UNITED STATES. 



751 



present would be a restoration of these States and of 



in-lit upon em-reel prineiples. We bare 



n diilieulties. but ii, c iiiuiii.-iit it can be 



announced that the Union of the States is again 



nut we have resumed our career <-i 

 and greatness, at that very instant, almost, all 

 our tWeifn dilliciiltirs will In- settled, fur there is no 

 power upon e.ittli which will care to have a contro- 

 i>r n rupture with the Government of the 

 United States under such circumstances. 



Again, on the 22d of February, the annivcr- 

 pnry of the birth of General Washington, a 



public meeting was held in Washington, at 

 which resolutions were adopted that approved 

 of tin.- me.~-;iL'ej of the President and compli- 

 mented his administration. '1'ho meeting on 

 adjourning proceeded to the President's resi- 

 dence, and presented to him the resolutions. In 

 nrse of bis reply from the front portico 

 of his mansion, he said : 



The rebellion is put down by the strong arm of the 

 Government in the field. But is this the only way in 

 which we can have rebellions? This was a struggle 

 against a change and a revolution of the Govern- 

 ment, and before we fully get from the battle-fields 

 when our brave men have scarcely returned to their 

 homes and renewed the ties of att'ection and love to 

 their wives and their children we are now almost in- 

 augurated into another rebellion. One rebellion waa 

 tin' i llbrt of States to secede, and the war on the part 

 of the Government was to prevent them from accom- 

 plishing that, and thereby changing the character of 

 our Government and weakening its power. When 

 the Government has succeeded, there is an attempt 

 now to concentrate all power in the hands of a few 

 at the Federal bead, and thereby bring about a con- 

 solidation of the Republic, which is equally objec- 

 tionable with its dissolution. We find a power as- 

 sumed and attempted to be exercised of a most ex- 

 traordinary character. We see now that govern- 

 ments can be revolutionized without going into the 

 battle-field; and sometimes the revolutions most dis- 

 tressing to a people are effected without the shedding 

 of blood. That is, the substance of your Government 

 may be taken away, while there is held out to you 

 the form and the $hadow. And now, what are the 

 attempts and what is being proposed? We find that 

 by an irresponsible central diicctory nearly all the 

 powers of Congress are assumed witljout even consult- 

 ing the legislative and executive departments of the 

 Government. By a resolution reported by a com- 

 :i.ittee upon whom and in whom the legislative pow- 

 er of the Go\ eminent has been lodged, that great 

 principle in the Constitution which authorizes and 

 empowers the legislative, department, the Senate and 

 House of Representatives, to bo the judges of elec- 

 tions, returns, and qualifications of its own members, 

 has been virtually taken away from the two respec- 

 tive branches of the National Legislature, and con- 

 ferred npon a committee, who must report before 

 the body can act on the question of the admission of 

 members to their seats. By this rule they assume a 

 State is out of the Union, and to have its practical 

 relations restored by that rule, before the House can 

 iudge of the qualifications of its own members. 

 Wbftt position is that? You have been struggling 

 four years to put down a rebellion. You contended 

 at the beginning of that struggle that a State bad 

 not a right to go out. You said it had neither the 

 i iidit nor the power, and it has boen settled that the 

 - had neither the right nor the power to go out 

 of the Union. And when you determine by ti 

 ccutive, by the military, and by the public judgment, 

 that these States cannot have any right to go out, 

 this committee turns round and assumes that they 

 ore out, and that they shall not :ome in. 



I am free to gay to yon any our Executive that I am 

 not prepared to take any such position. I naid in tin: 

 in the very inception <! tin* r<-l,.-iiion, thut 

 :ute had no right to secede. That quest. 



ttl<-'!. Thus detvrmiii' 



and give the lie direct to all that 1 profeca to bare 

 dom> during the last fonr years. I say that when 

 tlif States that attempted to secede comply with the 

 Constitution, and give sufficient evidence of loyalty, 

 1 shall extend to them the right hand of fellowship, 

 inn! let iiearc and union be restored. I am opposed 

 i ' the Uavises, the Tombses. the Slidells, and the* 

 l"n_' list of such. But when I perceive on the other 

 end of the line men I care not by what name you 

 cull them still opposed to the Union, I am free to 

 say to you that I am still with the peop e. I am Mill 

 for the preservation of $!. for ihe proserra- 



tion of this Union, and in favor of this great Govern- 

 ment accomplishing its destiny. 



| Here the President waa called upon to give the 

 names of three persons to whom he bad alluded aa 

 being opposed to the Union.] 



The gentleman culls for three namea. I am talking 

 to my friends and fellow-citizens here. Suppose I 

 should name to you those whom I look upon as being 

 opposed to the fundamental principles of this Gov- 

 ernment, and as now laboring to destroy them. I 

 say Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania; I say 

 Charles Sumncr, of Massachusetts; I say Wendell 

 Phillips, of Massachusetts. [Great cheering, and a 

 voice, "Forney! "] 



I do not waste my fire on dead ducks. I stand for 

 the country, and though my enemies may traduce, 

 slander, and vituperate, I may say that has no force. 



In addition to this, I do not intend to be governed 

 by real or pretended friends, nor do I intend to be 

 bullied by my enemies. An honest conviction is 1/17 

 sustenance, the Constitution my guide. I know, my 

 countrymen, that it has been insinuated nay, said 

 directly, in high places that if such a usurpation of 

 power nad been exercised two hundred years ago, in 

 particular reigns, it would have cost an individual 

 bis head. Wnat usurpation has Andrew Johnson 

 been guilty of? My only usurpation has been com- 

 mittted by standing between the people and the en- 

 croachments of power. And because I dared say in 

 a conversation with a fellow-citizen, and a Senator 

 too, that I thought amendments to the Constitution 

 ought not be so frequent, lest the instrument lose all 

 its sanctity and dignity, and be wholly lost sight of 

 in a short time, and because I happened to say in 

 conversation that I thought that such and such an 

 amendment was all that ought to be adopted, it waa 

 said that I had suggested such a usurpation of power 

 as would have cost a king bis head in a certain period I 

 In connection with this subject, one has exclaimed 

 that we urc in the "midst of earthquakes, and he 



trembled." Yes, there is an earthquake approach- 



ifar judg- 

 ment and indignation. The American people will 



ing, there is a groundswell coming of popular judi 



speak, and by their instinct, if in no other way, know 

 who arc their friends, when and where and in 

 whatever position I stand and I have occupied many 

 >ns in the Government, going through botn 

 branches of the Legislature. Some gentleman here 

 behind me says, " And was a tailor." Now, that 

 don't affect me in the least When I was a tailor I 

 always made a close fit, and was always punctual to 

 my customers, and did good work. 



A voice : " No patchwork." 



TUK PKKSIDKXT: No, I did not want any patch- 

 work. But wo pas* by this digression. Intimations 

 have been thrown out and wnen principles are in- 

 volved and the existence of my country is imper- 

 illed, I will, as on former occasions, sneak what I 

 th'nk. Yes! Cost him his head! Usurpation 1 

 When and where have I been guilty of this? Where 

 is the man in all the positions 1 hare occupied, from 

 that of alderman to the Vice-Presidency, who can 

 say that Andrew Johnson ever made a pledge that he 



