The New York herald., 1863-07-09
The President and His Cabinet speccht-
Tying Upon Our Victories

In response TO serenade, given ia congratu
la!ion upon our recent victories at Gettysburg
and Vcksburg, President Lincoln, Secretary
Seward, Secretary Stanton and General Halfeck
made speeches in Washington on Tuesday even
ing. We publisheda report of these speeches in
yesterday 3 HERALD, and we must confess that we
were greatly surprised at their tone and tenor
Secretary Stanton and General Halleok did not
disappoint US. We expected that they would
take advantage of the occasion to make them
selves more ridiculous than ever, and they full
filled our expectations. Secretary Stanton 8
| oration was sort of vindcation of his famous
Esprit of the Lord" letter, interspersed with
some silly balderdash about "the sneakine
traitors and copperheads Of the North, who
would be driven kissing to their holesv This
| language ia characteristic of the Secretary of
War, who is probably the smallest specimen Of
pettifogging politician now in office. After thus
| Indulging his spleen over victories which he
| has done his utmost to retard, Secretary Stanton
| "took pleasure in introducing" General Hal
| ieck, bis rival in imbecility and inoompetenoy,
General Halieck, with his customary modesty.
claimed all the credit Of our victories saying
| that General Grant had been under his COM
| mand for the past two years After this sublime
exhibition of selfconceit the General in Chief,
who is no general at all, endorsed Stantons
bunoombe about copperhead traitors, and then
retired without the slightest reference to pom
toon trains Only the popular enthusiasm over
such victories as Gettysburg and vicksburg
could make such speeches endurabie
But. while we were not at all disappointed
at the ridiculous bombast Of Stanton and Hal
leck, we did feel pang of regret that President
Lincoln and Secretary Seward did not rlse to
the dignity Of the occasion and deliver speeches
worthy of statesmen. The opportunity was
great and such another may never occur again.
The best army Of the rebels, commanded by
their ablest generals had just been defeated
and routed by our gallant soldiers, fighting
under new leader and against superior num-
bers. In the midst of the general rejoicing
| over this splendid success, the news
arrived that the greatest rebel stronghold, the
Gibraltar Of the Mississippi, had surrendered
Internationally on the Fourth of July-a day
now doubly memorable in our history Thus
the East joined hands with the West in the most
brilliant triumpbs Of the war, and the rebellion,
doubly beaten, needed, perhaps, but few
words to utterly suppress it, Neither President
Lincoln nor Secretary Seward spoke those
words. The President is an honest man, and a
| we'll meaning man but he lacks the statesman
I ship requisite to appreciate and use events dur
| ing a national crisis like this. Secretary
| Seward. with cast Of mind not very dissimilar,
| has the same incapacity. If either or both Of
them had added to their congratulations upon
| victory few words of conciiation an invita-
tion to the seeded States to return to the Union,
an offer Of amnesty to all except the rebel
| leaders, who can tell what the result would have
beens The effort might have failed; but it was
worth trying. It might have succeeded and
then the consequences would have been g!o-
rious alike to the President and the country
At any rate, the opportunity should not have
been altogether neglected. No European states
man OF any calibre would have overlooked such
q chance to add triumph of diplomacy TO the
triumphs Of arms and end the war without fur
ther fighting
The speeches which the President and the
Secretary OF State did make compare very un-
favorably with those which all sensible men
| expected them to deliver. The President ear
nestly endeavored to talk without saying any
thing. He spoke of the Fourth of July, and
merely mentioned our victories He acknow-
lodged that the theme was glorious, but ex-
cused himself for want Of preparation. He
said something about all men being free and
equal, which the aboiitonists will misinterpret
into new emancipation proclamation. This is
q fair synopsis Of his remarks, and, "having
said this much" he appropriately concluded
| by saying that he "would now take the music"
| as If he regarded the national melodies as
dose of medicine The speech Of the Secretary
Of State was hardly less namby-pamby. He
declared that he bad been in favor of peace
until war was inevitable, And had now chosen
! Andy Johnson, Of Tennessee ~ his file leader
| He avowed bis willingness 10 shoulder a
musket II necessary, although be knew that
| there was not the slightest possibility of
his ever being called upon to tread
the war path, and was equally aware
Of his inability to be Of any service on the
tented field. He insisted that we had attained
the beginning Of the end of the war; but, in
stead of saying something to bring about this
communication, he Immediately relapsed into
those offers to volunteer (after the fighting is
over) which, in mon of bis age and standing,
are not sufficiently patriotic to avoid being lu-
dicrous. We hope, however, that what the
President and Secretary Seward did not say in
their speeches the merchants Of New York will
say through public meeting. A prompt offer
OF an amnesty to all but the leading rebels
may now end this bloody war The abolitionists
are determined TO urge on the conflict until
slavery is annihated and the shareholders ex-
terminated. waged with this object, the war
will continue for twenty years to come. Now
is the time for conservative men to interfere,