Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-12-13
letter from Hon. Reverdy johnson,

The following letter was written in reply
to an invitation to be present at the great
Democratic celebration at Cincinnati
WASHINGTON, Nov. q, 1867.
GENTLEMEN Your letter Of November Il,
honoring me with an invitation to the
meeting which the Democracy propose to
hold in your city on the Odd inst, has been
but just received. I regret that it is not in
my power to acceptit. You, and the friends
of constitutional liberty throughout the
land have good cause to rejoice in the 70.
suit of the recent elections They demon
strate in language not to be misunderstood.
that the people have not forgotten tine
teachings of their fathers, and are resolved
to preserve the free institutions, SO wise
and SO efficient, which they bequeathed TO
them.
| OF all the dangers which the Radical
measures of the day have threatened, none
is greater, or more appalling, tLan those
which seek to place the negro on footing
of political equality with the white man,
That philosopher of our age Mr. JefferSon,,
deeply versed in the political history Of the
world, and when his intellect was in It's me
ridian, told his cOuntrymen that such an
attempt would result, sooner or later, in -
war Of races, and cautioned them against il.
All the indications now being furnished hv
such an attempt in ten Of our sister States,
show the wisdom Of this warning.
In common with the now asccrtaincd
opinion OF large majority, l shall exert all
the ability may possess to save the coun-
try from SO dire a calamity. The best and
most certain way of accomplishing this is
to deprive the negro of the franchise in
such States, and secure it to all the whites:
and this, | cannot doubt, will be done, for
it cannot be that the white people of all the
other States will protect themselves against
a similar franchise and impose it upon their
brethren of the South. Independent of
the dangers of such an attempts, the great
and unavoidable expense attending it must
cause every rejecting man to do all that he
can to prevent It, The outlay now consc-
quent upon the attempt, including the mil
itary and the Ereedmen's Bureau, require
a disbursement OF annually more than one
hundred millions of dollars. To meet this
the people throughout the entire country
are burthened with an amount of taxation,
not only unexamped in their former his
tory, but in the history of all other Govern
rnents.
There is, too, another consideration
which addresses itself especially to the
States bordering on the Mississippi. 1t ~
this That if what has been done and is
being done under the military rcconstruc-
ton bills, is not undone and arrested, the
States on the south side of the river from
its source to it's mouth, will be strictly
under the control of the African race The
men OF our own race can never live under
such dominion. If an inteTnicine war is
not the result, they will emigrute and
abandon the home of their fathers ana seek
their fortune elsewhere. This occurring,
the judges CT the courts in those States.
with their marshals and other officers, the
custom house officials, and all others, will
be negroes, and you OF the West, with
your vast business connected with the river
. in all your transactions as far as these may
depend, as they must to great extent,
upon the justice and capacity of such OF
icials, will have to submit for years to come
to such an administration of the laws CT
your country, as almost absolute ignorance
may be capable of.
In the early days of the Government,
your ancestors insisted upon having Il free
navigation on the river. This, at thai
time, was impeded by Spain or France.
who owned, at different periods, the terri
tory bordering upon it. That a forcibc
seizure of such territory would be resortcd
to for the purpose of securing such a nayi-
cation was seen to be inevitable. Mr.. JET
ferson was SO impressed with this that ne
negotiated a treaty for its purchase, al
though he believed las he said at the time
that the Constitution did not authorize it.
Ii you now permit it to pass within the do
miniOn OF that Of the African race just
freed from absolute servitude, with the
Ignorance inseparable from it, you will
then be in 2 state far worse than YOU would
be if it was under the dominion Of Spain
or France. You will have 81. DomingoCs
in States which were but lately the homes
of the free and intelligent of our own race.
l have, however, now no apprehension
that this will happen. Every State at this
time represented in Congress, where cleo
tiOus have recently been held, even those
where Radicalism was thought to have its
firmest hold, has, by a decided majority,
determined not to intrust the African
race with any participation in its govern
ment
Congratulating you, not only on the
cheerful political aspect of the times, but
also on the completion of the structure
which will make more intimate than ever
your State and Kentucky.
| remain, with great respect, your ODE
dent servant, REvERDY JOHNSON.
Messrs. III. Ratterman, j. b. Mooney and
Others Committee