806 



UNITED STATES. 



questions presented have been settled against us, 

 and we are prepared to accept the issue." I find on 

 all sides this spirit of candor and honor prevailing. 

 It is said by all. The issue was ours, and the judg- 

 ment has been given against us ; and the decision 

 having been made against us, we feel bound in honor 

 to abide by the arbitrament. In doing this we are 

 doing ourselves no dishonor, and should not feel hu- 

 miliated or degraded, but rather that we are enno- 

 bling ourselves DV our action ; and we should feel that 

 the Government has treated us magnanimously, and 

 meet the Government upon the terms it has so mag- 

 nanimously proffered us. So far as I am concerned, 

 personally, I am uninfluenced by any question, 

 whether it affects the North or the South, the East 

 or the West. I stand where I did of old, battling for 

 the Constitution and the Union of these United 

 States. In doing so, I know I opposed some of you 

 gentlemen of the South, when this doctrine of seces- 

 sion was being urged upon the 1 country, and the 

 declaration of your right to break up the Govern- 

 ment and disintegrate the Union was made. I 

 stand to-day, as I ever stood, firmly in the opinion 

 that if a monopoly contends against this country the 

 monopoly must go down, and the country must go 

 up. Yes, the issue was made by the South against 

 the Government, and the Government has tri- 

 umphed ; and the South, true to her ancient instincts 

 of frankness and manly honor* comes forth and ex- 

 presses her willingness to abide the result of the de- 

 cision in good faith. While I think that the rebel- 

 lion has been arrested and subdued, and am happy 

 in the consciousness of a duty well performed, I 

 want not only you, but the people of the world to 

 know, that while I dreaded and feared disintegration' 

 of the States, I am equally opposed to consolidation 

 or concentration of power here, under whatever 

 guise or name ; and if the issue is forced upon us, I 

 shall still endeavor to pursue the same efforts to dis- 

 suade from this doctrine of running to extremes. 

 But I say let the same rules be applied. Let the Con- 

 stitution be our guide. Let the preservation of that 

 and the Union of the States be our principal aim. 

 Let it be our hope that the Government may be 

 perpetual, and that the principles of the Govern- 

 ment, founded as they are on right and justice, may 

 be handed down without spot or blemish to our pos- 

 terity. 



As I have before remarked to you, I am gratified 

 to see so many of you here to-day. It manifests a 

 spirit I am pleased to observe. I know it has been 

 said of me that my asperities are sharp, that I had 

 vindictive feelings to gratify, and that I should not 

 fail to avail myself of the opportunities that would 

 present themselves to gratify such despicable feel- 

 ings. Gentlemen, if my acts will not speak for me 

 and for themselves, then any professions I might 

 now make would be equally useless. But, gentle- 

 men, if I know myself, as I think I do, I know that I 

 am of the Southern people, and I love them and will 

 do all in my power to restore them, to that state of 

 happiness and prosperity which they enjoyed before 

 the madness of misguided men, in whom they had 

 reposed their confidence, led them astray to their 

 own undoing. If there is any thing that can be done 

 on my part, on correct principles, on the principles 

 of the Constitution, to promote these ends, be assured 

 it shall be done. Let me assure you, also, that there 

 is no disposition on the part of the Government to 

 deal harshly with the Southern people. There may 

 be speeches published from various quarters that 

 may breathe a different spirit. Do not let them 

 trouble or excite you, but believe that it is, as it is, 

 the great object of the Government to make the union 

 of these United States more complete and perfect 

 than ever, and to maintain it on constitutional prin- 

 ciples, if possible, more firmly than it has ever be- 

 fore been. Then why cannot we all come up to the 

 work in a proper spirit ? In other words, let us look 

 to the Constitution. The issue has been made and 



* decided ; then, as wise men as men who see right 

 and are determined to follow it, as fathers and broth- 

 ers, and as men who love their country in this hour 

 of trial and suffering why cannot we come up and 

 help to settle the questions of the hour and adjust 

 them according to the principles of honor and of 

 justice? The institution of slavery is gone. The 

 former status of the negro had to be changed, and 

 we, as wise men, must recognize so patent a fact, and 

 adapt ourselves to circumstances as they surround 

 us. I believe when your faith is pledged, when vour 

 consent has been given, as I have already said, I be- 

 lieve it will be maintained in good faith, and every 

 pledge or promise fully carried out. All I ask or de- 

 sire of the South or the North, the East or the West, 

 is to be sustained in carrying out the principles of 

 the Constitution. It is not to be denied that we have 

 been sufferers on both sides. Good men have fallen 

 on both sides, and much misery is being endured as 

 the necessary result of so gigantic a contest. Why, 

 then, cannot we come together, and around the com- * 

 mon altar of our country heal the wounds that have 

 been made ? Deep wounds have been inflicted. Our 

 country has been scarred all over. Then why can- 

 not we approach each other upon principles which 

 are right in themselves, and which will be productive 

 of good to all? The day is not distant when we shall 

 feel like some family that have had a deep and des- 

 perate feud, the various members of which have come 

 together and compared the evils and sufferings they 

 had inflicted upon .each other. They had seen the 

 influence of their error and its results, and, governed 

 by a generous spirit of conciliation, they had be- 

 come mutually forbearing and forgiving, and re- 

 turned to their old habits of fraternal kindness, and 

 become better friends than ever. Then let us con- 

 sider that the feud which alienated us has been set- 

 tled and adjusted to our mutual satisfaction, and that 

 we come together to be bound by firmer bonds of 

 love, respect, and confidence than ever. The North 

 cannot get along without the South, nor the South 

 from the North, the East from the West, nor the 

 West from the East ; and I say it is our duty to do all 

 that in our power lies to perpetuate and make stronger 

 the bonds of our Union, seeing that it is for the com- 

 mon good of all that we should be united. I feel 

 this Union, though but the creation of a century, is 

 to be perpetuated for all time, and that it cannot be 

 destroyed except by the all-wise God who created it. 

 Gentlemen, I repeat I sincerely thank you for the 

 respect manifested on this occasion ; and for the ex- 

 pressions of approbation and confidence please ac- 

 cept my sincere thanks. 



Mr. McFarland rejoined : 



Mr. PRESIDENT : On behalf of this delegation I re- 

 turn you my sincere thanks for your kind, generous 

 ay, magnanimous expressions of kindly feeling 

 toward the people of the South. 



The more prominent persons engaged in the 

 war against the Union, who were in confine- 

 ment, were from time to time released on their 

 parole by the order of the President. On Oc- 

 tober llth he issued a proclamation declaring 

 that, as the authority of the Federal Govern- 

 ment was sufficiently restored in the Southern 

 States to admit of the enlargement from close 

 custody of John A. Campbell, of Alabama; 

 John H. Eeagan, of Texas; Alexander H. 

 Stephens, of Georgia ; George A. Trenholm, of 

 South Carolina, and Charles Clark, of Mississippi ; 

 they should be released on giving their re- 

 spective paroles to appear at such time and 

 place as the President might designate, to an- 

 swer any charge that he might direct to be pre- 

 ferred against them, and also that they will 



