The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-01 00:00:00

THE EXPET#S44ATURDAY, EVENIM, * SEPTEMB 1:;, 1866.

dismay at the crushing defeats in* the
Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH, to wn
tVpotpry
of Custom-a had given a golden opportunity of a
chivalrous renunciation, ceded Venice (by tele-
graph) to the Emperor of the Fassen, in the hope,
as * seem, of destroying at one blow
the two great alliances of Italy. Thanks
to the discretion of the Emperor of
the FRENCH and the goodwill of Prussia,
the base design was not destined to succeed ; but
that obscure transaction is net yet cleared up. Is
Venetia at this moment Austrian, or French, or
Italian property t It was ceded to the French
EMPEROR, it is occupied by Italian troops ; it is
ceded, at the demand of Prussia, to Italy uncondi-
tionally by the Treaty of Prague. And all the
while we hear of Austrian Commissioners at

Venice busily engaged in packing up and
sending away to Vienna treasures of art from
the churches and the galleries, muniments and
archives from the libraries, historic relics and
arms from the arsenal of the Republic of St.
Mark. We trust the new generosity of Austria
is not represented by this petty spoliation, which
at such a moment has a most disagreeable air of
private robbery. On the other hand, it is
but fair to mention, provisionally at least,
to the credit of Austria, the reports which reach
us from Vienna and from Florence that the
Cabinet of Vienna is giving signs of a kindlier
spirit towards Italy, and even of a desire to make
the formal instrument of pacification a true bond
of friendship and alliance. Nothing ought
to be more probable than such a story if we
could suppose the very nature of the Austrian
Government to be changed, and that, instead of
pride and infatuation, prudence and justice were to
be its future characteristics, and its principal
ambition to obtain the confidence of the money
markets, to give securities to the peace of
Europe, to contribute a great example of self-
denial to the cause of civilization. At all events,
we shall not have long to wait to know the truth
of this conversion. If Austria gives up Venice to

Italy undespoiled, if in the negotiations as to
frontiers she of her own free grace and unso-
licited hands over to Italy the " keys of her '
" house :" that is, so much of the mountain frontier
as commands the passes into Italy, and is peopled
by Italians in language and in heart ; then, in-
deed, the world will cheerfully and gratefully
own that Austria has well deserved to enter
upon a new and brighter era of prosperity,
and happiness, and power than the aggres-
sive policy of a Mirrrsasica or a Somalia:ix-
ZERO could ever dream of. As towards Italy the
military pride of the Court of Vienna happily is
not inflamed by any loea of prestige ; while
Italy, though betrayed by fortune, has, by
the testimony of the victorious Austrian
army and navy, so well deserved success
that we need no more fear that the honourable
defeats of Cmstozsa and Lissa will interpose an
obstacle to a lasting peace between the reconciled
foes than that the memory of WELLiscrore's and
Nsiacces victories must some day or other call for
vengeance, and once more plunge the civilised
world into a chaos of blood and fire.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

>14..
kica.tigation th-aaliay that calf*
retie; =au

4 dealt Vat MOM= by
• •
' •
the cireunsManoes of tie Ireith
election to show that, after all, Manchester and • m
have something to do with the frightful example which
Mr. Bright quoted at Birmingham. If " landlords" em-
ploy foul means in counties, manufacturers are not fax
behind them in towns. The corrective which Mr. Bright
would have us apply, theta adding so many voters taken
exclusively from the poorer clues, has, in the cue of
Yarmouth, been tried already, and the condition of the
borough is not the bettor for it but the won.. After all
these disclosures, admissions, end ooefeuione, the Tines
asks if any person will tell the world plainly what is to be
done with Yarmouth and such other boroughs in order to
accomplish a fair and genuine improvement in the repre-
ss:teflon of the people.

LATASt- pIitELLIGENCE.
4.!
UNITED STATES.

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE PRESI-
DENT AND THE CONGRESS. ' •
IMPORTANT SPEECH OF PRESIDENT
JOHNSON.
The following is a report of the speech deli-
vered by President Johnson Co the committee
of the Philadelphia Convention : _ .

