The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-09
VOL. XVIII. NO. 5.

gressional districts, and to the decision
Of Congress thereon, wholly nee o
Executive interference or dictatiOn."
This gives to the friends of fire.
trade an opportunity of satisfying tn,
people that their doctrine is the cOrrec
one, and that IL Congress shall so decide
their decision will not be disapprovet
of by Mr.. Greeley.
| What more do these gentlemen want
| i'm their opposition to Mr.. Greeley
avowed Free Trader With this view
did they wish for the nomination ol
Mr.. Adams? And if they had succeed
ed. and Mr.. Adams had declared his
adhesion to Free Trade, do they be-
lieve they could have secured his elec-
ton? We have had experiments
enough of presenting tn the people for
Presidency a candidate whose opinions
were not in accordance with those OF
the people generally. And to this, and
to this alone, was the election of Mr..
Lincoln to be referred, and the conse-
quent election of General Grant.
Whether Free Trade or Protection is
to receive the sanction Of Congress and
not depend upon the opinion Of the
Presi,lentv-even if he has one, and be
disposed to act upon it. He can effect
nothing except as he may be able TO
influence Congress by his patronage,
and this no man fit for the office would
attempt, because to do 50 would be a
paipable effort to corrupt that Depart
ment. That Mr.. Greeley would not
take such a step Is certain, because he
is honest, and because the platform
upon which he agrees to stand pro-
hibits it.
Before the war, aud occasionally
during its continuance, his treatment
of the South was believed by many to
have been unnecessarily harsh. But
i'm this no one seriously questioned his
motives. They were in no respect per-
sOnal or other than patriotic. The war
over, aud what has been his course
From the first moment to the present
hour he was earnestly desired, and has
done all in his power to effect 1t, to
restore peace and prosperity to the
South. A constant and ardent friend
Of general amnesty and Of universal
suffrage, he cannot but have commend
cd himself to the good opinions of the
white and colored citizens of that re-
gion. The latter, perhaps, are more
indebted tn him and the Hon. Charles
Sumner for the rights now secured to
them than to any other two men in the
country.
His generosity and kind regard for
Southern men was strongly illustrated
by his becoming one of the bail of Mr..
Jefferson Davis, which terminated his
cruelty protracted imprisonment. For
this step he was denounced by the
radicals of his party, and particularly
by such of them as belong to the Union
League Club of New York. They pro-
oseI his ex pulsiOn, and who can for
get, who has ever read it, the proud
letter Of defiance which he addressed
to the League on the 23d of May, 1861?
In that letter he quoted extracts from
the Tribune to show how decided bis
opinion was that those who had been
engaged i'm the insurrectiOn should be
enflauchised, and their estates ex-
empted from confiscatiOn. He justified
having become security for Mr.. Davis,
and in his letter, among other things,
said: "YOur attempt to base a great,
enduring party on the hate and wrath
engendered by q bloody
civil war, is as though you should
plant q colony on an iceberg, which
had somehow drifted into q tropical
ocean. / tell you here that out of life
earnestly devoted to the good of human
kind, your children will select my
going To Richmond and signing that
hail bOud as the wisest act, and will
feel that 1t did more for freedom and
humanity than all of you are compe-
tent to do. though you had lived to the
age of Methuselah."
You will have thus seen what i
think of the present political condition
of the country. Unless / am greatly
mistaken, 1t must give to every un-
prejudiced, intelligent and patriotic
man much anxiety and alarm. How
is this anxiety and slarm to be re-
moved? BY removing the cause of it.
By refusing a reelection to Gen.
Grant, to whom in a great measure, II
not exclusively. it Is owing, and by
placing i'm the Presidential office Mr.
Greeley, whose entire life has exhibited
his generous qualities, his great ability,
his pure patriotism, and his unsus-
pected integrity. To be rich he Will
accept no presents, but would scorD-
fully reject them if offered. He has
not scores of relatives to provide for
out of the public funds, by placing
them i'm. offices for which they are
grossly incompetent, and, if he had, he
would not so place them. He will not
exert his patronage to influence State
or to secure q reelection for
He will not permit the pub
lie funds, by means of tax upon bis
officials, to be used for party purposes.
He will not suffer his Secretaries or
their subOrdinates to abandon their
posts of duty and their attention TO the
public business, TO traverse State after
State on electiOneering visits, so as to
bring the influence of Office in conflict
with freedom Of elections. He will s, g
that our foreign relations are 81 man.
aged 40 to give honor and not disgrace
to the nation. He will not tolerate
the use of the military for the control
of the elective franchise. He will not |
upon the rights of the States
or the people by declaring States to be
in rebellion when they are not. And
my hope Is to live to see the day when
these vital changes will be made /; |
when all solicitude about the fate of
our country will be quieted; when |
peace and prosperity will be secured to |
the entire nation; when the guaran-
teed rights Of the citizen will be pro- |
tected, the legitimate powers Of the |
States maintained, and the authority |
If the General Government exerted |
only under the restrictions of the Con- |
.titution. In word, when the Con- |
bequcathed to us by our
fathers shall in all things be observed,
and when we will have President in
telligent and patriotic enough to keep
his official oath to ''preserve, protect
and defend it."
When all these things shall occur,
and not until then, will our prosperity
and power he renewed, and our couI- |
try become, as it was in former days,
The wonder and admiration of the
world.
/ remain, with great regard.
Your friend and obedient servant,
REvERDY JOHNSON.
To Hon. JAMES Brooks, New York.
Industry.
Man must have occupation or be
,,.;sorohla T.,sI l. the r,r;ra ~ sIoos