Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1866-04-27
Ghe fres Press.
GEO. w. A G.. G.. BENEDICT.
EDITORS AND PRoPRIETORs.
FRIDAY MORNING APRIL %. 1866.
RECONSTRUCTION.

/
RECONSTRUCTION.
| THE TESTIMONY OF ALEXANDER II. STEPHENS.
Alexander II. Stephens, of Georgia, late
Vice President of the Southern Confederacy,
has been on the witness stand before the
Reconstruction Committee, and his testimo-
ny is published at length. As leading
Southerner, reluctant .eoess ionist, and an
ex-rebel with some remaining personal
character and respectability, his statements
are of value. Mr.. Stephens states that in
his opinion the people of Georgia desire to
become loyal citizens, snd that they have
totally abandoned the idea Of secession. We
give his own language on these points
1t is now their belief THAT ofthe people Of Geor-
| gial in my opinion, and give IT merely as an
| opinion, that the surest, if not the only hope
for their liberties Is the restoration OF the Con-
stitution Of the United States and Of the Gov
ernment of the United States under the Consti-
/ tuition.
think the people generally are satisfied suf-
fciently with the experiment never to resort to
that measure Of redress again by force; what
ever may be their own abstract ideas upon that
subject, they have given up all idea Of main
tenance Of those opinions by resort to force;
| they have come TO the conclusion that it is bet
ter to appeal to the forums Of reason and jus
tice, 10 the halls Of legislation and the courts
for the preservation Of the principles Of consti
! tutonal liberty, than to the arena OF arms; II
A sbas ts
idea cherished at all in the public mind Of Geor-
gia Of ever resorting again to Secession OF 10 the
exercise of the right Of Secession--thst whole
policy Of the maintenance of their rights, IN
my opinion, IS at this time 4 -!ly abandoned.
lie gave subsequently. some OF the reasons
which had led the southern people to such
conclusion a. iollow-
First, the people are satisfied that a resort to
the exercise Of this right, while it Is denied by
the Federal Government. will lead to war, which
many thought, before the late attempted Secs
sion, would not he the case; and civil wars, they
are also very well satisfied, are dangerous to LID
erty; and, moreover, their experience in the late
war, think, has satisfied them all that it great
ly endangered their own; allude especially to
the suspension Of the writ Of habeas corpus and
the military conscription, the proclamation Of
martial law in various places, general impress
ments, and the levying Of forced contributions,
as well as the very demorslzing effects Of war
generally.
Whether opinion had changed much on
the question Of the abstract night Of Secs
sion, he could not say.
Mr.. Stephers further testified that general
universal suffrage among the colored people,
would now be considered by "our people,
-''our people being OF course rrhife peo.
pleas "about as great a political evil as
could beial them" Individually, he said,
he would not be- opposed to "a prop
er system Of limited suffrage for the
blacks - but he did not think that
the Georgians even TO secure representation
and political power in the government would
be willing TO do anything more than hey have
already done to secure restoration. they
would neither he willing to extend suffrage
TO the negroes, nor consent to the exclusion
Of the negroes from the basis OF representa-
ton, as conditions precedent to full rcstor-
alton, believing that Congress has
no right under the Constitution to prescribe
such conditions, and that the suffrage ques-
ton is one Of State policy, over which Con
gress has no control
The late slaves, he testified, are generally
at work behave on the whole much better
than the most hopeful looked for" and af-
fairs between the employers and employed
were in the main going on smoothly and
quietly.
Mr.. Stephens was by no means such
knOw-nothing on the stand a. General Lee:
and his representation of the state OF things
at the South il o. the whole perhapsas favor
/ able as could have been expected. We DIS
cover in it little. however. beyond the fact
{ that 50 prominent Southerner as Mr.. Ste
[ phens is willing to assent to limited suffrage
/ for all classes. white and black, TO encourage
hope Of speedy solution of the Southern
problem. Had the government presented its
conditions, OF equal rights for all before the
law. when the rebels laid down their arms.
they would have gladly accepted them and
thought themselves let off cheaply; now
they talk about their " rights under the
Constitution they have been laboring to de-
stroy, and grow exacting as time goes on.
We trust that our wise and strong men in
Congress will be able soon to present plan
Of reconstruction, to which the loyal North
can give its hearty assent. Then if the De-
mocracy, with or without the President,
choose to make issue upon it, let the issue
be formed. and God defend the right.