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee,—
language is inadequate to express the emotions and feel-
ings produced by this occasion. Perhaps I could express
more by permitting silence to speak and you to infer what
I ought to say. I confess that, notwithstanding the expe-
rience I have had in public life and the audiences I have
addressed, this occasion and this assemblage are well cal-
culated to awe and to overwhelm me. As I have said, I
have not language to convey adequately my present feel-
ings and emotions. In listening to the address which your
eloquent and distinguished chairman has just delivered the
proa►linga of the convention as they transpired recurred
to my mind. Seemingly I partook of the inspiration
that prevailed in the convention when I received • de.
sp•tch sent by two of its distinguished members convey-
ing in terms the scene which has just been described of
South Carolina and Massachusetts, arm and arm marching
into that vast assemblage, and thus giving evidence that
the two extremes had come together, and that for the
future they were united as they had been In the past for
the preservation of the Union. When the despatch in-
formed me that in that vast body of men, distinguished
for intellect and wisdom, every eye was suffused with tears
on beholding the scene, I could not finish reading the
despatch to one associated with me in the office, for my
own heeling. overcame me. (Cheers.) I think we may
justly conclude we are moving under • proper inspiration,
and that we need not be mistaken that the finger of an
overruling and unerring Providence is in this matter.
f Loud cheers.) The nation is in peril. We have just
period through a mighty, a bloody, a momentous ordeal,
yet do not find ourselves free from the difficulties and
dangers that at first surrounded us. While our brave men
have performed their duties, both aims •ud men
(turning to General Grant, who stood at hie right)—while
they have won laurels imperishable, there are still greater
and more important duties to perform ; and while we have
had their co-operation in the field, we now need their sup•
port in our efforts to perpetuate peace. (Loud cheers.)
So far as the Executive Department of the government is
concerned the effort has been made to restore the Union,
to heal the breach, to pour oil into the wounds which were
consequent upon the struggle, and, to speak in common
phrase, to prepare, as the learned and wise physician would,
• plaster healing in character and co-extensive with the
wound. (Loud cheers.) We thought, and yet think, that
we had partially succeeded ; but as the work regressed,
as reconciliation seemed to be taking place and the country
becoming united, we found a disturbing and marring ele-
ment opposing us. In alluding to that element I
shall go no further than did your convention and the
distinguished gentleman who has delivered to me the
report of its proceedings. I shall make no reference
to it that I do not believe the time and the occa-
sion justify. *e have witnessed in one department of
the government every effort, as it were, to prevent the
restoration of peace and harmony in the Union. We
have seen hanging upon the verge of the government,
se it were, a body called, or which summed to be, the
Congress of the United States, but in fact • Congress of
only part of the States. We have seen this Congress as-
sume and pretend to be for the Union, when its every
step and act tend to perpetuate disunion and make •
disruption of the States inevitable. Instead of promoting
reconciliation and harmony its legislation has partaken
of the character of penalties, retaliation, and revenge.
This has been the course and the policy of one de-
partment of your government. The humble individual
who is now addressing you stands the representative
of another department of the government. The manner
in which he was called upon to occupy that position I
shall not allude to on this occasion ; suffice it to say that
he is here under the constitution of the country, and being
here by virtue of it. provisions he takes his stand upon the
charter of our liberties as the great rampart of civil and
religious liberty. (Prolonged cheering.) Having been
taught in my early life to hold it sacred, and having prac-
tised upon it during my whole public career, I shall ever

continue to reverence that ormititation—the constitution

of the fathers of our country—and to make it my guide.
(Enthusiastic cheers.) I know it has been said, and I

must be permitted to indulge in the remark, that the
Executive Department of the government has been

tyrannical. Let me ask this audience of distinguished
gentlemen around me here to-day to point to a vote I ever
gave, to a speech I ever made, to a single set of my whole
public life, that has not been against tyranny and
despotism. What position have I ever occupied, what
ground have I ever assumed, where it can be truthfully
charged that I failed to advocate the amelioration
and elevation of the great masses of my country-
men ? (Cries of " Never," and great applause.)

