AMERICA. THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. (From the "Daily Alta," February 24.)

North Otago Times, Volume VI, Issue 119, 31 May 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

AMERICA. THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. (From the " Daily Alta," February 24.)

Chicago, February 23. — The " Republican's" Washington special despatch gives a full report of the President's speech yesterday. The meeting at Groyer's Theatre adjourned to the White House to present a series of resolutions, endorsing the President's veto, and arrived in front of the White House, a noisy crowd of two thousand persons. The President then came out and said : It is extremely gratifying to know that so large a portion of my fellow citizens approve of the policy adopted, and which I intend to carry out. The day is peculiarly appropriate for the endorsement of a policy whose object is the restoration of the Union as designed by the father of his country. I stand here today as I stdod in the the Senate in 1860; and when I denounced traitors trying to break up the Government, there were two parties ; one which was determined to destroy the Government and save slavery, and the other almost equally dangerous and equally willing to break up the Government to destroy slavery. Whether disunionists come from the North or the South, I stand now, as I stood then, vindicating the Union and the Constitution. (Tremendous cheering.') The Government [ has stretched forth its strong arm, and with

its physical power put down, treason in the field. The armies of the traitors have been disbanded, and they came forward in penitential spirit saying : — " We were mistaken. We made an effort to carry out the doctrine of Secession and to disolve the Union, and failed. We have traced this doctrine to its logical and physical results, and find we were mistaken. We acknowledge the flag of our country and are willing to obey the Constitution, and yield to the supremacy of the laws. (Great applause.) Coming in that spirit, I say to them : — '* When you have yielded to the law ; when you have acknowledged your allegiance, I will, as far as I can, open the door of the Union to those who have erred and strayed for a time. (Great applause.) The spirit of revenge is not the spirit in which to deal with the whole people. I know there has been a great deal said about the exercise of the pardoning power. There is no one who has laboured with niore earnestness than myself to have the principal, intelligent, and conscious traitors brought to justice, the laws vindicated, and the great fact judicially established, that treason is a crime. (Applause.) But while conscious that leading and intelligent traitors are to be punished, should whole communities, states, and their people, be made to submit to the penalty of death? (" No, no.") Let those who have erred be punished, but to the great multitude, forced into the rebellion I say, give leniency and kindness. We put down the rebellion in older to prevent the separation of states, but when the struggle on our part has been successful, we find now an effort to concentrate all the power in the hands of a few at Federal head-quarters, and thereby establish a new principle of equality as objectionable as separation. The Government may be revolutionised without war ; and this is the most dangerous because its progress is not so easily watched. What is now being proposed, we find to be in point of fact that nearly all the powers of the Government are assumed by an irresponsible central directoiy, which does not even consult the legislative or executive departments, by resolutions reported from a committee in whom it seems p-actically the legislative power is row vested. The great principle which authorises each branch of the Legislative department to judge for its-elf the qualifications of its own members, has been virtually taken away from the two branches, and conferred upon a committee. I fought traitors and treason in the South, and now, when I turn around and find men — I care not by what name you call them — still opposed to restoring the Union, I am free to say to you that I am still in the field. (Great applause). Voices — <l Name them ; who are they ?" You ask me who they are, I say, Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, is one ; and Charles Sumner, of the Senate, is another; and Wendell Phillipps is another. (Groat applause. Voices — " Give it to Forney !") The President — I will simply say 1 do not waste my ammunition on dead ducks. (Laughter and applause.) — I stand for my country — I stand for my constitution. There I have placed my feet from my advent into public life. They may traduce, they may slander, or they may vituperate me ; but let me say to you all, it has no influence upon me. (Applause.) Let me say further, that I do not intend to be overawed by real or pretended friends; nor do I mean to be bullied by my enemies. (Tremendous applause.) My honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide. I know, my countrymen, it has been insinuated — no, not insinuated — it has been said directly — in high circles, that if such usurpation of power as I am charged with had been exercised some 200 years ago, it would have cost the individual his head. Of what usurpation has Andrew Johnson been guilty ? (" None, none.") Is it usurpation that I stand between the people and the encroachment of power from the same source ? The exclamation has gone forth that they were in the midst of earthquakes, that they were trembling, and could not yield. Yes, fellow-citizens, there is an earthquake coming ; there is a grand swelling of popular judgment and indignation. (Applause ) The American people will speak, and by their instinct, if not otherwise, they will know who are their enemies. I have endeavoured to be true to the people in all the positions which I have occupied, and there is hardly a position in this Government I have not, at some time, filled. I suppose it will be said that this is vanity (laughter) ; but I may say that I have been in all of them ; I have been in both branches of the Legislature. (Voice : " Commenced as a tailor.") A gentleman hehtnd me says I began as a tailor. Yes; I did begin as a tailor. (Applause.) And that suggestion does not discomfit me in the least ; for when I was a tailor I had the reputation of being a good one, and making clothes to fit. (Laughter.) I was always punctual to my customers, and did good work. (Voice : " We will patch up the Union yet.") No ; I do not want any patchwork. I want the original article restored. Point to the man who can say that Andrew Johnson ever acted with infidelity to the great mass of the people. (Great applause.) Men may talk about beheading and about usurpation, but when I am beheaded I want the American people to be the witnesses. I do not want it by inuendoes and indirect remarks in high places to be suggested to men who have assassination breeding in their bosoms Others have exclaimed that the present obstacle must be got out of the way. What

is that but — I make use of the strong word — inciting to assassination? No doubt, I say, the intention was to incite the assassination, that the obstacle which the people had placed here might be got out of the way. Are the opponents of this Government not yet satisfied? Are those avIio want to destroy our institutions and change the character, of the Government not satisfied with the quantity of blood which has been shed? Are they not satisfied with one martyr in this place ? If my blood must be shed because I vindicate the Union, remember the " blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." This seed will grow and continue to increase in strength and power, though it may be cemented and cleansed in blood. One word about the amendments to the Constitution. In conversation with President Lincoln last February, he indicated his desire for an amendment compelling the rebellious States to send seuators and representatives to Congress, because it was part of the doctrine of secession that the States might withdraw their senators and representatives, or refuse to elect them. Now, we find Congress persistently refusing admission to such representatives, though daily imposing new burdens of law and taxation on the unrepresented South. I regard this as a fundamental error. I never insisted on encroachments on the Constitution, and I stand prepared to resist them to-day. Would to God the whole American people could be assembled here to-day, as you are, and could witness the great struggle going on to preserve the Constitution of their lathers ! They would soon settle the question, if they could only see the kind of spirit manifested in the effort to break up the principles of a free Government.