The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-10-03
WY Policy.


To THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS:
When Andrew, johnson took the Chair of
State and assumed the powers and duties
of President of the United States of America,
he issued one of the best proclamatlons that
was ever issued, stating his views OF MS pow
ers and duties and the course that NC o"sAS
and meant to pursue, in the adminls'ras'on
the government. Every body was pea
with it, and all parties commentators. iernAps
no American State paper ever had 30 wiue anu
universal commentator at home ana aoroao.
n was copied. commented upon, and approved
in all foreign countries.
It's General tone was equal justice to all, and
tho restoration of the Union ON equal and
fair principles holding that treason was q
crime and that traitors deserved just and
gan to act, he took gradually and directly the
other way. Without any reason for it, he he
gan, by pardoning the most prominent men in
the rebellion, restoring them as far as pardon
would, to all the rights and immunities of citi-
zenship, and making them eligible to all the
offices of honor, trust and profit in State or
Union capacity. The South 30 understood 1t,
and so claimed, and do still, as is fully shown,
by electing and sending to Congress, Senators
and representatives, the very worst and vilest
of their pardoned rebels, and for very good
reason, because they were the ablest men that
they had, and claiming also that the pardon
wiped them clean of every faint of treason
And this was undoubtedly the Presidents in
tention, in first selecting that class of traitors,
as more fully appears from his after conduct,
speeches and proclamations. But Congress
seems to have been of different opinion.
1t also appears to have been the intention of
MY Policy that all the States should come
into the Union, without any State guaranty of
protection to the emancipated race, leaving
them entirely to the mercy of the States, for
any personal protection. If admitted on this
plan the States then would be entirely inde-
pendent Of the control of Congress and would
have enacted just such laws concerning the
slave race, white or black, as they would please.
And we see how easy it would have been for
them, not questioning the emancipation of the
slaves by laws of Congress, to have reduced
them to a worse state of servitude then they
were in under the old system. Then their mas
tiers were bound by the old State slave laws, to
support and care for them, inl sickness and
health, to save the public from that cost
Then just see by what course Georgia has
proposed to accomplish this purpose do not
state it as fact; but as report. She has al
ready passed law, limiting the wages of the
slave population at SO low rate that man
cannot support himself and family ON his daily
pay, and must necessarily fall in debt. If I'M
paid, his creditor can sue him, get execution
against him, and if not paid, sell him at auc-
ton, as personal pr operty, to the highest
bidder. He then becomes the chattel property
Of the buyer, till the debt and costs shall be
paid He is still working ON the same low
wages and running deeper in debt, with the
old debt and costs against him, and how can he
everpay the old debt having no surplus ac-
cruing to meet it? bHA fpl4
How long would it be under this state Of
things, before all the other slave States would
adopt the same laws, and how long would it be
before the whole slave population would be in
a worse state of servitude, than their former
condition. The new master is under no charge
for the slaves support except to pay him his
low wages and keep him constantly running
deeper in debt s,aalaig rsaat
ulS 10 uOt ali Inc OOutu Will now nave
learned a lesson that they will never forget
They will have gotten their State rights and
State Independence, and their slave system, on
better terms than the old, and will never wish
to alter. Suppose Congress should claim Of
them the emancipation of the slaves, according
to the laws and Constitution of the United
States, how easy and natural would it be for
them to answer, "We have no slaves; we have
only people, who are sold for the payment of
their just debts, and who can be free from ser
vice whenever they please to pay their debts"
And what answer can be made to this by the
government? iqmoa a,e ,es $50 I.
BY the late ruinous war, they have learned
what rebellion is, and they will never try that
again. If the government should undertake to
emancipate, there is no slavery; they are only
held as kind of collateral security, for the
payment of just debt. What other course
can the government take, but to pay the debt,
and then they are all free again. But mind,
the State laws are not repealed, and they can,
again, go right on, and sell them again, for
debt, and then, where will this trouble ever
end?
LII Congress should ever undertake to make
war upon them, they will have broken no con-
stitntion, nor law, nor committed any treason,
they have only executed their own statute
law. scH
Under this view of things, all that Congress
can safely do, is to keep the protection Of the
freedmen forever in their own hands, and the
continuation of the Freedmen's Bureau in per
petual operation, with continued statute pro-
vision that no state shall make nor attempt to
enforce any constitution, nor, law impairing the
civil rights of any person except to enforce the
execution of the law, on the conviction of any
citizen, before an open court and jury, of
crime .f1
In this way, and no other, can the slave pop
ulation be secured from bondage. Avarice will
always contriye some way, and we have had
abundant occasion to see that the depravity o.
slavery will stick at no unjust measure to MAIN
tain in some form its favorite system of living
in ease and luxury on the toll and labor of 9TH
ers, if possible. Sis
In these circumstances we would have no
constitutional cause for raising an army to free
the race, and no enemy to fight, nor conquer
And the South might well say, "Pay us for our
property and we claim no more" If the "My
Policy" is to be adopted, civil war must, in
some form, arise between the free and old slave
States. They would then have all the argu-
ment on their side, for no slavery would exist,
and no treason, and no enemy to conquer
Then, on the "My Policy" system, if pardon
wipes every one clean of all crime, for treason
and the penalties thereto attached, what con-
stitutional or lawful reason would the Senate
and House give for refusing to, give seats to
such men as should bring clean vouchers, un-
der the broad seals of the constitutional and
legal officers of each State. These are grave
questions and should not be carelessly over
looked. = ~ ~
We see if these men should be once admit
ted, a precedent would be established, which
could not afterwards be altered, and therefore
the greater care and circumspection should be
used. sn ,apn!n 14ili0 f ANDY. Junior.
Portland, Sept. %, 1866 ~ - n 10
4 WHICH CONGRESS? -The Hon. e. B Wash
burne, in Illinois, having been invited to meet