So far as charges of that kind are ooneerned,
I will say that they are simply intended to de-

oeive and delude the public mind into the belief that there
is some one in power who is usurping and trampling upon
the rights and perverting the principles of the constitu-
tion. It is done by those who make such charges for the

purpose of covering their own acts. (Cries of " That's so,"
and cheers.) I have felt it my duty, in vindication of

principle and the constitution of my country, to call at-
tention to these prooeedings. When we come to examine
who has been playing the tyrant, by whom do we find that
despotism has been exercised? A. to myself, the elements
of my nature, the pursuits of my life, have not made
me either in my feelings or in my practice aggres-
sive. My nature, on the contrary, is rather defensive in
its character ; but I will say that having taken my stand
upon the bread principles of liberty and the constitution,

time is not power enough on earth to drive me from it.
(Prolonged cheering.) Having plaosd myself upon that
broad platform, I have not been awed, dismayed, or intinti-
dated by either threats or encroachments, but have stood
there in conjunction with patriotic spirits, sounding the
tocsin of alarm whenever I deemed the citadel of liberty
in danger. (Great applause.) I said on a previous
occasion, and repeat now, that all that was necessary
in the real struggle against tyranny and despotism was
that the struggle should be sufficiently audible for the
American people to hear and properly understand.
They did hear, and looking on and seeing who the
contestants were and what that struggle was about,
they determined that they would settle this question
on the side of the constitution and of principle.
(Cries of " That's 6o " and applause.) I proclaim here
to-day, as I have on other occaaiona, that my faith
is abiding in the great masa of the people. In the darkes.
moment of the straggle, when the clouds seemed to be
most lowering, my faith instead of giving way loomed up
through the dark cloud far beyond. I SSW that all would
be safe in the end. (Cheers.) My countrymen, we all
know that, in the language of Thomas Jefferson, "tyranny
and despotism even can be exercised and exerted more effec-
tually by the many than the one." Wei have seen •
congress gradually encroach step by step upon con-
stitutional rights, and violate day after day and month
after month, the fundamental principles of the govern-
ment. (Cries of " That's so.") We have seen a
congress that seemed to forget that these was • con-
stitution of the United States, and that there was a limit
to the sphere and scope of legislation. (Renewed cries of
" That's so.") We have seen • congress in a mino-
rity assume to exercise powers which, if allowed to
be carried out, would result in despotism or monarchy
itself. (Cries of " That's so," and enthusiastic chasm
given for the President.) This is the truth. And because
others as well as myself have seen proper to appeal to the
patriotism and republican feeling of the country, we have
been denounoed in the most severe terms. Slander upon
slander, vituperation upon vituperation of the most villain-
ow character, has made its way through the public
press. What, gentlemen, has been your and my sin ?
What has been the cause of our offending ? I will tell
you. Daring to stand by the constitution of our
fathers. (Loud cheers.) (The President here approached
the spot where Senator Joluteon was standing, and
said) :—I consider the proceedings of this convention,
sir, as more important that those of any con-
vention that ever assembled in the United States.
(Great applause.) When I look with my mind's
aye upon that sollection of citizens, coming to-
gether voluntarily, and sitting in council with ideas
with principles, and views commensurate with all the
States and co-extensive with the whole people, and own-
' trast it with the collection of gentlemen who are trying to
' destroy the country, I regard it as more important than

