Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-02-27
What does the President mean by Loyalty
We notice many Republican papers copying
with much approval this statement made by the
President to the Virginia delegation:


with much approval this statement made by the
President to the Virginia delegation
the of tile United States you erred and IN re-
turning and rssuming your relations with the federal
that all the responsible positions
places ought be confined distinctly and clearly TO men
loyal If there only 1--WE thousand loyal men
State number but sufficient TO take charge Oh
political machinery Of the State those i've thoussn
men, the lesser number entitled TO II, and all tne
should b excluded"
This is good doctrine as far as it goes. But 1t
should be remembered that the President, in the
same speech defined loyalty to mean obedience
to the Constitution and laws, not in the past but
in tho present He did not tell the Virginia DEL
egation that all responsible positions and places
ought to be confined distinctly to those who had
been loya;" and if he had said that, this Virginia
delegation, every man of whom had been an &C.
tive rebel. would hardly have appauded his
speech and the President did not mean that, how
ever much We should be glad to believe he did.
The Irresponsible positions " of Provisional gov
ernors all through the South, were filled, BY his
appointment, by men not one OF whom could take
the test oath. Governor Worth, the elected Gov
ernor of North Carolina, defeated Mr.. Holden,
because Worth had been the fercer rebel of the
is fully restored, so far at least as depends upon
its own action.
There is no sense or political sagacity in cheat
ing ourselves into believing that the Pres-
dent means anything different from what he says
The President would exclude nobody from office
on account of past treason, and says loyalty Is
evidenced by taking oath to support the Con-
| ua Ind
rebel from office who takes such an oath. The
people who believe in that policy should defend it,
and those who don't believe in it should oppose it.
"Treason should be made odious, and traitors
punished. "-Prendeni Johnson"
The people are beginning to inquire with
some curiosity, if not alarm, how the President
proposes to accomplish this. Would he do it
by welcoming traitors, with open arms, to the
places in Congress they vacated five years ago !?
w ould he do it by surrendering to their control
again the States which they carried into rebel
lion? Would he do it by giving the ballot to
every white man In The South, whether for or
against the Union, and refusing it to every
black man who IVES for the Union from first to
last? Would be do it by taking sides with the
rebels of the South and copperheads of the
North, against Congress, and the people which
have provided the men and the means to crush
treason? Would be do 1t by pardoning every
| rebel who asks the executive clemeney? Would
be do it by telling delegations of RECONSTRUCTED"
rebels that northern obstacles TO the immediate
| admission of southern representatives must get
out of the way Would he do 1t by adopting
! policy which every rebel and every copper
head applauds, and which carries infinite pleas
ure to the traitors and their allies everywhere {
This is one way, and the way which Democratic
papers say is popular at the White House; but
it is not the way which those who elected An
drew johnson Vice President expected would be
pursued.