Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-05-21
eDbio StatssnlaIl.
ANDREW JOHNSON AND THE
RADICALS. l".r'


Times has an Interview with the
PresidenI-The Lntter's COnVcr-
saIIOn Fully HsepOrIed-WOrking
of the Freedmen's Bureau-The
Presidents Views ON Various
Matters, &c, &c.
Washington (April l6l Corresoondencosf London
| TimesJ
In the perplexed and uncertain state into
which public affairs have fallen, iJ is inn
possible for me to send you any information
more important or valuable than the par
ticuars of an interview which had with
President Johnson at the White House OH
Thursday last. The Presidents opinions,
especially with reference to the freedmen,
have been so wiltully misrepresented in the
| Radical press of this country, aud his gem
eral policy toward the Southern States has
been exposed to so much uniustifiable
perversiOn, that Mr.. JOhnson's own eX-
plantations on both these subjects may have
some weight even with those who are most
embtteTed against him.
The President first advcrted to the con-
dition in which he found the country on
his accession to office, and pointed out that
ever since that time the Radical party,
which now has the control over Congress,
had been preparing for the issue now forced
upon him. Their object was manifest, and
1t was one which, from thelr point of view,
they could scarcely be blamed for pursuing
50 eagerly. They knew perfectly well that
when the South came back into Congress
their day of power would be Over-the
Southern Representatives would stand as
unit; they would probably fall into
alliance again with the Democratic party,
the old issues of slavery and State Sow
| .,,.N hn nj
the party which now rules would be strip
ped of its power. Their talk about plttidn-
thrOhy and beneUOlence 10 The negro meant
nothing more hdn a deslre TO loOrk upon The
feelings ofHe North, so tfdthey might be en-
GbLed 10 carry eUerythiRg their OloR l1dy lG was
q renewal OF an old conflict. The two sec
| tions of the country were ready to go to
war before the rebellion broke out-the one
| to preserve slavery, the other to destroy it.
Each side was willing to sacrifice the Gov
ernment in order TO gain its object. The
! South struck first; the rebellion was sub
| dued at the southern end of the line and
now it is swinging round to the other end.
''These men," continued the President
and he always used these words to denote
the Radical party-"are almost ready to 90
into rebellion again rather than have their
supremacy destroyed by the reintrOductiOn
of the South. They know nothing practi-
| cally of the real state of the South. The
very man who had drawn up the Civil
Rights bill, what are his means of judging?
| left him in the Senate during the war, and
went out to Tennessee and saw it all, and
bore my share of the troubles. He estOpped
at home, and now endeavors to make his
theories square into the events of the war,
and legislate on ideas which he has never
| put to the test"
| Ho ~
slavery and the negro. He had been
brought up. he said, under the very shadow
of the Institution of slavery. He had
bought and owned slaves, but still he had
always been for abOlishing slavery upon
any basis which could he adopted with
safety to the country. When it came to
the question whether slavery should be
abolished or the Government broken up, he
never had doubt as to the course which he
ought to pursue; he decided to give up
slavery, and he abided by that decision.
But the South now would treat the negro
with greater kindness than the North, If it
were left alOne,and not eXasperated. "They
| talk of Justice toward the negro" contin-
ucd the President. "God knows my heart
yearns toward him when | think of the end
these men are preparing for him. | see
that end clearly enough-they are going
the way for conflict of races. When that
occurs, we all know how it will fare with
the negro. How has such a contest always
ended? When the time comes there will
be no struggle. The result will be decided
without tnat. Now, then, what do we
| find? The very thing which we said these
Southern States could never do, which we
| fought these four wears to prevent them do
ing. these men affirm that they have ao-
tually done, namely, been out of the Union.
| ,lxv fp nN.,
| back upon our terms, take loyal oaths, and
acknowledge their allegiance, but these
men say they shall not. Why, if they had
offered to come back, or any of them, dur
| ing the rebellion, should we have turned
| them away on the ground that they had
placed themselves out of the Union? Mr..
Lincoln offered to receive the whole Legis-
lature of Rchmond-a rebel Legislature,
and would have welcomed them with open
arms. Would he have refused to receive
these States now that they have fully sub
mitted ?"
The President next referred to the mis-
representations of his policy which have
been so industriously spread abroad.
0These men" had for months past had the
public mind open to them, and had poured
| into it what they pleased. Now it had be-
come incrusted, as it were; but once let
that incrustation be broken through, and
the truth would begin to find its way. II
am not discouraged" added the President;
| s'either these States must be brought back,
or they must be kept out. 1t is like doing
a sum In addition-some sums want tgur-
| ing up more than Others before you can get
the answer, but believe it will come out
right in the end.' -l 10
Mr.. J6RnsonC1 BEN enlarged with consid-
erabe detail upon the operations OF the
Freedmens Bureau and said that its machine
~ ,oas no,o being used TO get negroes conveyed
| from, the North back 10 he South by the gerry
met, arho acre asserting that The hUeS Of the
| freedmen tcere not safe in The South. They
had hired or bought lands, they wanted la
Dor, and they got their negroes transported
at the expense OF the Government. The
Freedmen's Bureau compelled the negroes
| to 90, or they stopped their subsistence al
lowance. It was little better than another
form Of slavery, only that ID ,CdS solely Cog-
| ducted,bWA boLttioniStS 4; for the Freedmen's
| Bureau would not assist Southern man in
gettinp negroes from the North, where
MANY thousands of them have taken refuge
during the war. A gentleman from gFalk-
land county, Virginia, had been to him, the.
President said, only a few days ago, saying
| that he had sent three hundred negroes to
| the District (Of Columbia) for security dur
| ING the war. He now wished to hire them,
hut the Freedmen's Bureau interposed OBJ
| stacles, and would give him no help in
| transporting them; whereas the Govern
IneUtrailroads were placed at the disposal
bfGother speculatOrs. In all that he said, it
| 1vos evident that the President approved