aniionvinttion that has sat at least since 1787. (Loud
cheers.) I think I may shoe my that the declarations that
wenthere made are equal with the Declaration of Indepen-
dents itself, and here to-day I pronounce it a mooed Declare'
Lion of Independence. (Criss of "Motions I " sad most en-
thusiastic and prolonged applause.) Your address and de-
clarations are nothing more nor lees than a reaffirmation
at the constitution of the United States. (Cries of "Good',
and cheers.) Yee, I will go further, and say that the
declarations you have made, that the principles
you have enunciated in your adagios, are • se-
cond proclamation of emancipation to the people
of the United States—(renewed applause)—for in
proclaiming and reproclaiming these great troths you
have laid down a constitutional platform upon which all
can make common cause, and stand together for the
restoration of the States and the preservation of the
government, without reference to party. (Cheers.) The
question only is the salvation of the country, for our
country rises above all party considerations or influences.
(Cries of " Good," and cheats.) How many are in the
United States that now require to be free—that have the
shackles upon their limbs, and are bound as rigidly es
though they were, in fact, in slavery ? I repast, thee,
that your declaration is the second proclamation el IMAM
cipation to the people of the United States, and stars
a common ground upon which all patriots ma stead.
(Loud cheers.) Mr. Chairman and gentlemen. Ist MI in
this connection ask you what have I to gain more than
the advancement of the pablic welfare ? I am as mash
opposed to the indulgence of egotism as any one ; but
here, in a conversational manner, while formally receiv-
ing the proceedings of this convention, I may be permitted
again to ask " Whet have I to gain, consulting hams•
ambition, more than I have gained, except in one thing ?"
My race is nearly ran. I have been placed in the high
office which I occupy ander the constitution of the
country, and I may say that I have held, from lowest to
highest, almost every position to which a man may attain
in our government. I hare passed through every position
—from an alderman of a village to the presidency of the
United States—and surely, gentlemen, this should be
enough to gratify • reasonable ambition. If I wanted
authority or if I wished to perpetuate my own power,
how easy it would have been to hold and wield that which
was placed in my hands by the measures called the
" Freedmen's Bureau BilL" (Laughter and applause.)
With an army which it placed at my discretion I could
have remained at the capital of the nation, and with its
fifty or sixty millions of appropriations at my disposal,
with the machinery to be worked by my own hands, with
my satraps and dependents in every town and
village, and then with the Civil Bights Bill
following as an auxiliary—(laughter)—in connictioa with
all the other appliances of the government, I could have
proclaimed myself Dictator ! (Cries of " That's true"
and "Three cheers for the President.") Bat, gentlemen,
my pride and my ambition have been to occupy that
position which retains all power in the hands of the
people. (Great cheering.) It is upon that I have
always relied—it is upon that I rely now. (A voice—
" And the people will not disappoint you.") And I re-
peat that neither the taunts nor jeers of Congress, nor
of a subsidised calumniating press, can drive me from
my purpose. (Great applause.) I acknowledge no
superior except my God, the author of my existence,
and the people of the United States. (Prolonged and
enthusiastic cheering.) For the one, I try to obey all
His commands as best I can compatible with my poor
humanity ; for the other, in • political and represen-
tative sense, the high behests of the people have
always been respected and obeyed by me. (Loud
cheers.) Mr. Ch ,irman, I have said more than I intended
to say. For the kind allusions to myself contained
in your address and in the resolutions adopted by the Con-
vention, let me remark that in this crisis and at the period
of my public life, I hold above all price and shall ever
recur with feelings of profound gratification to the last
resolution containing the endorsement of a Convention
emanating spontaneously from the groat mass of the
people. (Loud cheers.) I trust and hope that my future
action may be such that you and the Convention may not
regret the assurance of confidence you have expressed in
me. (Cries of "We are sure of it.") Before separating,
my friends, one and all, committee and strangers, please
accept my sincere thanks for the kind manifestation of
regard and respect you have exhibited on this occasion.
I repeat I shall always continue to be guided by a firm
and conscientious conviction of duty—and that always
gives one courage—under the constitution which I make
my guide.

On the conclusion of his speech three cheers
were given for the President and three more equally
earnest for General Grant. The President and his
suite then withdrew to the door leading into the main
hall of the mansion, where he stopped, General Grant
standing on his left, and the membero of the cabinet
extending the line to the left of General Grant. The
members of the committee then passed in front of the
distinguished party and were presented in turn to
both the President and General Grant. Following
the committee the delegates who were present were
introduced and the swarm of citivens. A vigorous
hand-shaking for upwards of an hour ensued—
many who had not been able to get into the east-
room during the speech-making finding their way
in at the front door as the crowd filed out through
the main hall, and thus improving the occasion to
pay their respects to their President.