The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1866-02-16
The President and the COLOred
Men.

There was an interesting interview las
week between President johnson and ;
delegation from the cvlored convention
which has recently been in session in tina
city. The President reiterated his goot
will to the colored race, but said he coul'
not adopt policy that would, in his Opin
ion, result in the bloodshed and the fina
extinction of the weaker party. He lai'
great stress on the "war of races" which
he believed would come from enforcing TIN
extension Of suffrage upon the people 0
either this district or state in opposition
to the expressed will of the majority y
which looks more like the possible veto O
the house bill granting impartial suffrag
in the District of Columbia than anythin,
that has previously transpired.
Mr.. Frederick Douglass and Mr.. Dow
ning were the Spokesman of the colore(
delegation, and after listening to them
the President told them in substance
tina the thought he had given evi
dence that he was friend of humanit,
generally, and Of the colored race spec
tally, and he thought he understood wha
policy tended to their amelioration ant
elevation. On this point the Presiden
said
Il have owned slaves and bough
slaves, but never sold one. | NIGH
say, however, that, practically, SO far a:
my connection with slaves has gone,
have been their slave instead of their be-
ing mine Some have even followed ne
here, while Others are occupying and Ell
joying my property with my consent
For the colored race my means, my time
my all has been periled; and now, at thi:
late day, after giving evidence that is tan.
.ible-that is practical-I am free to say
TO YOU that do not like to be arr;.igncd
by some who can get up handsomely
rounded periods, and deal in rhetoric, and
talk about abstract ideas of liberty, who
never periled life, liberty or property
This kind Of theoretical, hollow, unprac.
tea! friendship amounts TO very little
The President then stated his objection:
to giving the suffrage to colored men
without the consent of the whites, as SURF
to provoke war of races, and so brine
great suffering, if not utter determination
upon the weaker race. In explanation o
the antlpathy of the poor whites of tn,
South to the negroes, the President mad,
this statement
"A very small proportion of white per
sons, compared with the whole number of
such, owned the colored population of the
South. | might instance the state OF
Tennessee in illustration. There were
there twenty-seven non->laveholders TO on,
Shareholder, and yet the slave power con-
trollcd the state Let lis talk about thi,
matter As it is. Although the colore,
man was in slavery there, and owned as
property in the sense and in the language
of that locality, and of that community.
yet in comparing his condition and his
position there with the non-slaveho!,ler he
usually estimated his importance Just i'll
proportion to the number of slaves that
his master owned with the non-slavehold-
er. i'aEe you never lived on Il planta-
ton ;"
Mr.. Douglass-"I have, your excel
lcncy."
The President" When YOU would
look over and see man who had a large
family, struggling hard upon poor piece
OF land, you thought a great deal less of
him than you did of your own master"
MIR. Douglass" Not l."
The Prcsldcnt-': Well, | know sucb
was the case with Il large majority of you
IN those sections. When such is the case
we Know there is an enmitv. we know
there is a hate. The poor white man, on
the other hand, was opposed 70 the slave
and his master, for the colored man and
his master combined had kept him in slav
cry by depriving him of fair participa-
ton III the labor and productions of the
rich land of the country. Don't you
know that colored man, in going to
hunt master, as they call it, for the next
year, preterrlng hiring to man who own
ed slaves rather than man who did not ?
know the fact, at all events. They did
not consider it quite as respectable to hire
to a man who did not own negroes as to
Jne who did"
Mr.. Douglass -" Because he would not
De treated as well.''
The Presidcnt-"T Then there IS anntb-
II argument in favor of what am going
% say. 1t shows that the colored man
more appreciated the slave owner than he
lid the man who did not own slaves!
Hence the enmity between the colored
nan and the non-slaveholdel."
The President proceeded to argue that
acts are to be taken as we find them
The whites and the blacks of the South
nd not stand in the same position. The
whites are already voters. The admission
IT the blacks to the suffrage is new
IuestiOn--
1.-The white man was permitted to vote
before Government was derived from
nm. lie Is part and parcel of the polit-
cal machinery. Now by the rebellion.
n revolution, (and when you come back
o the object o! the war you find that the
bolitlon of slavery was 60. one of the
'b,ects; Congress and the President him