New-York daily tribune., 1861-08-12
VOICE OF A TRUE DEMOCRAT
SPEECH of the Hon. ANDREW JOHNSON
OF TENNESSE,
ON THE WAR FOR THE UNION.
Delirered in the Senate ofthe United States,
.Juiy q, 1861.

Joint resolution Is. No. ~ to approve and con-
firm certain acts OF the President Of the United
States for suppressng insurrection and rebellion,
Mr. JOHNSON of Tennessee said:
Mr.. President: When came from my home to the
seat of Government, in compliance with the procama-
ton of the President Of the United States calling us
together in extra session. it not my intention u
engage in any of the discussions that might transpre
in this body but since the session began, III conse-
quenee of the which things have taken, feel
unwilling TO allow the Senate to adjourn without say
ing few words in response to many things that nave
been submitted to the Senate since its session COM
nenced What little shall ray to-iay will be with
out much method or order shs present the sug-
getons that to my mind, and shall endeavor TO
speak of the condition of the country az it Is.
On returning here, we find ourselves, as we were
when we adjourned last SPRING in the midst OF civil
war. That war is progressing, without much
hope or prospect Of speedy termination. lt seems
to me- Mr.. President that our Government has
reached one of three periods through which all Gov
ernments pass. nation, or people have hrst
10 pass through fierce ordeal in obtaining their nde
pendence or separation from the Government TO which
they were attached. In instances this is Sc
we're ordeal. We passed through such one IN the
Revolution; we were seven yeas in eifecting the
separation and in taking our position among the ma
ions of the earth as separate and distinct POWER
! Then after having succeeded in establishing It'd IN
dependence and taken its posit on among the nations
of the earh a nation must snow i's hoi.t " NAM nm
tain that position that separate and distinct inuepena
ence against other Powers, against foreign iOes. In
| 1912 in the history OF our Government, This ordeal
| CONNIE need aud terminated in lSl5
THERE'S still another trial through yhcha ion must
! IL baa IN
| enemies at home; against those who have no coui-
dcnce in its integrity or In the lneutuuons eetio-
hshed under ltd organic law We are IN tue midst OF
this third ORDEAL aud the problem now beng solved
before the nations Of the EARTH and before the people
| of the United States, Is whether we can succeed IN
maintaining ourselves against the internal Oes OF the
| Governments whether We can succeed In putiugdowp
traitors and treason and in estabhing the great fact
that We have Government with sufficient strength to
maintain its existence against whatever combination
| NAV be presented in oppOsltiou 10 IT,.
Ibis brings me to a proposition laid down by the
Executive in his message the Congress Of the
United States. In that message the President said:
lb.s is essentially peoples contest On the side Of the
Uoon. Is struggle ioI mslnhg ~ %. world th't iorm ana
the condition % men to t Atieei weights nom all shoude's
paths OF audabe pursuit for s 90 afford ali
eslered start And sir chance the of he Yielding
partial and temporary departures, nom necessity this Il the
leading object Of GOyennens for whose existence
| tend"
think the question is fairly and properly stated by
the Prcsden that il is struggle wheeler the people
shall rule whether the people shall have Government
! based upon their intelligence, uron their integrity,
nnon their purity of character, sufficient 10 govern
themselves. think this 10 tue true issue and tue
time has now arrived when the energies VI the nation
be put forth, when there must be union snd con-
cert on the part OF all those who agree in mans capa-
bty OF selfgoverpmen, without regard to their for
mer divisions party Pruudices IN order to demon
| sirats that great propo-ition
Since thi, disc commenced Il has been urged
and argued by Senators one SHE, that there was
disposition TO change the nature and character Of the
Government; and that II We proceed as going,
il would result ia establishing Dictatorship. Ii has
been said that the whole framework nature genius and
| character OF the Government would be entirely chang
ed; and great sppreheusions have been thrown out
that il would result in consolidation OF the Govern
| nent or a di,tatorship. We find, in the speech dev
cred by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
Br,ckinrdge the other day, the following paragraph,
abiding TO what will be tie effect Of the passage Of
this joint resolution approving the scton OF the Pesi
/ dent:
"Here In Washington IN Kentucky 10 Missouri everywhere
where authority of the President eItend In his discretion
he viii himself warranted by the action Of Congress upon
this resolution TO subordinate civil the military power
mphon ceus without warrant of law 30 suspend the wit q
hsbcs corpus 10 establish martial law to make seizures and
searches without warrant 20 suPpe" the pie. to DO all those
act. which re' in the vii ssd an In u. .s;honty Of military
The eve Of sa. .. :. hs S - d sss s.%d' 0 the
Then, in reply to the Senator from Oregon (Nir.
Baker, he TO have great apprehension of a rad
cal change in our form of government. The Senator
goes on to say:
1hshsr the Constitution 10 to be respected in tb. struggle
whshs W. We AZ. g. Dc called Spo to I0T as nag the
any, believe that III. whole tendency OF the proceed
sna to change rsdc,y our fame and chsscter Of
mcnt"
Sir, most fully concur with the Senator that there
il great effort being made 10 change the nature and
character Of our Government. think that effort is
being demonstrated and manifested most clearly every
day; but differ MS to the parties making this great
| effort.
The Senator alludes in his speech to a conversation
be had with very intelligent gentleman who for.
| merly represented our country abroad. Ii appears
| from that conversation that foreigners
toned TO say 10 Americans, 81 thought your Govern
ment existed by consent; now how is il to exist r.
and the reply was eve intend TO change II intend TO
adapt il to condition.; these old colonial geographi
cal divisions and States will ultimately be rubbed out,
| and we shall have Government strong and pow
| erfu enough" The Senator seemed to have great ap
prehensons based on those conversations. He read
| paragraph from paper indicating that State lines
were to be rubbed out In addition to all this he goes
OH TO state that the writ OF babeas corpus has been
violated and he says that since the Government com
menced there has not been case equal to the one
which has recently transpired in Maryland. l shall
take up some OF his points in their order and speak o.
them as think they deserve to be spoken Of. The
| Senator says:
The anthorie. oths country psrayed and
es Irs 81 .o oJe, aa aar aS
any country Europe which prcends to the elements Of
The hitesn coonis. through tho Revolution
law The President OF the United states cannot con-
| The Senator puts great stress on the point, and
speaks Of 1t in very emphatic language, that Cen
| eral Washington carried the country through the
seven wears of the Revelation without resorting to
martial law during all that period of time. Now how
does the matter .tand When we come to examine
the history of the country it would seem that the Sem
ator had not hunted up all the cases We can find
some and one in particular, not very different from tue
ease which has recently occurred, and 10 which he
alluded In l777 the second year of the war OF the