Show wr from the tue yew york su ANOTHER ANLO THElt LETTER lettell FROM silt neef BEEF cil ceiell Cli elt Ell nu ms at the conclusion of the s in plymouth church brooklyn sop 1 ap 2 1 the following letter was read a saturday aug OU HY MY dean DEAU I 1 am obliged to you for your letter I 1 am sorry that my friends and my congregation are arc grieved at my cleveland letter this beelin feeling however has no just grounds wha whatever taver may bo be the seeming I 1 have not left aud and do not propose to leave or to be put out of the re republican publican party I 1 am in sympathy qin win with its aims its great g principles and its army of noble moble men radin int but I 1 tool took the liberty of criticising criticizing critic ising its policy in a single respect and to do what I 1 could to lecure fee eee eure what I 1 believed and still believe to bo a better one I 1 am and from the first have been fully tally Oo of opinion pinion that the amendment beani 0 of the consia constitution gutlon proposed by congress equalizing representation in northern and son Eon southern bouthern thern states ws was intrinsically jurt jart and reasonable and that it should be sought by a wholesome and persistent moral monal agitation but euf from the present condition of the public mind and from the denta dents attitude I 1 deemed such a change to be practically impossible in any near period by political action and a plan of reconstruction base based dupen dupon upon to me far more like a plan of adjourning reconstruction for years at least wit with all the liabilities of mischief mischief which are always to be expected in the fluetta fluctuations of politics in a free nation it is not tho the north that chiefly needs the restoration of government to its normal sphere and regular action either the advantages of hounion the tho union are arc fallacious or the continuous exclusion of the south from it will breed disorder make the future reunion more difficult and especially subject the freedmen to tid the tche very worst conditions of society which bieh bich can well exist no army no government and no earthly power can compel the south to treat four millions of men justly if the inhabitants whether rightly or wrongly regard these men nien as the tho cause or even the occasion of their unhappiness and disfranchisement but no army or Govern government mentor or power will be required when southern society is restored occupied and prospering in the renewed union then the negro will be felt to be necessary to southern industry and interest will I jain join iain aln ain with conscience and kindness in aurili for him favorable treatment from hig his s fellow fellos citizens wo that live at a distance may think that the social reconstruction involved in the tho emancipation of four million slaves is as simple and eal cal easy s as it is to discourse about it but such a change is itself one of the tho most tremendous tests to which industry and society can be subjected and to its favorable issue is required every advantage pos possible aible albie the longer therefore the south is left in turmoil the work eft eit will be for the negro if there were no other reason it ifune the white population were not our fellow citizens if we harlost had lost all kindness and dud regard for them and all pride mor for me the union as in part represented s by south gouth southern brn states and confined our attention exclusively to the the case would bo be strong beyond my power of expression for an early earls resumption of federal relations with all the states if this is 18 to disregard the leggro ne grothen then kli kil all ail social and natural laws iowen lomen have hava been vain tain I 1 I 1 neither am I 1 a johnson ajohnson man in iri any rot roc received elved meaning of that term 1 accept that part of the policy which hs va savors favors but with ith modification I 1 have never thought that thab it ii would othild be biseto bring bick back all the tho states in a body and at once auy any more than it would bo be to kee keep ijunia them all out together one b 13 one anle indio succession tinder under a practical J judgment u dg ament ra rather ther ilian than by a 0 whole cale theoretic rule I 1 would havo huo them re admitted 1 I still think a middle course courso between the tho presidents and that of Cob congress gress gresA would be wiser than either bat with this my agreement with the tho president ond end I 1 have long regretted his ignorance igno ranco ranee of northern ideas and und benti senti sentiments mento ments and I 1 have beep astonished and pained at his increasing indiere eions unconsciously the president is the ghe chief obstacle to the readmission of southern states tt it is enough that ho he is known to favor a measure to set tho the public mind against it 1 tins tina isto is to be deplored but it is largely owing to his impudent conduct I 1 believe him to bo be honest sincere in desiring what he regards as the public good but slow and inapt in receiving help from other minds proud and sensitive firm to obstinacy resolute to fler flor fierceness ceness intelligent tell igent 0 in his own sphere which is narrow be he holds his opinions inflexibly uc ho often mistakes tho the intensity of his own convictions for strength of evid evidence c liec such S