, 1866-07-06
FORNEY'S LETTER 70 JOHNSON.

true and full history Of Johnson's disg.accful
inebriation On the 4th of March, 1856. The
following Is Fosney's letser-plain talk with
the President. It Is pointed sndpungent, and
will be iound good reading toE hot weasher ::
TO ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT or TIE
Cs;ITED SKATES.
WAsnISa1oX, D Z July 2, 1860.
Ny DEAR STR: Understanding that You
are anxious to disc1oee certain private letters
Of mine, written TO you before ond since You
became President by tho assassination Of
troubled with some deltcatc doubts Is to the
exact propriety Of publishing them. hereby
iuFlte you TO print then, liz one or all Of Foar
four organs ut the pationai Capitol, Of
through more convenient medium, the club
Or committee representing the !" Bread,and-
Butter Hti.ade." These letters were written
without the slightest concealment. and
without the sightest suspicion that you
were about to hetsAy the party that
had placed you wheta you are. There Is
charming consistency between the conscien~
laus promptlnss that constrained you to
sepazate from that great party au1 the spirit
which now impe1s yon to reveal to the world
-four FT7rate relations With those whe still ad~
here to that organization nn1 although the
practice Is somewhat novel, it will serve to
shed q rich light upon the pages OF the hfsto-
1lan when be comes 70 describe your grateful
letter, long threatened BY yoar organs, u al
LAST given to the world, and reprint 1t as
well Tor the purpose OF acknowledging 1t as
for the purpose Of making some comments
upon 1t:
NEw Yogs, January =, 1865.
MT DIAR MIR. FHEs1DESr-l have bean IN this
city tor two days. aud now W1is under an imu',Iss
which clnpo: restrain, betause geel 1t 10 b. Tor
your oH good and tha' Of The country. lake It
for et1nted you d7x TEtofued moi 10 Be 11nala ;fi
Of yonr o,cn jae. and thai you VIII NOT alow your
ttlende, who heartily s1sfatu your policy, tu feel
&C. hey ase M..hont s99s ~, sns ensea1a cement
and II You are NOT, shall b. greatly surprised.
with the wonderful favor Ehas haz crowned your
res sorat1on pollcymyou xhould not allow the great
the interests Of your foes Ineed not repeat to
you that an now. hs ever, Tor twenty Year. sho sn
n ny wr,ns' and .'nce your asess aes q patriot;
h1eud. Where, an today ~ sHo nevspa-
ptza both dsily chow 10 ,ne wofli. Heaes-
Mo,a, IN ''5 Int ran M" ali ti ,.1 R:s ss eoseo1 81 @
Office 1t New Iors eir1 y Pott .hat you -shou1d
dl-pose Of ou,,tde Of n! poiiueiaur; nor. mean,
should b ffee only 10 help ron and serve los Cor
ernnaent--one they could neither attsek NOR use
s.s,. sns man ~ ,,a,,,ss. ~ 'hel,s Hs . was
c1at, tu1, Ike u refused 10 follow tpa party MO
tfeatoH+ lie Nsyxd short time With Great dis
itpc'ton, and RESIGNED oo account q q hsal&h.
he was member Of me com'nfttss Of Ways and
u,aD enrcated 10 fnauce lntenaefY nat1ons1 nonest
and Independent. aEd could furnish millions Of
eeturi,y. lie taB An prgan1z1ng mind. would make
sou pssty Or dght your bat1ie~ single hauaed- lie
10 an Andrew John on Democ1nf, ID bhort. 45iie
1n ,he knomledee taat be vonid accept, and that
Nhole community
Y1urs, trnly, j. W -FpRykr,
To TEE PHssDrsr, SC, DC.
When this letter Was written there IVES
scarcely Union Republican In the United
States who d not believe that yoar restora-
tfon policy inc}uded impartial suffrage to the
colored raca. full guarantees before the return
Of the rebels, and such change IN the basis
Of Representation as would prevent the mur-
their former power. The only real difference
between you and the radicals was whether
the rebellion destroyed the State orgauiza-
tiops or not wtltc with the files Of the
Washington Chronse'e before me ;and ind
TINT two days atter the above letter WAS writ
ten Mr.. TrutD bulls two bills for 'tha enloTge-
ment Of the powers Of the fteedmen's 6u-
nd tbs 22fbsE r the }ns9oSucsd
@ thew We Wonld e receive e, w your our sanction. % WAS was
only when the Copperheat and traitor or
guns here aud elsewhere began to speak as If
By your authority against the Union majori-
ties in Congress- that the suspicion Of the
treason. subsequently Indicated IN your veto
OF the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, Al your dis
pezyaae aad aually to posacss the loyal mind
Of the country So fixed was the belief OF
the Republican party that you could under
no circumstances cooperate with your slan~
descrs and theirs, and 40 willing were they to
overlook your suspicious Indifference pre-
vious to the comfns elections IN Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, that at the
period when wrote the shove letter hum
lreds Of thousands cheerfully recognized you
as their political leader, and supposed you
intended to stand firmly by the substantial
principles Of their organization. Aty own
conviction was 50 strong upon this subject
that need only refer to the pages OF the
Chroncle and the Pre4s to:prove how steadfly
resisted the Idea that you were plotting to
betray your friends, and how earnestly ! en-
deayosed to convince, the country that you
had no sympathy With the common enemy.
