New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1866-03-09
each passenger, we beg leave to assure him that
such is not the fact.
Mr.. COvODK GETS HEARD AT
LAST.

ports of Gen. Grant and Gen. Schurz, he stated
that no report had been received from the Hon.
John Covode. In view Of the testimony OF Mr..
Covode, which we published yesterday, we
think that the Presidents statement will be
deemed, to say the least, disingenuous. Mr..
Covode testifes that he prepared written
report expressly for the President, entitled
Louisiana Politically Considered" that he took
it to the President together with documents be-
longing to it; that he read part OF it to the
President; and that, at the suggestion OF the
President, he filed that report with its &C.
companying papers in the War Office. Report
and papers have since disappeared-nobody
knows where or how. But inasmuch as the
Senate resolution called by name for MIR.
Covodcs report, the President would have
answered with more precision had he stated the
facts as now given by Mr. Covode. To say
briefly that "no report had been received"
does seem little inconsistent with the facts.
Judging from the evidence Of Mr.. Coyode be-
fore the Reconstruction Committee, we should
say that his report, had it been duly given to
the public when called for, would have mate
rally affected public opinion of the Presidents
restoration policy. Mr.. Covode is well known;
he went South charged with an official inyesti
CATION into the state Of public feeling; he ex-
amined deliberately, and his conclusions are en-
titled to consideration. They are entirely op-
posed to immediate readmission Of the Rebel
States into the Union, and they confirm pre-
vious testimony in a quite remarkable manner.
| II is well known that Mr.. Roger A. Pryor
lex Rebel. GeneraD has said that for some time
after the surrender of Lee the temper OF the
South was so submissive that they would have
accepted, without murmur, Negro Suffrage as
condition of readmission. In fact, the Rebels
did about that time realize that they had been
whipped, and expected to take such terms as
their conquerors chose to grant. That Is what
Pryor says, and he must be deemed a competent
and credible witness to the point. Mr.. Covode.
so late as June and July, was in Louisiana,
and saw much of the army which Kirby Smith
had surrendered converSing freely with both
officers and men of that force. Il was sur
prised," says Mr.. Covode, "to find how docile
and submissive they were
"In no single instance either there or on the
steamboat where | Travelled with them did hear
any bitter or unkind feeling expressed toward the
Governments The general expression among them
was that theyl whipped and well whipped.
that they were glad the war was over. and were
ready to come back under the old flag and submit
10 what was required OF them. Many OF the more In.
tegent men Of the army said their leaders had made
great mistake In going into the Rebellion against the
! Government, that they should have remained In the
Union and endeayored 10 accomplish their purposes oy
political means, In which they said. they could have
been sure Of the aid Of the Northern Democrats thar
by precptatng the Rebellion they had tied the hands
OF their Northern friends. To all appearances, the
men OF the army had not the remoes expectation OF
being again intrusted with political power and priyi'
leges, at least for some time"
| We believe there is no doubt that such was
then the general sentiment Of the South; they
had not the remoteSt expectation OF being
again intrusted with political power and priv
ileges, at least for some time" Certainly,
they had no expectation" nor the remotest
dream, of debating terms of readmlssion. They
knew how Mey would have treated the North in
similar circumstances; they looked for like
treatment from the North. What changed
them We all remember that the temper OF the
South did undergo about that time a great
change. SO far as Louisiana is concerned, Mr..
Covode's testimony supplies an explanation.
He went down to New-OrleanS, many of Kirby
Smiths men going also. Gov. Wells of
Louisiana had just returned from Washington,
and public meeting was called to hear his
report He went to the meeting and made
Il speech, in which he stated % that he
had seen the President, who was Il South
ern man and Democrat, and that Mr..
johnson would be bulwark between the
South and Northern Abolitionists and ianaticism.
He made open issue against the former admit
nistraton of Mr.. Lincoln, charging it with the
the contraction of an enormous debt, &C., and
claiming that the administration of Mr.. John
son would be of very different character. "
Mr.. Coyode believed then that Gov. Wells
misrepresented the purposes of President
Johnson. Gov. Wells however, fresh from
his consultations with Mr.. johnson, aban-
doned the loyal party that elected him,
removed from office the loyal appontees Of Gov.
Hahn, filled their places with the worst class of
Rebels and from that day TO this has done his
utmost to throw the political power of the State
again into the hands of the men who in 1860
took it out Of the Union, in defiance OF majority
of the people. Mr. Coyode stayed in Louisiana
long enough to observe the development Of this
policy, came back to Washington, and reported
that Gov. Wells ought to be removed. The result