uch a man has a true sphere in periods of peril when audacious firmness and ruda rudo vigor are needed but in the delicate tasks aks of adjustment which follow civil war such a nature lacks that tact and delicacy and moral intuition which constitute the true statesman mr john Sohn johnsons johnsona sonA sons hate haste to take the wrong side at the atrocious massacre of new orleans was shocking the perversion and mutilation of Sheri dans dispatches need no characterization I 1 do not attribute this act to him yet it was of such a criminal and disgraceful nature that not to clear himself of it by the exposure and rebuke of the offending party amounted to collusion with crime after the the fact what shall I 1 say of the ii peeches speeches made in the wide recent circuit of the E executive are these the wa ways s of reconciliation yet et mr johnson is to bo be our president for nearly three years to come clothed with a power which belongs to few thrones besides the honor which a people owe to him as the tha Chief lef magistrate wo we must as christian citizens 1 credit him with his real excellencies his original horror of secession his bold resistance to treachery his persistent e r s and self denying heroism in the h e ion lon long iong dark days of tennessee we must not forget that he has jealously resisted a centralization of power in the federal government that he has sought to dignify and secure a true state rights bights that he has maintained simplicity of manners fiers and a true love of the common people it is our duty ilk lik likewise ewite to forestall and prevent as much as possible by kind and faithful criticism of his errors on the one hand and by sympathy and kindness on the other those dangers to which he is liable under attacks which he is peculiarly unable to bear with calmness and these dangers of evil counselors which more and more gravitate towards him so go long as it was possible I 1 have been silent upon mr ur JohnB johnsons onys faults and now speak spear so plainly only less ICES I 1 seem to approve or cloak them and now allow me to express some surprise at the turn which the public mind has his taken on my letter if I 1 had never bedore before spoken my sentiments I 1 can see how friends m might now misapprehend my position but for a year pact past I 1 have been advocating the ve very principles of the cleveland letter in a nil all the chief eastern cities in boston portland springfield albany utica rochester buffalo philadelphia harrisburg Pittsburg hand brooklyn tat cat at the academy ock ork of musie music ubie uble last winter these views were reported discussed agreed to or differed from praised and ana blamed abundantly but no one thought or at least said that I 1 remember that I 1 I 1 had forsaken the ike republican party or had bad turned my back upon the freedmen my recent letter but condenses those views which for twelve months I 1 have been earnestly engaged in urging upon tha tho attention of by the community I 1 am not surprised that men dissent but this thib sudden consternation and this late discovery of the nature oi of my opinions seem sufficiently surprising I 1 could not ask asi a better service than the reprint ing ling of that sermon bermon of last october I 1 which first brought upon me the cratl ariti cismas of the telbine and the indo pendent I 1 foresaw that in the tion of or parties and the country we could not noi carry suffrage for the freedmen by immediate political action when the ablest and most radical congress of our pur history come together they refused to give thle suffrage to negroes even in the dis 16 tnt of columbia and only in an indirect dibi PA may way not as a political right but 1 for result of political selfish aless licks b did they provide for it by by an amendment of the constitution what ar wu was prophesy with me congress has 1 M made 2 history relinquishing political instruments 1 for gaining the full enfranchisement IF chi 1 of men I 1 instantly turned to moral morril means and enunciating the broadust doctrine of manhood suffrage I 1 1 gayo guyo the widest latitude lati iati bide to that advocating tho the tho rights of black and af erl err men mea oil will anil women td vote if any man matt ilaa baa labored moro more openly on a broader principle tind and with moro more assiduity I 1 I 1 do not know him ty may II llave have ave ibee ibbott shown but not mord more directness of nor deviating ull uti 10 consistency I 1 attribute the recent I 1 ang ing in part to tb the great grgat excitement which now exists to the narrowing narno narco wing winy of the issues and to the extreme extreme exacerbation which mr johnsonb johnsons extraordinary and injudicious speeches have produced to this may bo be added my own indisposition to join in criticism upon the president and the fact that I 1 urged a modified form of that policy which ho he unfortunately for its success holds upon mr J johnsons succession I 1 was supremely impressed with the tho conviction that thac the whole problem of reconstruction st would practically pivot on tho the h harmony amr of mr johnson 0 so and d congress with 11 tha that wo c could hapa have havo no S secured cc ur ed every overy guarantee u am nto 0 a and n ever every ame amendment adm c nt 0 of f th the constitution had a united goverio