Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-03-24


nized 81 tho most important epoch Of
history. II bad struck the death blow to
slavery appIause1 1aHd built up the Rspub-
tic with power il never before pos
sessed, II he had done nothing more
than put bis name TO the Emancipation
Proclamation, that alone would have
made his name immortal EApplauss.
THE PREsIpENr's SPEECH.
The President .addressed the assem-
bly, Substantially as follows:
FELLow CfTTzExs: II will be bat q
very few words shatI shall undertake TO
say. I was born In KentHcky, raised in
Indiana and lived in Illinois Laugh
ter And nov am here, where il Is
my basinessto care equally for the good
people of all the States i am glad 70
see al Indiana regiment on this day able
to present the captured Gag 70 the Gov
srRor OF Indiana EApplause am
not disposed In saying this 60 make a
distinction bsswaeu the States, for all
have dons equally we'll CApplause.l ]
There are bnt few views or aspects of
this great war upon which i have not
said or written something whereby my
own 6pion might beaknowu. bat there
is ona-thc recent attempt Of our erring
brethren, rs they are sometimes called,
laughter, j 10 employ the negro 10 fight
for them. I have neither written nor
made speech on that subject, because
that was their business, not mine; and
IL bad wish upon the subject, he'd
not the power 10 introduce II or make il
effective.
The greAt question With them was
whsthsr the negro, being put in the army,
would FIGHT for them do not know,
and. therefore, cannot decide TLaugh
ter. They ought 20 know better than
se,' ] have in my lifetime heard many
arguments why the negroes ought TO be
slaves; bat If they fight for those who
would keep them Ia slavery 1t win be q
better argument than any Ighave get
heard daughter and applause.1 He
who will 6g6t for that ought 10 be
slave. Applause. ] 4 y ~ A
They have conclnded st last to take
ione ont of fear Of the slaves, and put
them into the army and that one oul Of
tho four who win 6ght 20 keep the others
IN ssslmgnry -ouwht-to be q slave himself,
unless he iGkilled iuA iight [Applause.1 /
While i have often said that all men
ought 10 be free, yet would allow. those
se0l0red persons 10 be- slaves who want to
be, aud neat TO them those white per
sons who argue in favor of making other
people slavea Applauses vea7T aff1
:. Rm In favor Of giving an opportunity
Go such white men to try II on for them
selves Apyiause l@sf@will-say--oue
thing - regard % she negro being en-
pi0yed to light for them. do know he
cannot fight and atMy at home and make
bread too. 4 Laughter and applause 7
And AZ one Is shout as important as the
other, then-l do not care which, they do.
Renewed applause f.as h4
~ am rather In favor Of allowing them
to try them as soldiers. IApplause ]
They lack one vote If doing that, and /
wish could seud my vote over the river
go that might east Il ia favor of allow
ing the negro 10 6kht EApplause. But
they cannot 6ght and work both We
must now seq khe bottom Of che enemy's
eresonreess They win stand out as long
as they cant and is the negro will fight
for them they rnust allow him. 20 fght.
They have drawn upon their last
branch of resources [Applausel and we
can now see The bottom. [Applause
ana glad 10 see the cad SO near nj
hand TApplsuse lshave said now more
than lintended, and viii therefore bid
you good bya aqAa9
The President then retired, while the
crowd below saluted him With loud and
heafss dheers, and the band played
| lively tnne, i. --,-- &C., -1.-....-.
"a GovaFnor Morton then stepped for
ward aud remarked that they bad now
seen tha rebel rag and be proposed that
each one in favoraof the perpetaity OF
the Union, take Of his hat aud give three
1 cheers for the Union flag. The request
/ was responded 60 With hearty good will.
I Three cheers were then given for Pres
ident Lincoln and three more for Gov
ernor Morton, after which the band
atrack mp Yankee Doodle.