The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-11-16

damental and organic laws. In day
they may do mischief which years of
repentant, patriotic labor will not re-
pair. In a day they may open a Pan
dora's box, which the patriotism and
craftsmanship OF century may not be
able to shut.
| do not regard the recent and pend
ing elections as indicative of the judg
ment of the people of the Northern
States upon the constitutional amend
ments. They are really not the issues
presented to and considered by the peo-
pie. They have not calmly and dispas-
siOnately discusseda and reflected upon
them. The people have had their fears
alarmed and their prejudiceS and pas
sions aroused, and perhaps never voted
under more delusive ideas as to the
character issues before thecountry.
The people have been assured that
President johnson is a traitor and a
usurper. He usurped no power. When
the insurrectionary governments We're
overthrown and expelled, the States
were left with constitutions which, ac-
cOrding to the most solemn sanctions Of
the Federal Constitution, had been de-
clared republican in form, and under
which those States had for many years
maintained their places as constituent
members Of the Union. But they had
no organizations under their constitu-
tions. The President, therefore, doing
what it was his imperative duty as
Commander-in-Chief to do, and what
he would have been most culpable for
not doing, prevented anarchy by ap-
pointing temporary provisional gov
ernors, under whose advice the people
brought their regular governments a.
gain into operation under their consti-
tutions. This was a thing with which
Congress had nothing todo. 1t was a
matter purely of military cognizancc.
The public enemy had just been expell-
ed by military force, and it was thedu-
ty Of the Commander-in-C Ghetto see to
it that anarchy and confusion did not
ensue, and that the machinery of the
legitimate governments was again pat
in operation for the preservation Of Or
der and the protection Of life, liberty
and property from laWless violence. 1t
was the duty Of The President, too, as
the executive head of the nation, tOsee
to it that the national laws were eXecu-
ted and the relations between the States
and the Federal Government restored.
President Lincoln had taken precisely
this action in respect to Virginia, Ten
nessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas, for
which he was applauded and endorsed
by Congress during the first three years
of the war, and thereafter vehemently
denounced by the same men who now
most violently denounce President
Johnson for precisely the same reasons.
a protest was issued by the Radicals
against Mr.. LincOln's denomination to
the Presidency, and convention called
at Cleveland to supersede him as the
candidate, for resolutely adhering to his
restoration policy, which both Houses
of Congress had repeatedly endorsed
during the first halfof the war. In the
appeal then made by the Radicals from
President Lincoln to the war party they
were overwhelmingly defeated, and his
policy endorsed by the party and the
country. President Johnson strictly
adhered TO the policy of Mr.. Lincoln
and it was not until long after the gov
ernments of all the Southern States had
been re0rganized that any noticeable
objection was made to his action. In
fact, it seemed to meet the hearty APP
proval of all sections and parties until
last December, when Congress assem-
bled, and when the old issue made
against Mr.. Lincoln, undecided by the
people then, was revived against him.
If President Johnson had in all other
respects pursued precisely the course he
has, but had insisted on negro suffrage
as condition precedent to restoration,
does any candid man doubt that he
would be high in favor with the party
which now so bitterly denounces him
Last spring Senator Stewart offered in
the Senate proposition for universal
amnesty and universal suffrage as the
best adjustment of all existing difficult
ties. 1t was eagerly accepted and ad-
vocated as the grand panacea of all our
political woes by MeSsrs. Sumner, Will
son, and the leading Radical Senators.
There was no longer any wish express
ed to make treason odious. If the States
could be coerced to bestow the right of
suffrage upon the negroes, all opposi-
ton to the re-enfranchisement of trai-
tors who had fought to destroy the Gov
ernment, and whose hands are red
with the blood OfOur sons and brothers, -
was to be withdrawn, and they We're at
once to be readmitted to the full enjoy
ment of all the rights they had ever
possessed. There We're 10 be no more
test-oaths, no more military commits
Sions, no more indictments for treason,
no more horror of the desecration of the
hahs Of Congress by the presence of
''unwashed and unrepentant traitors"
l do not complain of this. | do not