The daily Mississippi clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1866, 1866-04-20
TELEGRAPHIC
SPEECH OF
PRESIDENT JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, April l7--In reply to the
crowd of soldiers and sailors assembled at
the White House this evening TO pay their
respects to the President, President John
son said | confess that in the peculiar POI
sItion of public affairs. yOur presence and adj
dress give encouragement and confidence TO
me IN my efforts to discharge the duties en-
cumbent on me as Chief Magistrate of the
Republic, and in what | have TO say | shall
address you in the character of citizens,
sailors and soldiers. applause We are
to-day involved in one of the most critical
and trying situations that have occurred
since the Government came INTO existence
Our nation has another test still
TO undergo and that Is TO give evidence
10 the nations of the earth. and to its own
citizens, that il has the power To restore IN
teTnal peace, that il has strength enough to
put down treachery and treason within its
own borders. (Cheers.) We have com
menced an ordeal, and / trust in God, we
viii pass through il successfully (Chcers)
l feel cOmplimented By the aliuslOn of one
present to the fact that in the Senate,
IN l760 and 1861, when the nation was
entering on this ordeal raised
my hands against treason. treaehery and
traitors Cheers and cries OF good l
stand here to-day holding to and maintain
ing the same position which | then enun-
cated. (Cheers.) ! stand here to day OPP
posing traitors and their treason, whoever
they be, in the South or in the North,
cloud cheers.) | stand here TO day as l then
stood, using all my powers, mental and
physical, to preserve the nation in going
through the third phase of its existence.
The organized forces and combined powers
that recently stood arrayed against You are
disbanded and driven from the field. Bat 1t
does not follow that there are still no enemies
against our present form of government and
our free institutions (applause.) | then
stood in the Senate of the United States,
denying the doctrine OF separation and Sc
ceSsIon. | denied then, as | do now, that
any State has the right of its own will TO
separate itself from the other States, and
the right to destroy the Union and break up
the government, and / think | have given
some evidence that | have been sincere and
in earnest, and now | want to know why it
is, that the whole train of of slanderers and
calumniators have been barking and snap
ping at my heels (cheers)l Why is it they
have arrayed themselves against mel Is it
because ! stand on the side of the people!
and when / say the people, include sailors
and soldiers (cheers). Why is it that they are
arrayed in traducing and falsitying, and
eliminating me Where were they during
the rebellion just ended l answer at home
in bed. (Laughter.) In the Senate |
raised my voice against it, and when it was
believed that it would be to the interest of
the nation and would assist in putting down
the rebellion did not leave my place in the
Senate, 4 place of emolument, ease and dis
tinctiDn, and take my position where the
enemy could be reached and where mems
lives we're in danger CHEERS and cries of
that's SOL While l was thus exposed, per
sOnally and publicly, some of my present
traducers and calumniatOrs were far re-
y
and comfort. (Cheers.) All these fcul
wheIos ofsin have been turned loose against
me. | care not for all that they may tell
you, sirs, to-day. Although pretty well adj
vauced in life, | feel that / shall live long
enough to live down the whole pack Of ira
ducas and infamous slanderers. (Applause)
They have turned the whole pack loose to
lover me in your estimation. Verify they
can do it. Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart,
little dogs and all, come along swapping and
snaIliug at my heels, but | heed them not.
(Chsers) The American people, citizens,
soldiers and sailors know that from my adj
vert in public life to the present time, l have
always stood unwaveringly the advocate.
and defender of their rights and interests
(Cheers) We are now III the nations third
ordeal. We are not yet through. We de
MED that States could 90 out of the Union.
We denied the doctrine of secession and we
have demonstrated that We We're right. We
demonstrated it by the strong arm
Yes the soldiers and the sailors, God
bless them, have demonstrated by their pat
T)tism and strong arms that States have
not the power to leave the Union. Applause ]
What followed! The Confederate armies
were overpowered and disbanded, and there
was willingness on the part of the people
of those States to come back in obedience to
the law, and acknowledge the supremacy Of
the Constitution of our fathers. For what
have we passed through this third ordeal!-
1t was TO prove the principle that no
State had the power to break up the Govern
meut 1t was to put down rebellion. The
rebellion has been put down, and for what2
Was it to destroy the States! Verify, never
For what have all these lives been sacrificed
and all this treasure been expended Was
it to destroy the States! No 1t was for the
purpose of preserving the Union of the
States. That is what we have been contend
ing for, and to establish the fact that the
nation can lift its own head above and be
yond internal wars, and treason and traitors
at home. When the rebellion in MasSachu-
setts was put down, did that put Massachu-
sets out of the Union, and destroy the
State! When the rebellion in Pennsylvania
was puu down, did that destroy the State
and put it out of the Union! So. when the
great rebellion was put down and the Con-
stitution and laws OF the country restored
the States being engaged in the rebellion be
ing crushed, the laws restored and the Con
stitution acknowledged in them, they stood
in the Union and under the Constitution a
portion of this glorious and bright galaxy of
States. In passing through this ordeal,
much has been done in them, under the di-
rection of my lamented predecessor. We
commenced the work of refOTm-we succeed
ed before ! came here in restoring the rela-
tons which had existed between Tennessee
and the rest of the Union, with one eXcep-
ton. the relation of representation. | came
to Washington, and under extraordinary
circumstances succeeded to the Presidential
chair. The Congress of the United States
had adjourned without prescribing any plan
| then proceeded as l had done in my own
State, in reconstructing the government, to
restore the other States and how did we he
ginl We found that the people had no
courts, and We said to the judges, district
attorneys and marshals. go down and hold
your courts, the people need the tribunals of
Justice to be opened Was there anything
wrong in that ! The courts were opened ;
what else! We looked out and saw that
the people down there had no mails they
had been cut Off by the operations of the re-
bellion. We said to the Postmaster General
let the people have fair chances for mails
and let them again begin to understand
what we all felt, that we are again one
people. We looked out again and saw that
houses We're all closed We said open the
doors of the custom houses and remove the
blockade; let the pursuits of peace go on,
and 1t was done. We thus travelled on,
step by step, opening the custom houses
appointing collectors, establishing mail IA
cilities and restoring all the railroads that
had been interrupted during the rebellion
Was there anything undertaken to be done
here that was not authorized by the Con-
stItutiOn, that was not justified by the
great necessities of the case and that has not
been clearly consistent with the COnstitu-
ton and with the generous spirit of our
government (cheeTs)? What remained to be
done! One other thing remained to show
the civilized world that we had passed sue
cessfully through the third ordeal of our
national existence, and proved that our
government was popular. A great prin-
ciple was to be restored, which was estab-
hshed in our revolution. When our fathers
We're contending against the power of Great
Britain, what was one of the principal
causes of their complaint? 1t was that they
We're denied representation They COM
planned of taxation without representation
(eheeTs) One of the great principles laid
down by our fathers. and which fired their
hearts, was that there should be no tax
alton without representation. How then,
does the matter stand! Who has been
usurping powerl Who has been defeating
the operation of the Constitution What
now remains to be done to complete the
restoration of these StatSs to all their for
mer relations under the Federal Govern
ment, and to finish the great ordeal through
which we have been passing. 1t is to adj
miti representation (cheers). When we
say admit representation, what do we
mean. We simply mean represen-
tation in the constitutional and the
law abiding sense which was understood