Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-02-26

TTr;on ,o-dav As l. stood in-the Senats
- ~ TTn;,ed States in 1861. l met
shosa ,bsre who were making gar upon
IL sconstitution, those who wanted to
Gsrunt the Government, and de 1ounced
fhem in my place then and there, and
sxnosed their true character and said
that those who were engaged in the work
Of breaking up the Government were
traitors. / have never ceased on all
proper occasions to repeat that SEMI
ment, and as far as my efforts could go,
| have endeavored to carry it out,
IGreat applause. Ihave just remarked
that there were, two parties-one of
which was for destroying the Govern
ment and separating the same in order
TO. preserve slavery, and the other for
breaking up the Government in order to
destroy slavery. True the objects they
sought to accomplish were different so
far as slavery was sconcerned, but they
agreed in the desire to break up the
Government, the precise thing to which
have always been opposed, that whether
disunionists come from the South or
from the North, 4 stand as / did then,
indicating the cause of the Union of
the States and the Constitution of my
country. Trem endous applause. Re
bellion and treason manifested them
selves in the South. / stood by the
Government said then was for the
Union with slavery; was for the Union
without slavery. In either alternative |
was for my Government and its Constif
tuition The Government has stretched
forth it's strong arm, and with its physi-
eel power il has put down treason in the
field. The section of the country which
then arrayed itself against the Govern
ment has been put down by the strong
arm. What did we say when this trea-
son originated We-said no compro-
mise; you yourselves in the South can
settle this question in eight and forty
hours. said again and again, and !
repeat 1t now, disband your armies in
the South, acknowledge the supremacy
of the Constitution of the United States,
acknowledge the duty and obedience of
the laws, and the whole question is
settled. [APplause.l
That has been done, 81 zee their ar
mics have been disbanded and they
come forward now in proper spirit and
say we were mistaken. We made an
effort to carry out the doctrine of sue
cession, and to dissolve the Union. In
that we have failed. We have tried this
doctrine to its logical and physical re-
suits and we find we were mistaken; we
acknowledge the flag of our country and
are willing to obey the Constitution and
to yield to the supremacy Of the laws.
EGreat applause Coming in that spir-
It say to them: When you have COM
piled with the requirement of the Con-
stitutioD; when you have yielded to the
law when you have acknowledged your
allegiance to the Constitution, / will so
far as can open the door of the Union
to those who had erred and strayed from
the field of their fathers for a time.
[Great Applause
Who has suffered more by the rebellion
than | have2 | shall not repeat the
story of the wrongs and snfferings in
ficted upon me. But the spirit of re-
venge is not the spirit in which to deal
with whole people. know that there
has been great deal said about the ex
ercise Of the pardoning power. So far
as your Executive is concerned, there is
not one who has labored with more
earnestDess than myself to have the
principal, intelligent and conscious trait
ors bonnd to Justice, the law vindieated
and the great fact judicially established
that treason is crime [Applause.
But while the conscious, leading aud in
telligent traitors are to be punished,
should whole communities, and States
and people be made to submit to the
penalty of death. No, no. have,
perhaps, as much asperity and as much
resentment as men ought to have, but
we must reason in great matter of gov-
eminent about man as he is. We must
conform our action and our conduct to
the example of Him who founded our
holy religion, not that | would make such
a comparison in any personal aspect.
came into this place under the Constitu-
ton of my country, and By the approba-
tion of the people; and what did | find |?
l found millions of people who were,
in fact, condemned under the law,
and the penalty was death. Was / 20
yield to the spirit of revenge and re
sentiment, and declare that they should
all be annihilated aud destroyed. How
different this would have been from the
example set by the holy Founder of
our religion, the extremities of whose
divine arch rests, upon the horizon, and
whose span embraces the universe He
who founded this great scheme came
into the world and found man condemn
ed under the law, and his sentence was
death; what was his example2 Instead
of putting the world, or even a nation to
death, he died upon the cross, attesting
by his wounds and his blood, that be
died that mankind might live. TGreat
applause. Let those who have erred
repent. Let them acknowledge their
allegiance. Let them become loyal,
willing supporters and defenders of our
glorious Stripes and Stars, and of the
Constitution of our country. Let the
leaders-the conscious, intelligent trail
tors-be punished and be subjected to
the penalties of the law. Applause.
But TO the great mass who have been
forced into this rebellion in many in
stances, and in others have been mialed,
/ say leniency, kindness, trust and con-
6denceA Applause
My counTymen, when / look back over
the history of the rebellion, / am not
vain when / ask you if have not given
as much evidence of my devotion to the
Union as some who croak great deal
about it. When / look back over the
battle>felds of the rebellion, I think of
the many brave nell in whose company
/ was. cannot best recollect, though /
was sometimes in places where the con-
test vas most difficult and the result
most doubtful, but almost before the
smoke has passed away, before the blood
has done reeking, before the bodies Of
the slain have passed throu III the stages
of decomposition. What do we now find?
The rebellion has been put down by the
steady arm of the Government in the
field. But 10 that the only way in which
you can have rebellion 2 Our struggle
was against an attempt to divide the
Union; but almost before the smoke of
the battlefield has passed away--be-
fore our brave men have all returned
to their homes, and renewed the
ties of affection and love to their
wives and their children-we fnd
almost another rebellion inaugurated.
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