The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-04-24

and sailors waited on President john
son, tending him their grateful ac-
acknowledgements for his recent order
giving preference in appointments to
those who had performed honorable
service 10 tho country in the army
and navy. The assemblage num-
bered many thousands of citizens,
besides soldiers and sailors. In re-
sponse to the address delivered by
the committee, the President made
the following remarks
It is not affectation in me to say
that language is inadequate to con-
vey the heartfelt feelings produced
on this occasion by your presence
here, and by the presentation of your
sentiments ms expressed by your re-
preventative in his address, and in the
resolutions which you have thought
proper to adopt. L confess that in
the peculiar posture of public affairs,
your presence and address give en-
couragement and confidence to me- in
my efforts to discharge the duties in
cumbent upon mo as Chief Magistrate
of the republic. And in what have
to say. shall address you in the
character OF citizens, sailors and SOL
diers. shall speak to you in those
terms, and none others.
[ repeat my thanks for the mani
festation of your appreciation and of
your encouragement. lApplause
We are to-day involved in one of the
most critical and trying struggles
that have occurred since this Govern
ment was spoken. into existence. Ma
tions, like individuals, must have
beginning-must have n birth. In
struggling into existence, q nation
passes through its first trying ordeal
1t IS not necessary for me now to
carry your minds back to the struggle
when this nation was born. 1t is not
necessary for me to allude to the pri-
vations and hardships OF those Who
engaged in that struggle to achieve
the national birth. 1t is not necessa-
ry to point to TIE blood shed and
the lives lost in accomplishing that
! result. The next ordeal through
| which nation has to pass is whe:, it
! is called upon to give evidence that it
has strength, capacity and power to
maintain itself among the nations of
the earth.
| In giving such evidence, we passed
through the war Of 1912, and through
the war with Mexico; and we passed
through all the struggles that have
since occurred up to the beginning of
the rebellion. That was our second
ordeal! But u nation has another
test still to undergo, and that is to
give evidence to the nations Of the
earth, and to its own citizens, that it
has power to resist internal foes; that
1t has strength enough to put down
treachery ut home and treason within
its own borders. Cheers. We have
commenced that ordeal, and i trust
IN God we will pass through it sue
cessfully. Cheers. I feel compli-
mented by the allusion OF Your repre-
sentative to the fact that | stood in
the Senate in 1860 and 1861, when
the nation was entering on this third
ordeal, and raised my voice and
hands against treason, treachery and
traitors at home. Chcers, and cries
of ''good."] 1 stand here, to-day,
holding to and maintaining the same
ptAASApASS WHICH lllcu CnuQClatCu.
[Cheers.
| I stand here, to-day, opposing
traitors and treason, whether they be
in the South or in the North. loud
cheers. [ stand here, to-day, MS /
then stood, using all my powers,
mental and physical to preserve this
nation IN passing through the third
phase Of its existence. The organ
lied forces and combined powers that
recently stood arrayed against us are
dlsbanded and driven from the field,
but it does not follow that there are
no enemies against our present form
OF Government and our free institu-
tons. Applause
then stood in the Senate of the
United States, denying the doctrine
of separation and secession. I de-
MED then, as deny now, that any
State has the right OF its own will to
separate itself from the other States,
and thereby to destroy the Union
and break up the Government; and l
think l have given some evidence
that l have been sincere and in ear
nest; and now want to know why it
is that the whole train of slanoerers,
calumlnators and traducers have been
barking and swapping ut my heels.
/ lCheers. Why is it that they array