Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-12-11
WILMINGTON. TUESDAY DECEMBER H. 1866
THE BANQUET TO CONGRESS.

week, was q splendid affair In our las
paper we gave the remarks of Senate
Yates of Illinois, on the subject of Recon
sruction. In addition we have now onl,
room for the response of Col. John w
ForneY, to the third toast
1.-THE LOYAL PRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,
The sentiment which has just been reat
recalls to my mind an impressive inciden
connected with the lamented Lincoln. Or
the morning of the fatal Friday, the 14th o.
April, 1865, closing upon tragedy from the
effects Of which the American people can
not recover in generations of time, | started
for Richmond, Virginia, bearing with me q
letter from President Lincoln to General
Grant. The President had frequently con.
versed with me on the subject of encourag.
ing loyal Union newspapers in the Southern
States, and tine main object Of my visit TO
Richmond was to inquire into the possibility
of organizing on a sound basis such Jour
nal as would fearlessly preach the great
truths which had triumphed IN the over
throw of the traitors. When | reached
Richmond learned that General Grant was
absent, closing the details of the surrender
of Lee My letter was therefore presented
to General Ord, who had command of the
rebel capital; but before could take advan-
tago of his kind offices the terrible intelli-
gence of the death of Lincoln came upon
us, and the black curtain hid from view the
lovelest vision that ever dawned upon a
victorious and virtuous people. At that
time the whole rebel press, like the rebel
Confederacy ITSELF lay plostrate and in
RUNS [Applause. Never was any people
at once so abject and SO submissive Ac-
cepting the fat of arms as the fate which
consigned them to the inferior position OF
conquered people, thousands freely admitted
the generosity that spared their lives, and
not one ventured to question the justice,
however they might have deplored the in
humanity, Of the severest vengeance. And
what Is the condition of the Southern press
at the present day? From Maryland to
Mexic0-yes, from Delaware to the Gulf
there is hardly newspaper that can call its
soul its own that is not now as defiant against
the national Government as it was in the
midst OF the war, when published by the
authority of Jefferson Davis himself [Ap-
plause.l The few Union newspapers that
brayely defend the doctrines of the Radical
Congress, and still stand true to the original
pledges now so baselY broken by Andrew
johnson, are published in the midst of hos
tile communities, and, without exception, at
the imminent hazard of the lives of their
proprietOrs and editors. There is, l believe,
but one such newspaper in Eaf iern Virginia,
but one in North Carolina, (that of the gal
liant Holden none in South Carolina, two
in Georgia--the Savannah Republican, which
is now simply newspaper without opinions,
ana the Loyal Georgian at Augusta, in the
same State, chiefly supported by colored men.
In Tennessee there are four-the Memphis
Post, the Nashville Press and Times, the
Knoxville Wing, and the Colored Tennes.
sean. In Alabama one, and that conducted
by colored man; in Louisiana two one
conducted by colored men; in Mississippi
none; in Texas none; and in Florida one.
Even in such border States as Maryland and
Delaware Union paper is only published
under inconceivable difficulties In Ken
lucky, after several efforts to establish
paper of this kind and after promising en-
terprise had been commenced in Louisville,
the effort was abandoned in despair and the
field surrendered to the rebels and Copper
heads. There is no page in the record of
Andrew johnson, after his deliberate be-
trayal of his trust and his prescription Of
brave and honest men, so black and damning
as that which preserves his careful resuscita-
tion and encouragement OF these baleful
organs which did so much to poison the
Southern mind, and to lead the Southern
people into wasting civil war. [Applause ]
Had the lamented Lincoln lived-nay, had
General Grants example in suppressing the
Richmond Examiner been faithfully fol.
lowed, not single newspaper that did not
breathe devotion TO the Union would to-day
be published in the Southern States. Zap
plause.l We can hardly conceive the effect
upon the whole country had this noble ex-
ample been promptly established and firmly
adhered to. The Presidents purpose is no
longer concealed. He proscribes the coura-
geous and conscientious Union journalist,
and protects pardons and honors the i'm
penitent and intolerant editorial traitor
[Applause.
Behold the record! In Wilmington, Della
ware, he dismisses Henry Eckel, the able
chief of the old established Republican
Journal, and in his place appoints the editor
of the Delaware Gazette the publisher of the
laws of the United States, and adds to this
his appointment as United States marshal
for the district "a man whose sympathy
with the rebellion was so violent that when
Richmond fell his office was only protected
from the vengeance of the Union soldiers
by hoisting over it the American flag. [Ap-
plause.l In Baltimore, one OF the able edi-
tors of the American, (Which has rendered
such incalculable service to the Union party, }
was removed to make way for the publisher
OF the Commercial, IN the interests of the
exulting sympathizers with the rebellion.
In West Virginia Mr.. Campbell, the fearless
editor OF the Radical organ, the Wheeling
lntelligencer was elected from the post office
to give way to one who combines the double
qualities of sympathy with the enemies OF
the country and of fierce abuse of Andrew
Johnson after his exposure of the 4th OF
March in 1865. In Richmond the Daily
Examiner, suppressed by order of General
Grant, now publishes the laws of The United
States by order of William H. Seward. In
Tennessee the hand of the Government is
laid heavily and cruelty upon the newspapers
conducted respectively by Brownlow, at
Knoxville; Mercer, at Nashville, and Eaton,
at Memphis. Everywhere in the Southern
country he who writes most bitterly against
Congress and applauds most yehemently the
perfldious traitor in the Presidential chair is
magnanimously pardoned and generously
patroniZed.
will not speak of Washington city, mol
OF the Washington Chronicle, [applause,
save TO say that, if the people of the Norti
and the West had not pronounced agains
the great betrayer in the Presidential chair
it would have required as much nerve tc
continue the publication of that journal as Il
would to establish it in Richmond or Charles
ton. [Appause.
such is the newspaper page in the restora
| ton policy of Andrew johnson. l should
require no other record to consign him tC
| universal intamy than that which proves hi.
ingratitude end cruelty to the bold and high
souled men who believed that when he wa.
elected Vice President, and especially wher
he was called into the Presidential chair
they would be protected in the champion
ship and vindication of those great principles
of which little more than year ago he
was the loudest and most proscriptive expo
nent. Applause
IT, however, the attempt to crush out the
Union newspapers in the South has beer
only too successful, the assault of the same
| reasonable and treacherous influences upor
| Ihn lnual nnnnnhnrn Of aI.o Nra..1 .1.l--L--n =