The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-04 00:00:00

Important Speech of President Johnson.

I The following is a 'report of the speech delivered
by President Johnson to the co mittee of the Phi-
' ladelphia Convention:—
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen the Committee,—Lan-
guage is inadequate to express th,, emotions and feelings
produced by this occasion. Perhaps I could express more
by permitting silence •to speak and you to infer whitt-}
~aught to say. I confess that, notwithstanding the experi-
ence 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
proceedings of the convention as they transpired recurred
to my mind. Seemingly I partook of the inspiration that
prevailed in the convention when I received a despatch
sent by two of its distinguished members conveying in
terms the scene which has just been described of South
Carolina and Massachusetts, am 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 informed
me that in that vast body of men, distinguished for intellect
and wisdom, every eye was suffused with tears on ligholding
the scene, I could not finish reading the despatch to ono asso-
ciated with me in the office, for my own feelings overcame me.
(Cheers.) I think We may justly conclude we are moving
underaproper inspiration, and that we need not be mistaken
that,the finger of an overruling and unerring Providence is
in ads matter. (Loud cheers.) The nation is in peril.
We have just passed through a mighty, a bloody, a mo-
mentous ordeal, yet we do not find ourselves free from the
difficulties and dangers that at first surrounded us. While
our brave men have performed their duties, both officers
and men—(turning to General Grant, who stood at his
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 support in our efforts to perpetuate peace.
(Loud cheeni) So far as the Executive Department of the
Government is concerned the effort has been made fo re-
store 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, a 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 progressed; as reconciliation seemed to
be taking place and the country becoming united, we found
a disturbing and marring element opposing us. In al-
luding 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 occasion justify. We have witnessed in ono
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 Go-
vernment, as it were, a body called, or which assumed to
be, the Congress of the United States, but in fact a Con-
gress of only part of the States. We have seen this Con-
gress assume and pretend to be for the Union, when its
every step and act tend to perpetuate disunion, and make
a disruption of the States inevitable. Instead of promot-
ing reconciliation and harmony, its legislation has partaken
of the character of penalties, retaliation, and revenge.
This has been the course and the policy of ono department
of your Government. The humble individual who is now
addressing you stands the representative of another de-
partment 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 con-
and being here by virtue of its pro-
stitution of the country,
visions he takes his stand upon the charter of our liberties
as the great rampart of civil and religious liberty. (Pro-
longed cheering.) Having been taught in my early life to
hold it sacred, and having practised upon it during my whole
public career, I shall ever continuo to reverence that con-
stitution—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 dis-
tinguished gentlemen around me hero to-day to point to a
vote I ever gave, to a speech I ever made, a single act of my
whole public life, that has not been against tyranny and
despotism. What position have I ever occupied, what gropnd
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 countrymen ? (Cries of "Never,"
and great applause.) So far as charges of that kind are
concerned, I will say that they are simply intended to de-
ceive and delude the public mind into the belief that there
is some one in power who is usurping and trampling upon
theridgohnby
tee
and perverting the principles of the constitution.
it
irthose who make such charges for the purpose
of converting 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
n isg rathertakendefensive
stand
these proceedings. When we come to examine who has
been playing the tyrant, by country, to call attention to
Whom do we find that despotism
has been exercised ? As to myself, the elements of my
nature, the pursuits of my life, have not made me either in
my feelings or in my practice aggressive. My nature, on
the
uponin i ts character;
the broad
principlesb ut I w ll l
of liberty and the constitution, there is not power enough
on earth to drive mo from it. (Prolonged cheering.) Hav-
ing placed myself upon that broad platform, I have not
been awed, dismayed, or intimidated by either threats or
say eethnattrharYavi
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 t6y would settle this
question on the side of the constitution and of principle.
(Cries of " That's so," and applause.) I proclaim here to-
day, as I have on other occasions, that my faith is abiding
in the great mass of the people. In the darkest moment
of the struggle, when the clouds seemed to be most lower-
ing, my faith instead of giving way loomed up through the
dark cloud far beyond. I saw that all would be safe in the
end. (Cheers.) My countrymen, we all know that, in the
language of Thomas Jefferson, "tyranny and despotism
ever can be exercised and exerted more effectually by the
many than the ono." We have seen a Congress gradually
encroach step by step upon constitutional rights, and vio-
late day after day and month after month the fundamental
principles of the Government. (Cries of " That's so.") We
have seen a Congress that seemed to forget that there was
a constitution 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 a Congress in a
minority assume to exercise powers which, if allowed to
be carried out, would result in despotism or monarchy it-
self. (Cries of "That's so," and enthusiastic cheers given
for the President.) That is the truth. And because others
as well as myself have seen proper to appeal to the pa-
triotism and republican feeling of the country, we have
been denounced in the most severe terms. Slander upon
slander, vituperation upon vituperation of the most vil-
lainous 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 Johnson was standing, and said)—l con-
sider the proceedings of this convention, sir, as more im-
portant than those of any convention that ever assembled
I in the United States. (Great applause.) When I look
with my mind's eye upon that collection'of citizens, coming
together voluntarily, and sitting in council with ideas, with
principles, and YieWS coranteimurato With all thi States and

