Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-28
FORNEY ON JOHNSON.
The Loyal Congress Must be Sus-
tanned.
Letter of John W. FOrney 10 the PhiIa-
deIphia Press.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 20. 1896.

Letter of John W. FOrney TO the PhiIa-
deIPhia Press.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 90, 1856.
While the staunch friends o. the Repub-
lie were taking counsel among themselves
last evening, after the reading of the veto
message of President johnson, the Cop
perhead politicians, in and out of Con-
gress, assisted by the disloyal elements in
this city, were celebrating the event
with a Joy as tumultuous as that with
which the secession sympathizers here
would have hailed the entrance of Jeffer-
son Davis into the capital of the United
States after the battle of Bull Run. Eve
before Congress had adjourned, the Star
announced IA serenade to the President;
and early in the evening a band of music,
followed by about two hundred peo-
pie, called at the Presidential man
sion. His Exeelleney declined to make a
speech, but somebody announced that he
would address the public on Thursday
evening. Not a Union member of either
House, and not even an ofice-holder, so
far as L could hear took part in the dem
onstration. Up to this writing have not
conversed with a singh individual-Sena-
tor, Representative or citizen, who avows
his willingness to support the policy fore
shadowedin the veto message Of the Freed
mems Bureau Bill. 1 say this, you will
observe, before we lave received any init
nation from the people of the States, their
Legislators, newspapers or politicians, and
before either House has taken action upon
that extraordinary document. In one
respect it is far better that the
relations between the loyal people and
Mr.. johnson should be clearly defined
and understood. The suspense which
has prevailed in regard to his exact policy,
succeeding and yet rapidly changing the
almost unanimous approval of his annual
message, was almost insupportable. You
will recollect that, prior to the New York
and Pennsylvania elections of last year,
although the President was repeatedly
called upon by the prominent Union men
in both States, and solicited to declare in
favor of the regular Union ticket, or at
least against the Copperheads, he refused
to take sides with the friends of the
try. In our own State, it annOt be de-
MED, that be promised to give Nh. Cessna,
chairman ofthe Union State Central Com
mittee, an answer-which answer was
never received. In New York he
was so utterly demoralized by the WIS.,
its of the Democrats who demand
ed his endorsement of their platform
that he Yves only inferentially quoted in
favor of the Union candidates. In both
these States brave men who had fought
against tho rebel enemies headed the
Union ticket, and yet, although they
stood upon platforms earnestly approving
the Presidents course, and pledged to him
the loyal support of the people, he refused
to abandon his neutral ground, and allow
ed the Copperheads to claim him as their
supporter. But with all this aid the Cop
perheads were more utterly defeated than
at any period of the rebellion. Please
make a note of this historical fact, mas
much as it will serve to dissipate the cry
that President Johnson's veto was pro-
voked by what is called the radical
| policy in Congress. No such complaint
could be made before the great elections
to which | refer. The radicals were silent
at home; and, indeed, had been rather
ignored by the Union party in New York
and Pennsylvania, and yet the hand of
the President was turned against us, and
the battle had to be fought without him.
The same temper characterized him di-
rectly after the meeting of Congress. Not
an intimation was given from the time of
his annual message of his intention to
carry out the positive and voluntary
pledges made while he was a candidate
before the people, and even after he be-
came President, by the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln. His suspicious silence
in regard to the blood stained tyrant and
traitor JEFF. Davis, which so alarmed the
people during the autumn of 1865, became
more ominous and marked after the meet
ing of Congress. From the organs of
disaffection, beginning with the National
Lntelliqencer, at this point, we had "a con
slant stream of calumny upon the earnest
men of the Republic, who demanded his
trial and execution. Accordingly, trea-
son everywhere took new heart. It was
as common to ridicule and execrate the
radicals in the South, as it was to outrage
and cheat the negroes. Delegations of
the leading and most proscriptive Demo
Gratis paid regular court, and were receiv-
ed almost in state at the Presidential man
sion. From Pennsylvania we had
such men as Senators Clymer and
Wallace - the slanderers Of An
drew johnson in l963-who led the Cop
perheads in the Legislature when they re-
fused to allow him to speak in the legisla-
tive halls; from New York we had such
men as John Van Buren,, who was almost
a guest, and the daily oonfidant of the
President; and from the South the per-
sons regularly admitted, and attentively
heard, were the desperate leaders of the
recent murderous rebellion. Meanwhile,
the Union members of Congress watched
these extraordinary proceedings with un-
dissembled sorrow. Unwilling to believe
that the men who had sought the life of
the Republic, rejoiced in the defeat of our
armies, denounced the execution of the as
sassins of Abraham Lincoln, and covered
the name of Andrew johnson with hides
cribable obloquy, were believed, much less
conided in they called upon the Presi-
dent, and eounseled with him in the most
friendly and fraternal spirit. Mortified as
they were to see him entertaining and
listening to the Copperheads of the North
and the traitors of the South, Inundated
by his ill-digested, incoherent and illogi-
cal ~harangues as he received and answered
all sorts of delegations-they sought, in
every instance, to suppress their a%pprehen-
Thus everything was done to
avoid, postpone and render impossible the
conditions of things which, it now appears,
has been for months craftily, %sedulously
and treacherously preparing, Not q
measure was contemplated by these faith
full Representatives that did not find its
source or encouragement in the pledges or
of Andrew johnson himself.
This is true, even Of the most radical
of Congress.
We can best understand our duties in
this solemn emergency by fearlessly stat
the dangers of the Republic. Among
these latter may be classed the postpone
ment or defeat of every essential amend
ment of the National COnstitution-the
remission to new horrors of the freedmen
Of the South-the executive opposition to
every bill for the Improvement of the Dis
.rict of Columbia, including the political
md civil elevation of the resident colored
-ace-the reorganization in every insur-
yent section of the recent rebels-the ex-
or Encouragement of free emigra-
ion to the South-a system of wide and
.erciless prescription of independent and
earnest men-the pardon, if not the hon
restoration to their rights, of Jeffer-
ion Davis, John G. Breckenridge and the
traitors; and the resuscitation, by
Federal patronage, of the entire Copper
head party. These are the dangers of the
situation; dangers, however, that may be
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