Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-11-01

child OF the dead Pre5loent, ne must pe
of any purpose personally to re-
fleet upon Gen. Grant, whose memory is
the sacred legacy Of his country.
Reconstruetion.
Mr.. Depew, IL the letter in QUESTION,
made the following statements as num-
bered:
l. This is the substance Of the story johnson
began, the day after the assassination of Mr. Lin
coin, to loudly proclaim at Ill times and Places
with constant reteIatiOn, the shibboleth: 'Irea- |
son is odi0qs and must be punlshel, atd me ehel
rebels shall be hung 10 give effect TO thus sen,
timent, 5 as he was inaugur ted he insisted
upon the United States courts in Virginia hndIGg |
indictments against all the lie ding members of
the rebel army, who had left the regular army TO
Gin the rebellion, to be summarily dealt with by
produced the greatest CONSERVATION throughput
the South. The Confederate leaders appealed to
Grant to protect them N the paro lie had given
He saw johnson on the subject, only to be IN
formed that the President was ~ q , cOnStltu-
ton, cOmmander-in-ehief of the army, and that
everything done by the comnianding general IN
the field done subject to his approval or re-
lection, and he rejected the terms. zen. 1@Eant @
urged that the rebels had surrendered on !hese
conditions, disbsnded their ORGANIZATIONS,
submitted univeTsally to the situsti9n, and |
part of the agreement, AID every con- |
federation OF both honor and expeS-enrv de- |
manded equal good faith on the part OF the e..
ernment. The other course wOu u have led 10 an |
endless guerrilla warfare conducted in country |
admirably adapted for il Ey desperate and hope
less men. johnson obstinateig adhered to his |
view, and assumed toe authority OF SOE- n1ander-
when Grant Aaty told him that if there were - !
he any t-martials one must be called to try |
Gen. Grant drst that he would by every means |
in his power protect his parole, and appeal to |
Congress and the country. In the halt 0aj leL BY
this attitude of Gen. Grant very remaT kao{e |
change occurred in the views and policy OF PreSl
DENT johnson. Gen. Grant discovered that the
InSst frequent ana favored visitors 10 the White
House gere the men the President had pro
loyalty was subordinate to, If not entirely de-
pendent upon, his iBssnse hatred of the slave
5sen a journeying tailor, and, notwithstanding
the distinguished public positions he ta9 helu'
and was treated soSi4ilY with contempt .Dy this
proud aristOcracy. When tie" plunged INTO tie
in the power. Of the Government, ana thousht
that the time bad eGDe when he could deie4 It's
enemies, confseate thsiF property, humiliate
their pride, and, possibly, eSstroy them: Inc
absorbing ambition and passion OF Eis life had
been to be received and treated as one OF ti-ep by
the oligarchy. Having talled IN that, ana sui5re-
insult and indignity IL the EFFORT, he became one
Of the most yudictiye Of me9. lie saw them
ioilsd in their rebellion, deteated and lmP9y-
erished. and now he wanted to Kill thsm. While
he was deyisng means to overcome Gen. GRANT
resistance to this last purpose, the leaders Of the
old feudalism called upon him. They admitted
Il cir former treatment of him and justified 1t
They said that in all ages and countries where
caste dist nc. ions existed, conditions always
possible which pTG5QOted men VINO had achieved
success from the lover y to the nobler order. As
President of the United States he became, re-
gardless Of birth and ancestry, rot spy mem
Der of their order, hut its leader. Johssol vas
welp we're both satisGed. gss Es became as anxious
| sc Sustain aud perpstua.e N some, form
system which had given aEc highest
| social aud political distinction 70 few Great
families as be had been TO destroy it; Grant did
not have long to wait for a formulation OF his
| plan. The President sent for him and safe the
radical measures of Congress were revolution aTy
| over sEJ the republic wanted peace. and that
was possibte only by a union OF AZ sections. me
| states were only tempofarg eNpeIiehtS' NI'h"',i
| constitutional authority, and the Efaes had all
had before the ,yar. lie had perfected sehe,.l
to accomplish this seSllt, and with Go1, Hrant :
| by proclamation, direct the res-! States to 'end
| TO Washington their full quota of Sea%tgrs and
Representative, lie had assqrahses troa,
| enough members frog the North, who, united
EiIh them, would mako a t4orum of one house
at least, if not, of both. The, Congress thus
| capitol. If the other Northern members did n I
choose to join there would be a poyerles7 rump
ton that this would stut civil war affesh, the
| PRESIDENT replied: They who do II wall be the
| possibie. +" Ec appealed to Grant to stand by
him in the crisis, ana they would he the saviors
| Of the republic After snLs t-orng for a long
s5ms in vain To convince the President Of the
folly OF sgch course. and of Us certain failure
no matter Sbo sustained r. Grant hnauy sol.t
tuted out of the capitol a. the point Of the bayo-
net sad give possession Of ths tuilding to the
States, and protect them. If necessary, he
would appeal to the country and to the army he
had so recently mustered out OF service Mr.