Gove government rit rII said to the south promptly backed as it would have been by the united north with slavery we vve must take out of the constitution whatever slavery put in and put in whatever slavery for its own support left out there can scarcely be a doubt that long before this the question would have been settled the basis of representation in the so south uth conformed to that in the north and the principle tho the most fundamental and important of all might have been cs shed in the constitution viz that ilan Alan manhood bood hood and full citizenship are identical such great changes required two things viz viz vie promptness and unity of counsels to secure these I 1 bent my whole strength I 1 urged the purgation of the constitution I 1 reasoned against mutual distrust and plead for unity of governmental action I 1 did all that I 1 knew know how to confirm the president in his war begotten zeal against slavery to prevent such suspicions and ellmina eions as would tend to revive in his mind old prejudices and bring on are arc a relapse into his former hatred of northern fanatics I 1 thought I 1 understood his nature and tho the extreme dangers at such a critical time of irritating a proud sensa sensitive tive tivo and pugnacious man of southern sympathies little in sympathy with nor Mor northern thern feelings or ideas and brought into the very leadership of those men and that traino train of f p principles which ho he had all his life ha hated ted tod and denounced noun ced eed that he was sincere and tenacious would make tho the case all the more difficult I 1 thought I 1 foresaw that a division between him and congress would be the worst disaster that could befall us that the practical test of true statesmanship just then was not to be found in theories or philosophies however sound but in securing and confirming mr johnson in his then diep sitione sit ions upon tho the assembling of congress I 1 went to washington I 1 found Sout bout southern bouthern hern heru men 1 lying ying prostrate before mr johnson and appealing to his tender heart edness for he is aman of kind and tender heart disarming his war rage by utter submission I 1 found northern men already uttering suspicions of his fidelity and conscious of power threatening impeachment the men who seemed alive to this danger were unfortunately not those who had bad the management of ani afi lairs airs bad counsels prevailed the north denounced and the south sued we see the thor consequences long after I 1 despaired of seeing the tho president and congress harmonious I 1 felt it to bo be the duty of all good men to leave no influences untried to lesson the danger dauger and to diminish the evils which are siire sure to come should the president rebounding from the republicans be cau caught lit by those men who were in sympathy hatgy with the south throughout tho the war I 1 shall not attempt to apportion blame where both sides erred it ift is enough to say that unity secured at the seat scat of government would have been a noble achievement of leadership the speedy admission of tho the southern states as necessary to their own health as indirectly the best beat policy for the freedmen freedmen freedmon as peculiarly needful to the safety of our government which for the sako of accomplishing a great great graat end incautious men are in danger of perverting I 1 favored and do still favor the election to congress of republicans who will seek the early admission of the recusant sant states having urged it for a year past I 1 was more than ready to urge it again upon the various conventions vent ions which preceded the tho nomination of representatives to congress this fall in this spirit and for this end I 1 drew up my cleveland letter I 1 deem its views sound I 1 am not sorry that I 1 wrote it I 1 regret the misapprehension which it has caused and yet detmore more moro any sorrow which it may have needlessly ampo imposed se dupon upon dear friends As I 1 look back upon my course I 1 see no deviation from that straight line which I 1 have made madg without wavering for now thirty years of public life in favor of justice liberty and the elov elevation atton of the poor and ignorant the attempt to class me with nien men whose courso course I 1 have opposed all long iong will utterly fall fail I 1 shall choose my own place and shall not bo be moved from it I 1 have been from my youth a birin firm unwavering avowed and active friend of all that were oppressed I 1 have dono done nothing to forfeit that good name which I 1 havo hava earned I 1 am diot riot going weakly to turn away from iny bet set tied convictions of the public weal for fear oear that bad men may pral praise me or good men blame there is a ser serious IOUS lous dime diXe rence renee of judgment between men menna as to the best beat policy vo re must all remit to the future the decision of the question facts will soon judge us I 1 feel now profoundly how cb services have been to my country compared desert or noble nobie services but 1 am conscious that I 1 have given all that I 1 had to give without fear or favor above all earthly things is my country dear to me the lips that taught me to bay ay our father taught me to say fatherland 11 I 1 have havo 1 aimed to conceive of that land in the light of christianity |