The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1865-09-07
ABLE SPEECH OF
Gen. r. c. SCHENCk,
At Portsmouth, Ohio.

! a great Soldiers Barbacue at Dugan's
Grove, Scioto county, near Portsmouth,
at which the people were addressed BY
Gen. r. c. Schenck with his accustomed
power After happy Introduction, fol
lowed by an exposition OF the condition
of the South, in which he showed that
the spirit of rebellion is still unsuOdued-
and taking ground that the reconstruction
Of the rebel States should not be hurried
until the late rebels had shown them
selves fitted for re union with loyal peo
pie, General Schenek REQUIRED to the ex
periments of reconstruction which are
now being tried by President Johnson,
and said:
PRESIDENT JoHSsoS's EXPERIMENTS.
And in reference to those experiments
may he allowed to say here, that | had
an interview with the President just be-
fore left Washington, some ten days
ago, before coming home to meet my fel-
low citizens in the canvass for the APP
proaching election. | sought that inter
view for the special purpose Of inform
! ing myself as to his views in reference
| to the Executive power, and his general
/ purpose as TO the restoration of the re
| bellious States. l knew the frankness
of his character, his devotion to his coun-
try, and the energy with which, having
determined in his own mind,
what is right, he would pursue ii to the
end I knew the resolve which he boldly
exressed on the floor of the Senate, in
in the commencement of this struggle,
denonncing the traitors as they deserved;
and l knew that, though he might make
some mistake, there could be no mistake
4 about his patriotism, and that that reSo-
! luton would be carried out to its fullest
extent. With this confidence In our
| chief ruler | sought an interview with him
In that interview | expressed to him the
doubt and jealousy that existed in the
minds of the people of the country, AMI
especially in the minds of people OF Ohio
doubts whether under the policy he had
adopted, we were not going TOO fast in
bringing back 10y hurried processes these
rebel States into full communion with
those that had never left the Union fold.
| told him that that doubt might. per
haps, rest on misunderstanding as to
the extent to which he proposed to car
nv that policy. L said, and | think you
will justify me in having said so, that if
his purpose was to establish temporary
Governments, experimental IN their ma
ture, by the appointment Of these pro
visional officers, in order to test their dis
DOSlLlOn
good faith, and with the full purpose of
abiding by their obligations to the Ma
tional Government; and if, in addition
to that, he proposed to keep enough of
the military power stationed in different
parts of the late rebellious States to SUI
pervisc their conduct, and reach forward
the strong hand, if necessary, TO keep
them in the right way, we would be sat
isfied with such experiments. And,
moreover, said we would be better sat
isfied still if we should definitely under
stand that it was no purpose of the Ex-
ecutiye to forestall the action OF Congress
the representatives of the people, but
that when they should assemble and de
termine whether, in addition TO having
their local Executive privileges In the
States. these people were ready to return
! to full communion with the Government,
by being represented in the counsels OF
| the nation.
am glad to he able to say that the
assurance had from the President justi-
I fes me in saying that, although this was
/ the policy meant TO pursue, IL was only
/ an experiment. He said that he had no
purpose of interfering with the action of
/ Congress the experiments being made
were but preparation of these people
/ for a better and more improved condition
/ And so far as keeping watch over them
/ bv armed force is concerned, he pointed
/ to what had taken place in Richmond,
i Virginia and assured me that where they
] acted in bad faith, by selecting men for
/ office because they were rebels, the mill e
/ tarv would be ready to sweep away their
work Cheers
4 With this understanding, |. for one,
/ as citizen OF Ohio, and representing q
portion OF her people. stand here TO day,
giving nv unqualified support to the
4 course pursued now by our President,
! intending to wait and see what will be
the outcome of this erring people.
The two heresies Of free government,
the seeds of evil from which have grown
all our late troubles. without argument
or illustration, l may assume YOU all un-
,lerstand to be secession and slavery
The doctrine that one member of this
National Government may, at its pleas
ure. break up the whole organization and
carry us back TO chaos. is doctrine that
must he abandoned by every insurrect-
ionary State before il can be regarded
as in proper condition to be restored
d, to an equal position with the rest of the
: States. The institution OF slavery, that
; accursed mother of all the pride and ar
roganee and deviitry which led TO the