Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-25
TnEPREsrDENTs ard FEB. SPEECH.



4 with the greatest truth, Of the United States
of America In the heat and excitement of
civil war, in Indignation for the past, and
apprehension for the future, they assembled
to elect their Chief Magistrate. As usual
on such occasions, the popular choice fell
on two different men-the one to represent
the more moderate, the ether the more ex-
treme section of the Republican party. The
first was Abraham Lincoln, man of many
an1iable and some noble qualities, who had,
during four yearso the utmost difficulty,
lived down much obloquy and conciliated
much opposition. The second was man
who had been apprenticed in early life to
| mechanical trade; who had learned to read
after lhe had ceased TO be boy, and who
! was regarded as the representation of the
most violent and revolutionary aspirations
| of his party. The hand of an assassin cut
| short tie career of Abraham Lincoln, and
everybody looked with anxiety to his sue
| cessor. ~
| Thewar was nominally over, but tssk of
| infinitely greater difficulty than the conduct
| of any war lay before the new President. In
| America, it is found necessary to counterfeit
the weakness of the executive power by Civ
| ing it fixed duration, and people saw with
dismay that the highest Office in the Repub
| lie was vested for four years in man whom
nobody had intended for the place, and
whose qualifications, be they what they
might, were scarcely likely to be
| equal to the difficulties which surrounded
| him. The best man in America was not too
strong for the herculean task which devolved
| on Mr. johnson. The man who closes
revolution performs even mightier task
than the man who begins or conducts it. 1t
was hard enough to say whatshould be done
between North and South, and how the
Union, which such torrents of blood had
| been shed to support could be maintained.
1t was still harder to deal with the black
race, newly emaneipated from its letters, and
| to prevent those who had hitherto been
| slaves from becoming either paupers or bril-
| gands The foreign relations of the State
| were in the utmost confusion the Fenians
were seeking to draw her into a war with
England, and the military leaders into a war
| with France.
1t was under such conditions that Just a
| year ago Mr.. johnson acceded to the Presi-
dency. For one long year he has been con-
tent to balance one party against another,
and to cherish hopes alternately on the part
| of men rendered insolent and tyrannical by
success, and sullen and intractable by defeat.
| He had no common enemies to contend
! with. The Abolition party had triumphed,
| and were bent on pushing their victory to
| the Limits of all that the conqueror could in
| fiict or the conquered could suffer. For
| getting that the war was mainly waged for
| the preservation of the Union, they insisted
on placing the slaves on perfect political
level with their former masters. They re-
fused to admit the South into the Union
which had been reconquered, and determin-
ed to perpetuate their own power at the ex-
pense even of the purity and liberty of the
| Republic. At last Mr. johnson seems to
| think that the time has arrived for abandon
| ing all compromise A meeting at Wash
| ington had adopted resolutions approving
mis- policy, and he took the opportunity of
| addressing to them such a speech as has not
| often been heard in America speech en-
| tirely free from tawdry ornament or ambi-
| tious metaphor, but conveying the firmest
| determination and the most enlightened
principles in the plainest and simplest Ian
| guage The Union he was resolved should
be preserved. He stood where he did at the
commencement of the rebellion, to yindicate
the Union and the Constitution against disu-
nionists from the North or the South
He found eight million of people con-
demned underline law, but while he would
PUNISH tlc lcdOcfs, ne Houiu G4ttuu 10 the
masses leaiency and confidence. One rebel
| lion has succeeded another. War was made
TO prevent a separation. Now there was an
attempt at consolidation of power in the
hands of few, equally dangerous with sep
aration itself Military power and public
Judgment had decided that no State shall
leave the Union, and now people assume
they are outside it, and shall not come in.
Treason in the South is over; and now those
who seek to prevent the restoration of the
Union are as much laboring to destroy the
fundamental principles Of the Government
as those who fought against it. He men,
toned by name Messrs. Stevens, Summer and
Phillips, and declared that he would neither
be overawed by friends nor bullied by enc
mics. He was called usurper, but his only
usurpation was standing between the people
and the encroachments of power. He was
threatened with being beheaded, and incite-
ments even to assassination were employed.
Were they net satisfied with the blood al
ready shed 2 Let his blood be shed if it
must be so; the blood of the martyrs was the
seed of the church.
Such language acquires peculiar signiti-
canoe when it is used by one President, who
declares himself threatened by violent
death. standing over the dead body of an
other. No man can, of course, estimate
the degree of peril to which Mr.. John
son considers himself subject, but it is
at least significant of the violence of the
passions and the firceness of the animosi-
ties, which the civil war has called forth
that we should find the President even
alluding to the probability of his own vio-
lent death tn the same cay where his prede-
cessor persisted only year before. We can
n L 4
ton taken by Mr.. johnson, and the manly
vigor with which he maintains it. He does
not appear to be gifted with much felicity or
fuency of language, but his thoughts swell
beyond his words, and give them a weight
and dignity scarcely their own. lie surely,
if any man ever did, occupies nebly and
worthily great historic position. The des-
TIMES of millions of the human race depend
upon him, and he rises fully to the height of
the occasion. Men whose nerves are shaken |
by the holiday politics Of such country as
ours will stand aghast at the audicity with |
which President johnson confronts his adj |
versaries. They possess large majorities in
both houses of Congress.
They WELD at their pleasure the commit |
tees to which are delegated in America so
many of the functions here discharged by |
the executive government They are sup |
ported by many States, by host Of preach |
ers, and by legions Of INSCRIPTIONS fanatics. |
To all this the President has nothing to OPP |
pose but his veto, his patronage, the power |
of conducting the executive government, |
and his own firm spirit and indomitable re- |
solution. Yet the duel is not so unequal as
might be supposed The issue which has |
been so long maturing is at last ready for |
trial. The people Of America must now |
decide whether the great civil war they have |
waged was worth waging at all. They fought |
for the Union, and now that they have OBJ |
tanned il large party seem to reject the |
very object Of the contest They appear to |
have no choice between bringing back The /
South into the institutions of the country |
and holding it down by main force. They 1
incur the danger, on the one hand, of being /
once more governed by their vanquished |
enemies, or, on the other, of having tc keep |
them in subsection. We do not doubt that
the President has decided on the wiser |
course, and We wish him all success in his
mission of mercy and justice. No man has
ever struggled in a nobler cause, and it is
better to fail in such an enterprise than TO |
succeed in policy OF tyranny, confscation,
and prescription.
BINDING Our CoLoRED CHILDREN
Under the present laws Of Georgia, the ordi- |
naries Of the several counties are authorized