act of Executive
usurpation2
The fact that President johnson now allows the
military to interfere in the of the New Orleans
convention is not calculated 10 soohe the enemies of
his policy when they recall the fact that he refused
such assistance when asked by Gov. Brownlow,
through General Thomas in the case of the Nash
vile Legislature. If his reconstruction policy has
no right to interfere in one more than in the
other 1t was clearly wrong for him 10 withhold
assistance when solicited to the passage of the
constitutional amendment and then to tender that
assistance when solicited to prevent the adoption of
the amendment by body legally constituted or
otherwise. There is here glarng inconsistency in
bis course, which the President must expect will be
eagerly seized upon by MS political opponents. It
is very apparent, however, that President johnson
still believes himself possessed of the right and
perogative to interfere in State matters whenever
deemed best by him to do so. The reconstruction
conventions Of the South were time and again call
ed upon him to mould their legislation to suit his
views; and when the State election occurred in
Tennessee he autographed to Governor Brownlow
to strictly enforce the franchise act adding that suf
cient military force would be placed at his disposal
Now, we submit that Mr.. johnson, in order 70 at
tain to consistency, must either abandon these views
or abandon his whole theory of reconstruction"
We content ourselves it'll but one more extract
II is from the New York Sun, which has heretofore
been disposed to support the policy of the President
1t now says:
1t is true that the convention in question was
not elected by the people of the whole State. At
the time Of its election threefourhs of the said peo
ple-of the able bodied clsss-Were fighting to de-
stroy the Union and hunting down such men as
Andrew johnson. The convention was elected by
q majority of the eligible voters in Louisiana, and
we cannot see how it can be ignored without also
ignoring all other political acts done by Union men
of the South during the war. What will become Of
the State of West Virginia under such precedent?
And what becomes of the Presidents reported dec
laration that the Union men of the South were en-
titled to q republican form of government, even if
there were only enough of them to run the State