The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-02-14

pro-slavery copperheadism, that it is difficult
to assign reason why it may not be claimed
ON that side as well as ON this side of the di-
viding line. 1t reminds one of the case of
the knight of the whip who applied for sit
uation in response to the advertisement of a
gentleman who wanted careful and safe
coachman. To set forth his merits he told
how near to the edge of precipice he could
drive; how near he had driven; how near to
danger he could go and not actually suffer.
SAnd now how near can you drive to the
edge of precipice" said the advertiser to
another applicant who stood by waiting his
turn to speak. II don't know, sir,p was the
reply, II never tried; always keep as far as
possible from such dangers" Or course it
didn't take the gentleman long to decide to
which OF the two applicants he should award
the situation, and commit his own and his
family's safety. .t, .f s.f-.,-I
NOW the Times is like the reckless driver
Ii actually on the loyal side of the rebel line
it is so near-it has habit of running so near
that loyal men feel ashamed of its position,
refuse to consider it their representative, and
feel annoyed that 10 should be quoted as an
organ OF the party In power. 1i., suob
Here is one of its late effhsions, referring to
the late interview between President John
son and the respectful delegation of loyal coll
ored men who called upon him in relation to
the interests of their race: l.,1g,aurf
while demanding an immediate and uni
versal enfranehisement for their kindred, these
negro representatives not only overlook the
vastness and the almost miraculous sudden
ness of their release from serfdom, but they
forget altogether, in their selfappreciation,
that they are to-day a community for ,chose
protection National Commission of Chart
ties, If not of Corrections, has be establish
ed Declared by their professional champions
to be the wards Of the nation" they are the
recipients OF eleemosynary aid, not as tadi-
ridual pdupers of the superior race receipe
charity, but as separate community, having
special and peculiar claims"
| This "National Commission of Charities if
not Of Corrections" is the Freedmen's Bureau.
So far as its charities are concerned, it is no
torious-as shown by official statistics--that it
has cost the Government vastly more, to feed
poor white people in the late rebel States than
it has cost to feed the freedmen. This fact is
as plain as a pikestaf-too plain to need
another word said in relation to it.
| How about the "National Commission of
Corrections? The argument of the Times is,
that it is indelieate if not impudent for race
of people requiring the special acts and ex-
penditures of the National Government to
keep them in order, to come forward and ask
for the recognition of civil rights Now let
us look at this suggestion, that we may see
precisely the ground the Times and those who
quote and approve it occupy; how near it
and they have driven their chariot to the pre-
| cipice beyond and below which are found un-
washed and unrepentant rebels, and treason
as rampant as is consistent with common pru-
dence and a reasonable fear of consequences.
| The Times Is the advocate of the immediate
restoration of the late rebel states, of the i'm
mediate reception of their delegates in Con-
gress, and the rehabilitation of the men who
few months since were in armed rebellion
against the Constitutional Government of the
land. There is neither impudence, indeli-
cacy or even haste III their coming to
Washington, calling upon the President, and
time powers and privileges; the restoration of
all their former political rights, and the blot
ting out of all the penal consequences of their
recent treason. The Times keeps out Of sight
the fact that the Freedmen;s Bureau is not
rendered necessary by the acts of the colored
people; they have done nothing rendering
such Commission requisite, but its whole ne
eessity grows out of the accursed spirit yet
pervading the solite people; spirit hostile to
liberty; spirit in love with slavery; spirit
which renders the innocent freedman unsafe
in their midst, and compels the Government to
keep up an organization to protect his rights
against the chirdlrous Southerner who so late
| iy laid down his arms at the command of su-
perior force.
But 1t is with poor grace that the Times
| speaks of the expense which the freedman i'm
poses upon the Government in the shape of
this National Commission of Correction" {"
Why are the expensive military arrange
nents yet kept up in every one of the late
rebel States, and what is their object? Hasn't
Gen. Grant emphatically refused to recon-
mend the withdrawal of our military forces
from those States? Is not every one of them
yet under martial law? Is not the privilege
of the habeas corpus suspended in every one
of them? Are not every one of them kept
in subjection at the present time by the bay
onet? Has not the late Provisional Governor
Parsons of Alabama distinctly, stated within a
few days, that it would be unsafe to withdraw
the troops from his State; that he thinks a
few regiments may be required there for q long
time to come? Havn't the loyal, true Union
men of Tennessee memorialized Congress to
protect them, and given it as their opinion
that no true Union man can live there when
once the Federal troops are withdrawn? And
has not Governor Brownlow in substance
stated the same thing? Is there, then, no
National Commission of Correction" kept
up by the Government, at vast expense, to
preserve order in the late rebel States ;--onder
among the ,chites, to correct them, and to
make it possible for the poor, the detenceless
and the truly worthy to remain among them
mmolested? Ifr..'lia h4r li14Hu
| How contemplate, then, in any paper or
any politician, to insult four millions of thor
oughly loyal people, defensless, poor and needy
only because ofthe expressions which have been
heaped upon them, by insisting that they are
not entitled to civil rights because it costs a
few hundred thousand dollars to protect their
rights! How supremely contemplate, while
insisting upon the rehabilitation of twice that
number of rebels, stepped in treason and reek
ing with the nations best blood, when it is
costing millions to keep them in subordination
to law, and to prevent their latent treason
from again becoming activel This is the con-
sistency of the New York Times, as exhibited
in the article which we have quoted above.
Within five years the National Commits
~ nfC e.. n,