The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1866-03-31
Letter of the late Henry Winter
Davis on RecOnstructiOn.

Henry Winter Davis wrote letter setting
forth with his characteristic clearncsS and
cogency his views upon the problem OF re-
construction The letter has heretofore re-
Davis to the publication having been obtain
ed, friend at Washington transmits TO us
the manuscript. The following is the letter:
BALTIMORE, MAY 81, 1865.
MY DEAR SIR Please accept my &C.
knowled sments for your kind note.
wish | could give you short and salts
factory answer to your brief and pregnant
question touching our PROSPECTS under Pres
ident johnson.
The future of the nation is summed up IN
the restoration of political power to the
States lately in rebellion.
OF what the Presidents policy is on that
topic, | know nothing.
The conditions Of the problem are plain.
d Id the consequence of the several possible
solutions follow with logical certainty. 1t
rests with the President, in the state in which
Congress has left the question, to take the
initiative; and the modes in which that is
done will determine all that follows. What
ever State Governments he allows to be or
ganized and to elect Representatives aud
Senators to Congress will be recognized by
Congress in December, in all probability.
None exist now in any State which Tebcl-
cd none can be organized legally without
the assent of the United States. and no steps
to secure that assent can be taken without
his permission.
The Presidents only power over the ques
ton rests in his right to refuse permission
for any convention or election to be held,
unless on terms satisfactory to him but that
power is decisive. If he refuse to permit
any election or any convention to be held,
tbinr, will await tho cnluttop nf tpnrrpSs
If he permit the aggregate white popula.
ton of the South qualified to vote under
the old governments abrogatcd by the rebel
lion. to organize the State governments, that
inStals the revolutionary faction in power in
the States and fills Congress with their Rep
resentatives and Senators.
That is to place the sccptrc in the hands
from which We have just wrcstcd the sword.
If the Pre- 'ident attempt to discriminate
the loyal from the disloyal, and exclude
from voting all who have given aid and com
fort to the rebellion. a mere handful of the
population will remain, wholly incompetent
TO form or maintain State Government,
nad sure to be overwhelmed by the polit-
tal counter revolution ut the next election.
which will restore power to the leaders of
The rebellion. While it stands under the
protection of the United States, it will con-
slitute an odiouS oli.nrchy. dispensing Of the
lives and property of the great mass of their
tellow-citzens, without any responsibility.
aud controlling the national legislation by
the people for whom they vote.
This result is unavoidable. The whole
mass Of the population of the South has
given aid aud comfort to the rebellion. The
war was made by the accession of the Union
men to the rebel faction. 1t is idle to talk
at qiiescent mass Of loyal men, ovcrborne
bv violence. 1t was the Union men who
PASSED the ordinance of secession in Viz
-nia. and who made it etlcctu,l after it WAS
PASSED. In no State was the rebellion dan
.4rrous without the active aid of those OPP
posed to secession.
Bat the United States had no friends in
the rebel States against those States, and
ttcy hare none to.d0y
The Union men Of the South preferred
Union and peace to disunion tney dcporrd
the outbreak of the war, but they never hes
iatrd q moment which side to take. If
there was to i't war. they were for their
States aud against the United States. There
was no respectable number of Union men
willing to aid the United States in compel.
ing Submission to the Constitution, and there
are none nor. M submit to force. Many
are willing TO acquiesce in the unavoidable.
IN arc willing to govern the Ewited States
again, since ndcpeh lencc'iS impossible; but
all were also willing to aid the rebellion; and
not an assault and battery was committed
Tor the United States from the Potomac to
tho Gulf of Mexico.
The Union men of the South did not
merely bow to ovcrbearing force, but they
hastened to seek places in the Legislature,
the Congress, the executive mansions, and
gave it Il countcnance and support, without
which it must have fallen in a year and
when its cause was hopeless they were quiet
and submissive, and did not rise to aid the
Emitted States.
1t is certainly to this class Of the Write
population that VIC must look for aid in re-
storing civil government in these States
hut it is IL great dcluson to suppose them
either bbld or strong enough to meet and
defy the united and energetic faction Of rev.
olutionists which drove ,i,em into rebellion.
ii they be in power, they will again do the
will OF the re.olute and the reckless men
who stood behind and around them. and no
loval line discriminates them from the rebel
mass.
If this discrimination be attempted by
the oath to support the Constitution of the
United States, creryb0jip will t;skc it and no.
body will be excluded
Ii the icutlcrs Of The rebellion, civil and
military, be excluded, though willing to sub
nit and take the oath, the mass of the rebel
faction will be admitted: and that will be
the controlling and determining element in
selecting Representatives and Senators; and
the practical result is the same as if nobody
were excluded.
If either of these forms be accepted by
the President. and recognized by Congress,
it will instantly change the balance of polit-
ical powcr in the United States.
1t is probable the people who saved the
nation are not content to accept its conse.
tmenccs without mnr:nur.
None Of the white population Of the
Southern States is interested in paying the
public debt or imposing taxes to meet its in.
tcrest. They hold none Of it. 1t was Great
ed to suhjugute them TO the laws 1t has
been consumed in their overthrow. 1t is to
he paid, in great part, out of their substance
1t has annhilatcd their public Debt. 1t has
filled the land with ostracised officers, with
wounded soldiers, with an odious free negro
population, lately their slaves, and still un.
der their political control.
If the whites be restored to political DOW.
or, their Representatives are interested in
regulating the public debt, in refusing to
nay its interest, in restoring their officers to
the army and navy, in placing their wounded
on the pension roll, in indemnitying their
friends for losses by war or confscation or
forced tax sales, in restoring slavery under