The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-07 00:00:00

IKPORTANT SPEECH OF PRESIDENT

JOHNSON.
(Azrinl of the Mowaviaa. via Gromeasile.)

14RW YORK, Fa 23, Ivirria.

Meetings were held throughout the oountry on
Washington's birthday, to support President
Johnson's policy.
The meeting held at Washington passed resolu-
tions commending Mr. Johnson's course. The
meeting then adjourned to White House, where the
President addressed an immense concourse of

people. He reiterated the
would pursue the policy declared in his veto
message. The Union, he was resolved upon,
should be preserved. He stood where he
did at the commencement of the rebellion,

that he

to vindicate the Union and the constitution against
disunionist. from the North or South. On assum-
ing office be found 8,000,000 people who were In
fact condemned under the law—the penalty being
death, but he would say let the leaders, cooecious
and intelligent traitors, 'offer the penalty of the
law, but for the mamma leniency, trust, and confi-
dence. The South struggled to destroy the govern-
ment, but before the war is hardly over the country
finds itself in the midst of another rebellion. War
was made to prevent a separation of the State.,
now there Is an attempt to concentrate the
power of government in the hands of • few,
thereby bringing about a consolidation equally
dangerous and objectionable with separation.
He denounced the appointment of a congressional
committee to decide the claims of the Soothers
States to representation. " The executive military
power and public judgment have decided that no
state has power or the right to go out of the Union,
and you turn round and assume that they are out
and shall not come in. lam not prepared to take
any such position. I have found treason at the
South, and now when I turn to the other end of
the line I find men still opposing the restore-
lion of the Union." President Johnson, re-
plying to the call for their names, said—" I
regard them, as President or citizen, as being
equally opposed to the fundamental principles
of this government, and believe they are as much
labouring to prevent or destroy them as were those
who fought against us. Thaddeus Stevens, Charles
Sumner, Wendell Phillips, and others of the same
stripe are amongst them. They may vituperate,
traduce, slander me, that does not affect me. I
do not intend to be overawed by friends nor
bullied by enemies. It has been said, in high
places, if such usurpation had been exercised two
°motorise ago it would have cost a certain indi-
vidual his head. The usurpation I have been
guilty of has been standing between the people
and the encroachments of power. In connexion
with his subject the same gentleman explained we
were standing in the midst of earthquakes, he li
trembled and could not yield. Yea. There is an
earthquake coming ; there is a ground swell of
popular judgment and indignation. When lam
beheaded I want the people to witness it. Ido not
want it done by innendos and indirect,
remarks in high places to be suggested
to men having assassination breeding in
their bosoms. Others explain this presidental
obstacle must be gotten out of the way. What is
that, it I may make use of a strong term, but in-
citing assassination 1 Are those who want to
destroy our institutions and change the character
of our government not satisfied with the blood
already shed I They have not the honour or the
courage to obtain their ends otherwise than
by assassin's hands. I know they are willing
to wound, but they fear to strike. If my
blood is to be shed, because I vindicate the Union
and the preservation of the government in its purity,
let it be shed ; let the opponents of the government
remember that the blood of the many. was the
seed of the church. The Union will grow and
continue to increase in strength and power, though
it may be cemented and cleansed with blood."
A densely-thronged meeting was held at the
Cooper Institute, where all classes of politics were
represented.
An address and resolutions were
adopted, urging the admission of loyal Southern
representatives to Congress, approving the veto,
endorsing Mr. Johnson's policy, and recommending
the call of another meeting whene►er the exigency
demanded it, to promote harmony in the public
councils of the country.
Mr. Seward made • speech in which he said that
the country was in no peril, no matter whether the
Congressional or the Presidential policy prevailed.
This confidence arose from the conviction that there
never was and never can be any successful pro.
cess for the restoration of union and harmony
among the States, except that with which the Pre-
sident has avowed himself satisfied. Loyal men
from the Southern States willsooner or later during
this or some other congressional term be received
into the National Legislature. The restoration
will then be complete. Territorial government
would require greater imperial powers than
Napoleon possesses. Maximilian's task, though
he engages two Emperors and two Imperial
orgaoisations, with their forces, is not thought
the most wise or hopeful political enterprise of the
day. The Congressional policy was impracticable
and vicious. The President considers the present
Freedmen's Bureau Bill sufficient, because it re-
mains in force for one year after the termination of
the rebellion, and no official announcement f the
termination of the rebellion has yet been made.

A committee of influential citizens of New York
will proceed to Washington to confer with the
President upon the best means of sustaining the
memurre of his administration.

General Sweeney has submitted to the Fenian
Congress at Pittsburg the details of a military