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

here, to-day, that, although pretty well
advanced in life, feel that / Ishen live
long enough to live down the whole
pack of traducers and slanderers.
Applause. They have turned the
whole pack loose to lower me in your
estimation. Voices: s'They can't do
it.'] Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart,
little dogs and all, came along snap
ping and snarling at my heels, but
heed them not. Cheers. The Ame-
rican people-citizens, soldiers and
sailors-know that from my advent
into public life to the present mo-
ment, 1 have always stood unyielding
and unwavering by the advocates and
defenders of their rights and inte-
rests. Cheers.
We are now in the nations third
ordeal. We are not yet through it.
We said that States could not go out
OF the Union. We denied the doc
trine of secession, and we have de-
monstrated that we were right-we
demonstrated it by the strong arm.
Yes, the soldiers and the sailors, God
bless them, have demonstrated by
their patriotic hearts and strong arms
that States have not the power to
leave the Union. Applause. What
were overpowered and disbanded,
and there was a willingness on the
part of the people of those States to
come back, be obedient to the laws,
and acknowledge the supremacy OF
the Constitution of our fathers. For
what have we passed through this
third ordeal? It was to establish the
principle that no State had the power
to break up this Government. It
was to put down the rebellion. The
rebellion has been put down, and for
what? Was it to destroy the States?
Voices: "Never" For what have
all these lives been sacrificed and all
this treasure expended? Was it for
the purpose of destroying the States?
No; 1t was for tho purpose of pre-
serving the States in the Union of our
fathers. Cheers. 1t was for that
you fought; it was for that I toiled:
not to break up the Government, but
to break down tho rebellion and pre-
serve the union Of these States. That
Is what we have been contcnling for,
and to establish the fact that the
nation can lift itself above and beyond
intestine foes and treason and traitors
at home.
, When the rebellion in Massachu-
setts was put down, did that put Mas
sachusetts out of the Union and
destroy the State? And when the
rebellion in Pennsylvania was put
down, did that destroy the State and
put it out of the Union? SO when
the recent great rebellion was put
down, and the Constitution and laws
of the country restored, the States
engaged in it stood as part Of the
Union. The rebellion being crushed.
the law being restored, the Constitu-
ton being acknowledged, these States
stand IN the Union, constituting Il
part of the glorious and bright ga
laxy of States. Loud cheers.
In passing through this ordeal,
what has been done? In Tennessee,
under the direction of my lamented
predecessor, we commenced the work
of restoration. We had succeeded,
before came here, in restoring the
relations which had existed between
tennessee and the rest of the Union,
with one exception, and that was the
relation of representation. came to
Washington, and, under extraorli-
nary circumstances, succeeded to the
Presidential chair. What then? The
Congress of the United States had
adjourned without prescribing any
plan. then proceeded, as 1 had
done IN my own State, under the
direction of the Government, to re-
store the other States. And how did
we begin? We found that the people
had no courts, and we said to the
judges, The district attorneys and the
marshals, go down and hold your
courts-the people need the tribunels
of justice to be opened Was there
anything wrong in that? The courts
were opened. What else? We look ed
out and saw that the people down
there had no mails. They had been
interrupted and cut off by the opera
tions of the rebellion. We said to
the Postmaster-General: LET tn he
people have facilities for mail COM
munication, and let them begin again
to understand what we all feel and
think-that we are one people" We
looked out again and saw that there
was blockade; that the custom
houses were all closed. We said:
Open the doors of the custom house
ond rem Oyo tho hlooLoIo r ~ +ro1o