In al, my visits 70 the Presidential mansion,
and they we're frequent, 1t was not until late
IN January that I oeGaD clearly to perceive
ron were conspfring with the copparheada
and traitors Before that time, not
. word had ever fallen from your lips to e1-
cite the suspicion that you vera preparing to
become the prosecutor OF the colored ruce, or
that you were preparing to bring back into
full power the rcd-handed traitors whom you
had 50 bitterly denounced during four long
years. But when, with an arnazemeut that
facts appeared too plain for doubt, Iiear!essly
discharged my dn1y- regardless Of, and inlly
prepared for all the consequences. / did not
stop to calculate whether in aenouncing the
dangerous conspiracy of which you were theo
proved to be the chlef, was helping or harm
Ing the distir. nlshed gentleman in whose be-
half / wrote the above letter.
Aud now. str, word In reference to your
personal adairs- know right we'll the dill
cuity, ii not tha danger Of the position oc-
cupy. know thnt tor sA4tnly holding Iou
to your pledges am asssiled and threatened
BY every Copperhead and traltor between
Maine and Mexico, and I knor also that,
stimulated by the passions that have control
led you since yoH broke away from those
pledges, there Is nothing that you would not
resort to to demoralfzo the party that elected
you, and ruin those who refuse to follow YOU
into the ranks Of the common enemy. It Is
into conflict with laithless and corrupt
Executive; but 1t th the first time have ever
been called upon to contemplate and to eI-
pose such perfdy as yours. will not remind
you of my earnest aud uncaicplatinE friend
ship, from the period when you took issue
with treason in the Sennte, in 1850. down to
body, at the request Of the IaEneuted Lincoln
and such earnest radicals a. Benjamin F.
Wade, ,ot Ohio, i lattended alone for the purpose
OF pressing your nomination for the Vlce-Pfcs-
| idencY. after it became apparent that Ham
! pibal Hamliu, the incompatible patriot,
l
a representative Of the War Democracy po-
! sttion upon the pational Ticket. That vow
| should have forgotten thcsc facts amounts to
nothing in comparison with your heart1ess
ipgratilude to the party which placed you in
| nomination and elected you Vice Preatden&-
Individual ine1atItude and cruelty sg c9neer9 Spe
| only the person betrayed and ip1asea nas
| when, as In your case, the betrayal o. tue
] whole country Is contemplated, the offence
1 becomes natIonAl aud should bc accordingly
checked mud counteracted.
| euce which deserves to be differently consid-
tred, especially in view Of the new system Of
reFenre you have adopted, VIZ !: that Of pub
fishing the private letters Of gentlemen who
refuse to sustaIa your attempt to make loy-
atty odiors And treason honorable. Nsed
! tell yon hat nllude to the diseracefn! 4th
Of March, 1855? Wien you reaolred to dessTt
The 6rare and oterolent zs. scho sh5eao orer yots
| TIE dock Of their forgiveness and Charity on
that dau-,tos consciously or xatonsetotts-
y prspaT<dw w,ey for trty 9yb,a,uss s'eefta1"g yoa2
own consent to DO that single act Of shame,
| your lntrisues with the Copperheads before
| FTeedmen's lure au Biil after hsyiug
explicitly promised to sign it, your revolving
! cd Of February speech, your prescription OF
| the brave white aud colorcd loyalists OF the
South, and your publication OF private ies-
( tsrs written TO you In unauspectfng cond-
aenee, followed naturally and irresastibi{;;
Supposiag that any other gentleman could
have been gu3lty as you were guilty on the
dth of March, 1865, what would suck Q
oentreman have done. Y0u staod before
5,our oua country and tho .corId dishonorsd
degraded.
heads md traitors we're coined into the moat
friehtful 1naiedictions against you: 1know
Of no scenelu history where public cha.ac.
ter. for an net Of inexcusable weakness, was
a. the same time so universally e1ecrated "
one party and so indulgently and naspan''
1nously treated By apoiber. Any true map
equally unfortunate and equally forgiven aae aa
Republican Unioa Parts. ano PAVE as ,nn s1ao