The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-05-26

His MEMS of National affairs Ihe 'ooath
ern Re0reseotatioes HIS Opinion Of ne
const,uction-He Requires E@coae'tadt|oIs-
He Defines the Position Of tie PTeSt0ett.
Arp1rnN. Nav 22-Secretary Seward de
Iivered 4 lengthy speech on national affairs
at Corning Hall this evening before crowd
ed audience. Mr.. Seward said we were to.
oether here in October last. The national
condition has undergone some material chan
ces since that time: we were then on the
VERGE OF a series of elections throughout the
States The leaders who so pertlnaclous!y
claim to he Democratic, organized with their
customary machinery and ovations. Ihey
had wisely ceased to denounce as a FAILURE
the war Ior the Union which at last became
a s.lcaaas They thought to undermine Tue
destructive party of the Union by afectlnS
newborn admiration for its chief, Andrew
Johnson, They seemed anxious to prove
their devotion superior to ours by commit
ting themselves to support HIM as ii cahdl-
date for the Presidency IN 1868.
HOW THE SOUTH ACCEPTS THE SITUATION.
They upturned the rebellion with all its
far-spreading roots and all its poisonous
fruits and they accepted and ratified the
then pending Congressional amendment TO
the Constitution of the United States, which
abolishes slavery henceforth, forever. The
people of these States have at the same time
chosen for themselves, by free and mcon-
trolled suffrage Governors, Legislatures, lu-
diciaries and municipal authorities. Be
tween the federal government and these re-
stored and reorganized State governments,
there exists now a more complete and prac-
teal harmony than has ever before prevailed
between the Union and so many OF Its mem
bers since it was first established. Within
this period the Executive Department OF the
United States has assumed its functions
among the people of these former disloyal
States.
THE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATIVES,.
The State Department speaks for them,
with their free consent, to prlnclpalltles and
powers; the Treasury collects the national
imports and taxes there the navy OF the
United States rides freely in all their reopen
ed ports and harbors the Postottlce clrcu-
lates, through every vein and artery there,
the knowledge which is the reVivitying blood
of a united republic. The people of the
lately disioyal States, desiring to pass the
last stage of restoration as speedily as posi-
BILE, have chosen Senators to represent them
in the Senate, and members to answer for
them in the House of Representatives, and
those Representatives are daily waiting at
the Capitol.
CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT.
The future of affairs which GiSturbs the
public mind is a supposed divergence he
tween the President and the representatives
in Congress of the National Union party,
from which he and they have derived their
respective but coordinate powers.
agree therefore, that it would be sad
misfortune if divergence between the Presi-
dent and Congress should work Il decline
and downfall of the National Union party
1t is dear to me, for l am identified with its
rapid rise, Its majestic progress and its glo-
Iious work.
The national life lately hung on the issue
of victory won in war. 1t now hangs on the
issue of reconciliation or peace. The nation
must live forever, whether it receive the
needed care in any emergency at the hands
of one President, Congress and party, or at
the hands of another
I reasoned in this way about the triumphs
of the war. | reason in the same way now
in regard to reconciliation and peace. l eX-
pect that year hence shall be found to be
right now, as I am now admitted to be right
one year, two years, three years ago.
1 don't think, however, that there is any
necessity for separation between the Presi-
dent, the Congress, and the party OF the
Union.
WHAT THE COUNTRY REQUIRES.
At this point it will be well to settle for
NOuISclNeS NudG II - llIttG VIC dIc UCSlIlIIB W
see effected by the President and Congress.
We all agree that we desire and seek just
what this nation needs at the present juno
ture. What then does the country actually
need Most persons say reconstruction. l
think it needs no such thing.
The country is reconstructed already. 1t
was constructed in 1897 As then construc-
ted, it was Union of thirteen States. since
multiplied to thirty free, equal, separate,
Golf oatio ro,Cl+ n
self-governing States. We do not reconstruct
that which has not been destroyed.
There has indeed been an attempt at de-
struction, but it has failed The political
system of 1877, constructed by our forefath
ers. stands now firm, compact, complete and
perfect just as it came from the builders
hands. 1t was constructed not for eighty
years only, nor yet for period of civil war
only, but for all alternating conditions of
peace and war, and for all ages and all time.
RECONCILIATION.
What then does the nation need 1t needs
just what l have dwelt upon so much and so
earnestly in these remarks. 1t needs recon-
ciliation-and just now needs nothing more.
1t needs moreover very little Of this. It
needs a reconciliation between the Senators
of the United States who are now acting
and those Senators who, being loyal and
qualified for membership of the Senate had
been already, or may hereafter, be, elected by
the people of the several States which were
lately involved in the rebellion
1t needs reconciliation of the same kind
between the members of the House of Bep-
resentatives who are now acting, and loyal
members already elected by the people in
the same before mentioned States 1t needs
just this Congressional reconciliation and
nothing more.
1t only shows that what is wanted is re-
Cancellation between the alienated constitu-
ents as well as between separated representa-
tives. Let the reconciliation be made first,
either in Congress or in any of the constitu-
encies, and it will follow in the other place
Immediately.
THE PRESIDENTS POSITION.
The Presidents position is absolutely ia
KEN, we'll defined and universally understood
1t Is this, namely: That so far and so fast as
the unreprescnted States present themselves
In loyal attitude by representatives un-
questionably loyal, they are entitled to rep
resentation in Congress, equally with all 9th
er States, and just as well as if there had
been no rebellion. The representatives OF
the National Union party in Congress do not
will fhn