The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-12-06
GRANT REFORE ETHEJUDICIARY COM
MIETEE.

GRANT REFORE THE JUDICIARY COM
MITTEE.
We have before us copy OF the teS-
timony given by Gen. .. S. Grant be-
fore the judiciary Committee OF the
National House Of Representatives.
Cen. Grant testifes that President
Johnson originally desired to punish
General Lee and the other principal
Confederate officers, as we'll as the
civil leaders of the rebellion, but that
he (Grant) dissuaded him from carry
ing out his intention. Grant says !:
''The President insisted that they
should be punished. Told him not so
long as hey o5eysd the ldlcs and com
piled lciM the stiDulatioRs Of their se1Ten-
der. That was the ground Itook." Fur
ther on he says that the President
changed his views upon this subject,
conforming them to those entertained
by himself. To a question in re-
lation to this change of views on the
part of the President, Gen. Grant
answered: sWhen I said that the
Presidents views underwent change,
Tnaea,t that 1ChiLe I lUas cOntendi29 for
the rights oohich those parOted rebel SOL
diers had, he lcdS insisting on that
they should be punished" Grant also
testifies that he recommended the par
don of General Robert E. Lee, Gen.
joseph f. Johnston and other Confeder-
ates. But the following is, perhaps,
more important than any other part
of the Generals evidence: 81 will
state here that before Mr.. Lincoln's
assassination the question about Issuing
proclamation of some sort and estab-
fishing some sort of civil government
there lin the revolted states) was up,
and uhat ir1S done then oCaS continued
after Mr.. Johnson came into Office" And
again:
"Mr. Lincoln prior to his assassina-
tion had inaugurated Il policy intend
ed to restore those governments. 1
lCas present once before his murder lche'l
q DLCn tCas read. The pidn adapted by
NJ. Johnson lCdS substantially the
Di0R lChich had been mdUgur0ted by
JLr. Lincoln as the basis for his future
action. IdOa not k,lOlC that 1t tCQS Cer6d-
tim the same. I think the UeJy paper
1Chich IheaId read tlCice lCLtite Mr.. Lin
coin aCas President, lCus the one lchich
lOls carried right through"
1t thus appears from Gen. Grants
s1cOyn statement, that President John
son desired to bring the Confederate
leaders, even the paroled Generals, to
trial, and that Gen. Grant prerenjed
him from ereccdijlg his purpose. tap
pears, further, that Grant recommend
ed many Confederates for pardon, a.
mOng them the two most eminent mill
tary men connected with the rebellion,
Generals Lee and Johnston. And last
and most remarkable of all, it turns
out, as stated m1der OATH 6y Gen. Grant,
that Johnson has only been trying TO car
ry Om Linc0n's policy! In the face
of this testimony, how can the revilers
and prosecutors of the President, stand
up and face the American peOple?-
How can they prate about "Johnson's
treachery," or denounce the men Whn
support him, when they find that Grant
himself, their beau ideal Of a patriot,
acknowledges, under oath, that he
(Grant) dissuaded Johnson from his
purpose of furnishing traitors and
making treason odiOus? ?" Nay, how
can they say Que word against JohnsOn's
"policy," when they discover that
Grant has sworn that Johnson had
merely undertaken to carry out the
plan of the late lamented Lincoln? If
after this, the Radicals continue theil
opposition to the President, it follows
as logical conclusion, that Grant is
taken by them to have committed per
jury, and Lincoln to have been guilty
of "disloyalty."
PGRFENTOUS SIGNS.
The Dhilnlnlnhia Press Harrisburg