co-extensive with the whole people, and contrast it with
the collection of gentlemen who are trying to destroy the
country, I regara it as more important than any conven-
tion that has sat at least since 1787. (Loud applause.) I
think I may also say that the declarations that were there
made are equal with the Declaration of Independence itself,
and here to-day I pronounce it a second Declaration of In-
dependence. (Cries of " Glorious !" and most enthusiastic
and prolonged applause.) Youraddress and declarations are
nothing more nor less than a re-affirmation of the constitu-
tion of the United States. (Cries of "Good"and cheers.) Yes
I will go further, and say that the declarations you have
made, that the principles you have enunciated in your ad-
dress, are a second proclamation of emancipation to the
people of the United States—(renewed applause) - for in
proclaiming and reproclaiming these great truths 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 cheers.) 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 as though they were, in fact, in
slavery ? I repeat, then, that your declaration is the se-
cond proclamation of emancipation to the people of the
United States, and offers a common ground upon which
all patriots can stand. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Chairman and
gentlemen, let me in this connection ask you what have I
to gain more than the advancement of the public welfare ?
I am as much opposed to the indulgence of egotism as any
one ; but here, in a conversational manner, while formally
receiving the proceedings of this convention, I may be per-
mitted to ask "What have Ito gain, consulting human
ambition, more than I have gained, except in one thing ?"
My race is nearly run. I have been placed in the high office
which I occupy under 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 Govern-
ment. I have passed through every position—from an al-
derman of a village to the presidency of the United States—
and surely, gentlemen, this should be enough to gratify a
.1-easonable 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 Bui-eau Bill." (Laughter
and applause.) With an army which it placed at my dis-
cretion 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 Rights Bill following as an
auxiliary—(laughter) -in connection with all the other
appliances of the Government., I could have proclaimed
myself Dictator! (" That's true," and " Three cheers
for the President.") But, gentlemen, my pride and my
ambition have been to occupy that position which retains
all power in the hands of the people. (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
1 repeat that neither the taunts nor jeers of Congress, nor
of a subsidised calumniating press, can drive me from my
phrpose. (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 ono, I try to obey all His commands
as best I can compatible with my poor humanity—for the
other, in a political and repreSentative sense, the high
behests Of the people have always been respected and
obeyed by me. (Loud cheers.) Mr Chairman, I have
said more than I intended to say. For the kind allusion
to myself contained in your address and in the resolutions
adopted by the Convention, 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 gratifica-
tion to the last resolution containing the endorsement of a
Convention emanating spontaneously from the great 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 ex-
pressed 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 Gen
Grant. The President and his suite then withdrew to the
door leading into the main hall of the mansion, where he
stopped, Gen. Grant standing on his left, and the members
of the Cabinet extending the lino to the left of Gen. Grant.
Tho members of the committee then passed in front of the
distinguished party,and were presented in turn to both the
President and Gen. Grant. Following the committee the
delegates who were present were introduced and the swarm
of citizens. 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.