Year: 1866

/ J
Thus, he lsays, the government Of the
South will be given to loyal men, and
those who were either driven or unRil-
lingly cosxed into the rebellion.


The Treasury of the United States,
on Saturday, designated the Merch-
/ ants Exchange Bank of New York
city as depository of public funds.


The Presidents Talk with a Foreign


Correspondent.


The Washington correspondent of
the London Times, writing on the 10th
of April, gives an account Of a conVer
sation which he had on the llth of the
same month with President johnson.
The writer says the President began by
saying that ever since his accession to
office, the Radicals had been preparing
for the issue forced upon him, They
knew that when the South came back
into Congress their day of power would
| be over, and their talk about philan
thropy and benevolence to the negro
meant nothing more than a desire to
work upon the feelings of the North,
so that they might be enabled to carry
things their own way 1t was the re-
newal of an old conflict The South
struck first; the rebellion was subdued
at the Southern end of the line, and now
it is swinging round to the other end.
THESE men, cOptinued the President
and he always used these words to
denote the Radical party-aare almost
ready to 90 into rebellion again rather
than have their supremacy destroyed
by the reintroductiOn of the South.
They know nothing practically of the
real state of the South. The very man
who had drawn up the Civil Rights bill
what were his means of judging2 /
left him in the Senate during the war,
and went out to Tennessee and saw it
all, and bore my share of the troubles.
He stopped at home, and now endeaV-
ors to make his theories square into
the events of the war, and legislate on
ideas which he has never put to the
test


The President then went on to speak
of slavery and the negro. He said he
had been brought up under the very
shadow of the institution of slavery.
He had bought and owned slaves, but
still he had always been for abolishing
slavery upon any basis which could be
adopted with safety to the country
When it came t0 the question whether
slavery should be abolished or the Coy
ernment broken up, he never had q
doubt as to the course which he ought
to pursue; he decided to give up sla-
very, and he abided by that decision
But the South now would treat the ne
gro with greater kindness than tbs
North if it were left alone and not ex-
asperated. "They talk of Justice to the
negro" continued the President; 'God
knows my heart yearns towards him
when | think of the end which these
men are preparing for him. l see that
end clearly enOugh-they are going the
way for conflict of races. When that
occurs, we ell know how it will fare with
the negro. How has such a contest
always ended2 When the time comes
there will be no struggle. The result
will be decided without Now, then,
what do we find? The very thing
which we said these Southern States
could never do which we fought four
years to prevent them doing, these
men affirm that they have actually
dOne-namely, been out of the Union.
The Southern States are ready to come
back upon our terms, take loyal oaths
and acknowledge their allegiance, but
these men say they shall not Why, if
they had offered to come back, or any
of them, during the rebellion, should
we have turned them away on the
ground that they had placed them
selves out of the Union? Mr.. Lincoln
offered to receive the whole Legislature
of Virginia. rebel Legislature-and
would have welcomed them with open
arms Would he have refused to re-
ceive these States now that they have
fully submittedp


The President next referred to the
Misrepresentation of his policy which
have been so industriously spread
abroad. "These men" had for some
months past had the public mind open
to them, and had poured into it what
eyer they pleased. Now it had become
incrusted, as it were; but once let that
incrustation be broken through, and
the truth would begin to find its way
81 am not discouraged, added the Pre-
sident; "either these States must be
brought back or they must be kept
out 1t is like doing snm in addi-
tion-some sums want figuring up more
than others before you can get the an
swer; but l believe it will come out
right in the emo"


Mr.. johnson then enlarged with con
siderable detail upon the operations of
the Freedmen's Bureau, and said that
its machinery was now being used to
get negroes conveyed from the North
back to the South, by the very men who
were asserting that the lives of the
freedmen were not safe in the South.
They had hired or bought lands; they
wanted labor, and they got their ne
groes transported at the expense Of the
Government The Freedmen's Bureau
compelled the negroes to go or they
stopped their subsistence allowance 1t
was little better than another form of
slavery, only that it was solely conduct |
ed by Abolitionists; for the Freedmen's
Rureau would not assist a Southern |
man in getting negroes from the North, |
where many thousands of them have |
taken refuge during the war A gen
tleman from Falkland county, Virginia, |
had been to him, the President said,
only few days ago, saying that he had |
sent three hundred negroes to the Dis
trict (of Columbia) for security during |
the war. He now wished to hire them,
but the Freedmen's Bureau interposed |
obstacles, and would give him no help |
in Transporting them, whereas the Gov |
ernment railroads were placed at the /
service Of other spectators. In all that /
he said il was evident that the Presi- |
dent approved some plan for protecting |
the negro and giving him succor, but |
that he considered the administration |
of the Freedmen's Bureau was not all |
that gould be desired. 1t did not &C |