, 1866-04-20
!. aaress III the Friends Of President Johnson.

A address of the Friends OF FresA"en' SO"n'OH
CHIoAeo, April l3th.-The National johnson
co1mittee. of which Montgomery Blair Is Fresl-
de5t. publishes lengthy address in the Nation
- Ia,tii;osneer of the lith They say the war
having been precipitated on slavery, and is re-
srlts sconiesced in by the Yanluished, nothing
more should be demanded. Tie argument pro-
ceeds upou the idea that the~quasi rebellion of
nortion of New England in 1872, did not involve
the people of that section ia pains and penalties
for having adhered to the enemy, aud to certain
extent giving them aid and comfort, so also the
southern people should not now be prescribed
for like acts, but rather should be treated with
compassion, kindness, forgiveness and pardon.
But now, the address proceeds, the tables are
turned, aud there is such allowance for the
people of the South, who were under durance
while conspirators were establishing absolu'e
Jurisdiction oyer them. While the leading men
in the. Admi1fstrauon were going out and coming
in at WashingtOn, both North and South unHea
in negotiations with that usurpation to acknowI-
edge peace and amity with it as the respit of the
manifested and accomplished revoluhon and
this is confirmed by tie promise of the Premier
that the United States strohgholds1n Charleston
harbor should be surrendered to that usurping
government, and thus the UBiod men OF the South
had no alternative but submission to treason.
What right has the EatiopAl Goyernmentnow to
hold these men subject 10 penalties for acquies-
ciug in their enforced Condition more than it had
90 boldthe citizens q Maine liable to punishment
after the war of lSi2. These districts found no
difficulty after the war was over in getting repre-
sentation in Congress. There was no est-oath
to exclude tbem; indeed, even the condition of
the peopleywas not questioned by our. govern
uient, fu rther than TO draw from the Federal
Courts decision that submission to a power
that could not be resisted, rendered reasonable
acts idsti6sble, why shoaA the couspirators Of
the Calhoun junta bring greater punishment on
ITS innocent victims then did that Of the Essex
juuta and its Hartford Convention? The scheme
of each was equally crimi inal-a disoluton ofth
Union, but the means Of the latter were much
more invidious, for a foreignforce was introduced
into the heart of the country hostile to all the
sential principles Of our Republic. Is there no
atonsmsnt in the talaihites falling to the masses
of the South, which submitted to despotiSm
which never-haTe been put over them had not
the treachery aud COlluSoa Of our national gov
ernment assisted2 Nothing in the utter ruin
which succeeded the Invasion of our armies TO
plead for justice and generosity to victorious
war, guiltless themselves Of its proyocatiOu
But now the whole radical party have assumed
the anti-constitutonal doctrins that States put
ia abeyauce by rebellioUs spirit shall only ybe
CogniZed when they submit to terms prescribed
10y Congress, and thus attains the point 20 which
the Essex junta, the high flying federalsts of the
North, would at the beginning haye fixed the
power Of the great goTernments whole policy,
This arristocrGtic body of politicians has ever
been and is now endeavOring TO consolidate SUI
preme power in Congress. 1t is obvious from the
course of Congress that it means 10 maintain its
power in the government; its tyranny over the
South by the new to which the African pop
ulation is TO be converted. Congress is now Il
revolutionary convention. The President IN his
22d of February speech adapted the motto, 81
stand to-day prepared, as far as can, to resist
these encroachments upon the constitution and
government"