The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1866-01-23
NUMBER l54-
Le.ler from the Hon. John Rell.

from it as we find them published in an ex-
change
The bitter feeling, the malignant and re-
vengeful policy unfolded against the South
in the letters of Henry Winter Davis, print
ed III the Nation sholt time before the splr-
1t and tenor of the speeches of Sumner am
Stevens, Of Pennsylvania, previously made,
evince to me premediated purpose of effect
ing such radical change in the features OF
our Government as will amount to revolu-
ton These leaders certainly are the worst
eremies of the Union, indeed, they are, at this
time, most decided disunionistS. if not rcvolu-
tiOniStS.
III President johnson had not assumed
the responsible duty of organizing govern
ments in some form in the Southern States,
land il is but too manifest now that the pre-
sent Congress will not invite them TO do any
thing of the kind could the South exist two
years longer in such confusion without an
archy or can the majority of the Northern
people. trained and fashioned as they were
during the war, to the habit of submitting
blindly to theCommands of absolute power,
fail TO be reconciled in Il dangerous degree to
a permanent and really desrot!c govern
meut 2"
lie fears the southern people have not
due appreciation OF the circumstances in
which they are placed If they come to un-
derstand and appreciate these, he thinks
they may not he disposed to thinl, aud talk
so Independently" He says:
What doubt is there, at this moment, II no
change has taken place within a few days, in
| some Ofthe States, that the whole South are
subject to military rule, or in other words.
| live under a deSpotic Government, and that,
whatever civil authority is at any time exer-
ciscd, it is by the courtesy or permission oil
| the military authorities
| In view of this state of affairs, Mr.. Bell
! thinks it unwise to hesitate-as some States
| have appeared to do-ro adopt any measures
that have been exacted of them, or to sac
| cede to any requisition or suggestion, imply
! ing 10 dishonor, coming from such friend
! to their interest aud Welfare as President
| johnson could show himself TO be"
! Mr.. Bell, although an old political adver-
, sary manifests full appreciation of the diff
| fculties surrounding Mr., Johnson, and pre-
! sents the case very forcibly in these words
/ What man of any experience or observa-
| ton in affairs of government, does not know
and acknowledge that Il President may some
/ times be compelled, by sound policy, to make
! a powerful opposition concessions, as modli-
( cations of his own faVorite plans and policy.
! which his individual Judgment may not die
/ tate OF approve! Let any man contemplate
I President Johnson. if he wishes to do him
full justice, surrounded with the highest re
sponsibiIitics and the most appalling difficult
ties that ever before embarrassed or perpleX-
ed a President of the United States, the en-
tire novelty of his position, without any
precedent, any old lond mark, any highway
trod in former times to guide him, having TO
grope his way in the dark, at the risk OF
making a blunder at every step that may be
fatal to his administration and to the cause
of free Government, and, withal, knowing rs
he has probably known from the first, that
he would he opposed by fierce and power
full opposition, that may be goaded to vindic-
tiveness in their course, by prOclaiming that
his policy if not defeated, will rescue from
their grasp what they consider their lawful
prey-the legitimate fruit of their victory
over the South in the late war, and who
claim, in addition to the twelve thousand
millions of dollars they have taken from the
Southern people (frOm Union men as well as
rebels, y the estimated value of their slaves
the confiscation of all lands and other prop
erty ofthe rebels.
With this view of his situation who shall
say that the President ought not or might
not make some concessions to his opponents,
as to their desires in the demands or requI'
sitions he makes on the South 1t may be
; that the President thought it his duty q
r make some acquisitions that should be re
garded as final in their nature, and such q
ought to be inflicted with his sanction As .
: punishment for desertion.
/, He favors the bestowal of the right o.
suffrage upon lreemen of color, with son'
: restriction. or STANDARD of merit as 6
: basis.
I Upon the subject Of negro evidence il
courts of Justice Mr. Bell thus sums up IN
h conclusions
!. After ell the reflection | can give tn
! subject / believe that the concession Of TIN
8 right to testify in all cases where the blacl
n man Is concerned, is necessary to the secu
< rity of his own personal rights and ii /
a nv opinion if he were allowed To testify L
o all cases, il would not be attended with Ia
inconvenience or disadvantage that is ger
p orally apprehendcd. The weight that
:, given to all testimony by witnesses, depend
= chiefly upon the character of the witness
r. and the penalties against perjury, operatin
. equally upon the black man and the whit
N would soon produce a perceptible reform:
4 ton
II He takes q very respondent view OF IL
lie future prospects of the colOred race, an
id thinks it probable estimate that, with
I'd the next twenty years, not more than ha
I'd million will remain, of the four millions n
I'd Gently freed
ne Mr.. Bell proceeds to discuss the test oath
70, -. of which he says
~ see that very little care was taken IN Il
20 ! elections which have occurred, to select sue
s men rs could be expected to take that oat
~ and rejoice that it so happened, and hol
IA ! that no man from the South, will, on Al
- | account, take the oath, or do anything
~ which such Il test of qualification can
I,o drawn into precedent, or be sanctlone
IT. IT, even for a day. for it is clearly one of tho
"a insidious innovations or Entertainments up
w. the wisest institutions of Government tn
90 occasionally take place in time of great /
81 ! litical excitement and disturbance, whlc
~ if adopted, become precedents, 10 JUST
40 ! changes that destroy or reyolntlonlze I
w Government itself If the fanatlcal party
"A, the North had succeeded i'll forming n &C
- spiracv to effect total change of Cover
-. I ment there could be no more effective
"a vice adopted than the test oath enacted
Of eighteen hundred and sixty-two"
ose The letter concludes with an examinati
1st ofthe Black Republican Doctrine of Equ
, rns ity," which is discussed at some length.
md following extract is interesting
for The truth is that the idea of the "eql
np rights of man., the theory of I
to equality of human rights, by the law
ia | nature-more like the creation oil fancy,
af the dream of the scntimentallst, than
VIM axiom or the aphorism of philosopher
practical statesman-was announced py
of the Kings Of France, some two or TN
centuries before ,Jetf3rson's time lnaVe
Or the authority before me, but the saying u
unit "all men were born equal, and nave eq
b is olo;D,s nv +he law of nature, though in
d in hnmbIest condition of life, upon the just
and sympathies, of their fellow men even
UNI the highest ranks of power and fortune
for found in all ordinance of the King,
ugh dressed to the Princes and Lords paramou
,usi- whose rights of property i'll their serts
the, had no right to interfere, or II lie mad,
igns powerless to enforce, appealing to them
ed, some ameiloration of the hard condition
de- the serfs on their domains, announcing
DOR, the same time that he had emanelpated
fver that were on his own domain.
r it, ut is proper to say that the seris
the France were white men, and that the ella
y be of the negro to be considered equal in
pted rights to those of the white race were
liver, probably in the royal mind, he not haN
pro heard OF the horrors of the middle ages
re- the seventies of negro slavery IN the v
mage Indies, there being then no African siaN
nder on the American continent. The sentlm
each therefore, could not have been INTENDED
ress, embrace the negro, and it Is highly pr