The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-06-25

prolone IN Eeei,ng; but Mr.. johnson said IL was
necessary, ana lt was not TOR us, who had never |
ioughtlhis aristncracy for long years in Tennes-
Now. OF these two things which he pro.
Dounced in May, 1865, and pronounced delibe-
rately, repeatedly, as the result OF long expert
ence to be absolutely ary to the reorgani-
zaton OF Southern society and the future peace
aud security OF the Union, and which lie then
placed foremost in bis plan OF reconstruction
he has performed neither. He has punished no
traitor. He has given no indication Of any
desire or intention, since the period above men
toned, TO punish any traitor. He has taken
every possible means open 10 him to sho W that
he does not consider Il necessary That treason
should be made ',odious,n or even consider
rebellion to be treason. On the contrary, he
has on more than one occasion given us clearly
to understand that in his opinion, the only
good purpose that would be served by the trial
OF Davis, or OF any other Rebel, would be the
decision, as an interesting point of law,
of the question whether it Is possible
for man acting under the orders of
his own State to commit such an offense as trea.
son AGAINST the United States. He issued what
now appears to have been very foolish procla-
nation, charging Davis, Clay, and Others with
having insiigated the assassination of Mr. Lin
coin, offered an enormous reward for their ap-
prehension, and when poor Davis was caught
clapped him in irons. the public thought, of
course, that when he made this awful charge-a
charge which, when made against men VINO had
occupied the position that these men had occu-
eTnment ana on whom one-thlrd, at least, of our
countrymen had lavished the highest marks of
confidence in their gilt, would, IT proved, have
been. perhaps, every thing considered, the touest
blot that could have alen on our C1vllization-he
must have had in his hands proofs as strong as
those OF Holy Writ, and that he would bring the
wretches to Justice without delay. 1t nov ap-
pears he had nothing OF the kind. 1t appears
that he had no Foundation for this charge that
would bear either a lawyers scrutiny or public
criticism. 1t appears that the charges of the
proclamation were simply passionate and ILL
considered displays of zeal, which, as it was so
very short-lived, can hardly have been very sin
cere. We say that all this appears, because no
allusion TO that charge has ever since been made,
because one of the accused has been DISCHARGED
from custody, and no pretense is made that
Davis is held upon it,.
Now as regards Mr.. Johnson's course towards
the Southern aristocracy. He prom uunced their
breakdown necessary, and he armed himself
with the power of accomplishing 1t by making
the possession OF Ger am amount OF fortune
presumptive evidence of unusual guilt. We
sreak advisedlv when we say that he has not
gwen the smallest proof that his opinion with
regard to the necessity for breaking dow the
aristocracy was ever sincerely held He has,
without assigning any reason for it, reiIained
cautiously from taking any step that was in the
least likely to break it down. The abolition of
slavery he has insisted upon, because he found
the work already done; but everything beyond
this which seemed likely TO alter Nhe structure
of Southern society he hes steadily and perti-
naciously resisted. He has given the whole
weight of his influence, personal and official, to
keeping things at the South as nearly in their
former condition as possible. He has eXacted
nothing which the war had not rendered inevi-
table. He has done absolutely nothing that he
could avoid doing to weaken the class whose
very existence he often informed us was a
standing menace to our political system. He
has confiscated no mans property, and it he has
refused pardon TO any OF his dreadful $3.50, 900
men," as part OF system intended to impove-
rich md 10 WI a unt fn hpaI
OF it,
Now, it may be that the course he has actually
taken has been wiser than the one he first Traced
out Tor himself. 1t may be that his wild speeches
Of last winter embody more wisdom that his
wild speeches of last summer, but how are we
to know this? Has he, with this sudden change
in opinions fresh before our eyes, not been ask
ing vast deal too much in asking us to belle ye
he was best fitted to do the work of reconstruc-
ton? II his views in May were worthless, what
reason was there, we ask in the name of common
sense for supposing that his views in October
or November were any better? Is it safe to
trust a man with any task OF craftsmanship who
gives you plainly to understand that the words
be uttered, standing by his predecessors
grave, with the most awful responsibility
pressing upon him, and a whole nation
looking up to him with a confidence thqt
now seems childish, were but as idle wind, to be
repudlated or forgotten on the morrow, without
even an excuse or an explanation. If MIR. John
son meant, after his accession to the Presidency,
to carry out the policy which he then traced,
his subsequent course shows him to possess so
little judgment, so little knowledge on the only
subject in the whole range of human knowledge
OF which anybody expected him to know any
thing. that it would have been madness for Con-
gess to have let him have his way. If he did
not mean to do so, his subsequent course fur.
nishes an illustration OF his dishonesty too pain
ful to make comment on 1t possible.
His position at this moment is tolerably hui
initiating. He had, when he took office, one oil
the finest opportunities that ever presented Itself
to statesman other men, oil as mean begin
nings as he, have reached dignties perhaps as
lofty; but we doubt if there Is case in history
where a man has found himself armed with
! power which there was so little temptation to
use tor mean, or base, or unjust ends. he had
/ a whole nation at his back, still seething with
! the excitement OF a contest which suffering had
purified, which, begun in love OF country, every
| battle and march had helped to raise into a
! crusade for simple freedom, simple Justice
I simple humanity He found the American
people in perhaps the noblest mood to which
| which any people has ever risen-to which
perhaps, in our lifetime this people Will evel
risc-hinging its armies, its treasure, at his feet
and pllDg It's blessings on his head, and asking
himto see TO it that the last vestige OF contra
| dlcton between its principles and its practice
was removed, and TO proclaim to the world thai
the national recognition OF the equality OF mel
which the actors IN Inc first revolution had pu
on paper the actors in this revolution had EN-
bodied In their law. He let the Golden momen
slip away; took to mumbling before hls old idol
the old mcantations; saw the zeal which ha(
ACCOMPLISHED so much, and stood ready to ac
complish so much more cool down before hi
eyes; saw the economical and caculators ant
money changers go back to their books, ant
came down from his eminel ace to devote himsel
to the construction of "his policy" the eXac
nature OF which, probably, nobody will be aDl
| in ten years to remember, and which Will leaV
about as much trace on the history OF Tn
country as the Saturday speeches In the Hous
OF Representatives.