The Van Buren press., 1866-04-07
Major Gen. r. P. Blair On the P.esl-
.' t.-u dents Policy

Gen. Blair delivered a speech at Jefier
son City, on the Sd of March, from which
We extract the following: eh3
"The denunciation with which this We
TO ia, been met, and the clamor which
fpoliticians have been in haste to get up,
will avail them nothing. claim that the
american people in his nomination, and
in the nomination of Mr.. Lincoln have
passed upon this identical question, and
that our armies, when they marched on
to.victory, from the time the war was first
made-victory and defeat were alike
borne by our armies until final triumph
perehcd upon our banner-this identical
doctrine proclaimed by Andrew Johnson
in his message has been the animating
principle of our Republic. Il n
The President of the United States,
reared in Tennessee, among the people
of the South, had probably more private
gricyances in his State or in the Southern
States, for he was prosecuted at the out
break of this rebellion, and driven from
his home, his property was coniscated,
and every indignity heaped upon him;
and yet, Notwithstanding that fact, for
gctfdl of his private grievances, and only
thinking Of the good of his country, he
has chosen to stand by the declared doc
trine on which we entered into this con-
troversy. He has shown himself capa-
bic of rising above those petty griefs
which are personal to himself, and for
the sake of peace and harmony, and for
the sake of his country, he is willing to
forget all, and give to these people the
hand Of fellowship, and bring them back
into the Union, in order that we may
have firm and perpetual peace. Now |
can understand, and every man who has
lived in one Of these border States can
understand, why it is that this animosity
has been so much more bitter, and so
much more personal, IN the border States
than elsewhere Here in Missouri where
the tide of battle swayed to and fro, and
almost every mans fireside was invaded
by the enemy, and outrages have been
committed by persons belonging to one
or the other party; these things are al
calculated to engender bitterness which,
is difficult to forget, and which it requires
just such man as Andrew Johnson to
forget and forgive, but which, my friends,
it is absolutely necessary should be done
in order that we may have peace, for we
cannot have it on any other terms. 1t
would be utterly impossible to have any
thing like peace, if this warfare is kept
up-if the spirit of persecution is kept
up. This spirit of persecution, intoler-
ance and malignity seems to be more
rampant here than anywhere else out OF
the internal regions that ever read of.
If this spirit is not checked, how is it to
be supposed that we can ever have any
thing like peace and security for persons
and property, if men are to be prosecuted
for acts which they have committed here
tofore, when such acts were not criminal
under any law that has hitherto existedS
If we hunt these people to their holes,
and push them into the mountain, they
will become as wild beasts-they will re-
pei the injury whenever they have it in
their power, whether upon single indl,
vidual or upon two or three. We will
make for ourselves what England has
made for herself in Ireland by her sys-
TEN of repression"
fy- We clip the following from the