New-York tribune., 1867-10-05
men enlisted-they must be brought into the
THAT MIGHT HATE BEEN.
The N. Y Times, in discussing the issues


not by compliance with the Congressional plani Inc
Presidents plan may have been better in It's day-but its
II it had been adopted when Il first proposed-.i
Immediately the close OF the the conquering
North had come forward and. in spirit OF naghahnous
and sereat generosity had rendered 70 the conquered
South prompt readmission to the Union they had In vain
sought to break In twofree restoration To all the rights
and privileges Of the Constitution they had Vaniy en-
deavored TO oyerthrow--we believe that long ere ths
piles yndcated and the established during the
would have been adopted as the basis OF tne aon
policy and should have been In much more prosper
Gus and promising condition than at present"
believing this to be an essentially er10-
neous and mischievous statement of very essen
tial facts, we are constrained to ask The Times
to reconsider it, and to show the country, if it
can, wherein we misapprehend the matter
On the day after we announced Gen. Lees
surrender, we began to plead in no mincing
tones. with no bated breath, for that magma
"nnnity and self-reliant generosity which
The Times now so justly cOmmends, but which
its columns then did neither advise nor exhibit.
We indicated no conditions, proposed no bar
gain but it seemed to us so obvious that none
could ignore the fact, that the North must take
care that its magnanimity did not surrender
the Black Unionists of the South into the un-
checked power of those who had rebelled and
done their utmost to break up the Union ex-
pressly to extend and perpetuate their Slavery.
Events soon proved our apprehension 100
well founded. President Johnson launched hls
plan of Reconstruction, and the States COM
menced their reorganization under 1t. Each or
the States which remain unrepresented III Con-
gress was placed completely under the sway OF
what had been its Rebel element. And not one
of these States, as thus reconstructed, conceded
the Right Of Suffrage to The Blacks, nor even to
that better portion of them whom no man will
soberly pronounce personally unfit to exercise
that right.
On the contrary, those States-that is, the
ex-Rebes of those States, restored to sway by
President Johnsons policy'-proceedcd forth
with to deal with them as follows:
North Carolina forbade the reception of Negro
testimony by her courts, except in cases where
Blacks are parties. No contract with OF by a
person of color should be valid unless reduced
to writing and witnessed by a White. The
marriage of White to o colored person was
declared void, and punishable misdemeanor.
And every person having an eighth OF Black
blood was declared q person of color.
Mississippi enacted degrading laws bearing
solely on colored persons similar to the above
and prescribed in addition that no colored per-
son should keep or bear arms Alabama adopted
this alsol, and by vagrant apprentice and kin
dred acts, reduced her colored population "a
majority of the whole to state OF virtual
Slavery. The act for reclaiming fugitives for
labor was quite as harsh as the Fugitive Slave
Law; every colored child who is an orphan or
whose parents is unable to support it must be
apprenticed every cOlored person must have q
lawful home every laborer quitting his en-
ployer's service without good cause must for
felt all his wages and, finally, all the old penal
laws against slaves and free negroes were eX-
pressly revived and made applicable to freed
men. In short it would not have been prac-
ticable for majority of the Blacks to have
kept out of prison and out of Slavery if those
laws had been allowed TO stand.
SO it was throughout the States now await
ing Reconstruction from the Potomac to the
Rio Grandc-not merely an absolute, pcrcmp-
tory denial to the colored people OF all voice
in making or modifying their laws or choosing
their rulers, but superadditlon thereto of the
most inyidious, insulting, tyrannical enactments,
calculated TO invade Their rights, harrow their
feelings, and render their nominal liberty u
mockery and curse. And oil this was ex-
ulted over by the ex-Rcbcl journals as certain
TO make them deplorc their emancipation.
And, while the greatest stress is now laid on
the fact that the Blacks are ignorant, Through
whose fault y no step was taken in a single
State to dispcl that ignorance by the establish
ment of Common Schools open TO colorcd
children.
Now, we challenge The Times to show, either
that we have mlsrepresented the action of these
Johnsonzed States, or that the Presidents
plan' contemplated the overruling of these
cruel, degrading enactmcnts. If not, how can
The Times ignore these facts in arraigning the
North as deficient in magnanimity and gen
erosity?
Had ." the Southr-that is, the ex-Rebel
South-evnced a particle of these qualities il its
dealings with its own cOlOrcd people-nay, had it
treated that population with q decent approach
to justice-we firmly believe that the North
would have shown abundant magnamity. Or
had Johnson's "pOlicy" provided effectively
against Rebel tyranny over the Southern Blacks
we believe it must have prevailed But such
legislation as we have instanced, eucidated by the
Memphis and New-Orleans massacrcs, enlight-
ened and aroused the North. 1t was seen that such
magnanimity as Johnson desired and the Plila-
delphia aIm-in-arm Convention upheld, was
incompatible with justice and good faith TO the
Four Millions of Southern Blacks whose Efforts
and prayers had powerfully aided to vanqlish
the Rebcllion-hence the public reprobatioa of
that policy. 1t fell, not because the North
lacked magnanimity, but because the South"
(so-caled) sought to wreak on her defensdess
Blacks its revengeful wrath at the faue of
the Rebellion.
But let bygones be bygoncs Here is one
journal in the North that has always Ieen