johnson asked him il he did not recognize the
| power vested in the President by the censtit,-
ton, and if he would refuse to obey the e9mInan-
| der-in-chief. ten. Grant said that under such
| circumstances he mOstcortainiy would.
In ulaking answer to this, it will not be
necessary 20 say more as TO the absurd
statement about President Johnson's con
ciliation Of Southern alistoorats than that
| l. ,Na fr -ar~ rarli
meant the Confederate leaders, most ii moi
all Of them who approached the President
for pardon, expressed themselves indig
nant at the lectures he delivered to then
whenever they called at the executive OF
fee, and at what they deemed his u9neces
sary delay in granting pardons. They re
garded his manner as anything but con
ciliatory. Many of them described it rs
, arrogant and dctatorial, and few of then
as insulting, He kept them, to use his owl
phrase. on the "tenter-hooks OF doubt anC
snxiety," sud thus :,ade enemies o
many of them for ills. IN hii
, own State this was made Jpsnites
when, in 1879, he was a canG'd2t'
for election to the United States Senate
Almost the whole strength of what was
termed the Confederate Democracy was
opposed to him, and it was encouraged
and helped by many of the most pro
noUuced Union men in the State, who, Il
) use their own expression, never had anI
: use for Andy" Even during Mr.. John
| sons contest with Congress TO preserve
the integrity Of the constitution and tn,
laws he had no help and but little coun
tensnes from what were considered thu
official classes st the South. This was du'
largely to their feeling against a man whom
they considered and held to Ce traitor Il
his principles, and in part to the TACT tha
under the political disabilities that envi
roned them they could do nothing 10
/ him, and any ADVICE they might profile
would be a hindransS rather than
help, coming from "eN-ret,eiS. II
I help any members of these classe
2 back to power Was no part of Mr.. John
, sons purpose although hS would not havI
! inteFposed TO prevent it. Eariy 1Pon sue
ceeding 10 the place made vacant by Mi
= Lincoln's assassination he aEcertaine'
t from some of the ablest lawyers OF tn
country, smong them Chiei-Juslice Chss
and Mr.. 0'Conor of New York, that th
TRAITORS" whose treason he was anxiou
) should be made odious c61ld not be pun
ished, and he realized, as his ia5i.ente'
| predecessor had, that under our form q
government reconstruction could not b
1 effected save by continued violations c
= the constitution of the 8 nited States. Til
s States were understandable political er
: titles anu were 80 TSSOkulSeu curing III
war, which when it ended practically re
stored them to their places ID the 4 nioT
+ and in the Union they were entitled
l. representation N Congress without let G
q hindrance OF any party or body in Cor
:, gress. The war was waged On the part {
u the United States not to coeiee the stete
= but to bring theGi back from conditio
il of defiance of the national authority
, their normal relation to it under the COZ
stitution. Acting upon this rational sn
. legal view Mr.. Lincoln proposed, and NJ
u Johnson after him, that the people VIII
S formed the States should elect Coz
a gressional Representatives and Legisli
lures to elect Senators, and put themselv,
at once in full relationship with the Fee
n eral Government. In recommending an
2 urging this course Mr.. johnson had T
"a design or desire 10 force or coerce Congre
to sn acguiescence in il. On the contrar
AS as will be seen from the following mem
't randa from the diary kept by Col. Moor
s. the Presidents private secretary, l