Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-09-06
THE PRESIDENTS GREAT SPEECH ON
ruE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.


At Jersey City the distinguished guess meis
Mt nv the Citizens Committee OF NeM doiA' T Tha
escorted on board the steamer ~ Norib r;vor
Government and foreign vesseis tI,ntina' and the
were iaVIshtS 49, $50 on Governors Island thun-
3ered forth the Presidential salute o .ne
at the Battery the aPm pd the enthusiastic demon
noNco up - tbe immense crowd OF people assem-
sIIauo IT. % telegraph yesterday gave us synopsis
oF tho sneech made by the Presldent on the occa-
o! the R% ha nGuet given him, but the report was
slo hef and so imperfect that we give this morning
the Ppb toast The Health of Andrew johnson,
preeident of the United States"-the President
The toast which has just been drunk and the
kindness with which you have received it are, un-
der existing circumstances, peculiarly gratifying
to me- and in saying that they gratifying to
me- | wish not to indulge in any vanity or egotsm.
If were to say less should not speak the truth
and it is always best to speak the truth and to give
utter. nee to our sincere emotions and am free
to confess that being kindly alluded to here,
and so kindly received upon this occasion and in
your cry to-day quite -overwhelms me- But the
mind would be exceedingly dull and the heart al
most without an impulse that could not give ut
ter tnce sumethiI & responsive to what has been
said here, aud believe me on this occasion warm is
the heart that feels and wi ling is the tongue that
speaks, and | would to God it were in my power
to reduce to language the feelings and emotions
that animate me tonight. Applause L shall
not attempt, in response to what has been said
and the tnifestatlOns that have been made, to
go into lengthy spec ch, or to make to you
gument upon this occasion. l shall mert ly con-
tent myself with giving utterance in the sincerity
of my heart IT, some of the feelings and emotions
that are yelling up within me. would that
could give ute to what feel if not in words,
then by som" such means as these demonstrations
by which the popular heart manifested Itself to
ddy-demOnsrra rat obs filled with much enthusi-
asm that like liquid it spreads in every direction
and communicated with every heart in this city.
All that Is wanting i'll the gr at struggle in which
engaged Is simply to develop the popular
heart of the nation. All that it needs is sufficient
amount of friction.
| KIN wv as YOU know that we have Just passed
through bloc iy and perilous contest. We have
gentlemen here associated with US on this coca
sion, who took an active part IN that struggle for
The "erservat on IF our country-the army ON the
one hand tpOlntlng to General Graz and the navy
the o her (pUintng 20 Faragut.) IFremen-
dous cneers.l These gentlemen have all per
formed their part in restoring the country to its
prest mt condition. end it would be very dereict In
me if 1 should omit to say that the Secretary OF
State has fully performed his part. ICheers. As
to what part the humble individual who addresses
you took in that Struggle for the suppression of
the rebellion and the restoration of the Govern
ment, Will say nothing now; but will say In
summing up, though may perhaps be included
in that summing up-l viii say that feel that
the Government has discharged its duty But
there is something else to be reformed the work
Is not yet done. Though we have passed through
fields of blood, and at times almost forced to the
conclusion that would be compelled to the
Goddess of Liberty go staggering through carnage
the blessing of Providence matters have been
brought to p different termination. So far we have
been saved. Bnt while the enemy has been put
down in the field, there still remains greater and
more important work for you to do.
/ must be permitted to say-and wish not to
trespass upon your time-I must be permitted to
remark in this conn elton, that the Government
undertook the suppression of this rebellion for the
express purpose OF preserving the Union of these
States. GGreat applause. That was the declara-
ton that it made at the beginning, and under that
declaration it went into the war and continued it
until the rebellion was suppressed. By the sup
preston OF this rebellion this Government estab
Gshed and announced the great fact that these
Stat. have not the power nor the right either by
fOrcible or peaceable means Is separate from each
other. [Great cheering That was determined
and settled by the Government OF the United States
the Executive Department of it. But there is
another department. of your Government which
has declared by its official action that notwth-
standing the rebellion suppressed for the pur-
pose of preserving the union of the states, and to
establish definitely the doctrine that no State has
a right to secede-I say there is department of
your Government which has practically assumed
and declared and mp to the present time carried
out, that the Government was dissolved and the
States were out of the Union. IGrOans We,
who contend for the opposite dOctr ne, years ago
contended that States had not the right even
peaceably to secede; and one means OF peaceable
secession, by State withdrawing Its repre-
sentatves from the Congress of the United States,
and that would be practical dissolution of the
Union.
We denied that a State had any SUCH right, and
when, subsequently, they attempted to withdraw,
we again asserted that they had such right;
and nov. when the doctrine has been fOrcibly es-
tabished that a State has no right to leave the
Union and when the States are again resuming
their relations with the Federal Government as
far as in them lies, find that when they seek to
have their representatives admitted to Congress
there men IN that body, who, IN violation of
our great charter of liberty, deny their right to
be represented, AID refuse to admit their repre-
sentatves into the Congress of the United States.
hon hat
now before us, will we submit will the American
people submit TO this practical dissolution and
this practical assertion of the doctrine that they
have already repudated and OverthrOwn lCries |
of ''mO, no. The Issue is before you Will these
States be permitted to remain they are, so far
as rntatiOn is concerned, in state of prac-
ticI secession and disruption? 1t is giving the
lie direct to every position, it is subverting every
position taken by us since the rebellion common
ced Are prepared now, after having passed
through Our terrible after the immense |
amount of blood that has been shed after Ia ing
accumulated debt of over a thousand millions |
Of dOlIrs after the injury that has been inflicted
on the the country North and South, pre-
pared to permit this disrupted and disrupting /
condition of affairs to continue? Let me ask this
intelligent audience, not in the language of de- |
clamatiOu, but IN the split of Christianity and |
sound philosophy, are we prepared to renew those
see through which We have just passed? Are |
We prepared aga N to portion of this cOuli-
try arrayed in deadly conflict against another por
ton. Ae have just seen them arraved! Or. |
sh Ill not make every effort to have all the parts
and al the people of the country again united in
and 'retherly affection? re- We will, we
Wilt Well, gentlemen, what is said now after
the Philadelphia Convention has met and pro-
nOunced on tn" condition of the cOuntry-what is
now said? Why, that those men who met in that
Convention We're insinCere; that their prOfes IiOns
We're worth nothing, and were not to be believed.
Gentlemen, what better evidence can you have of
loyalty than these men give? Who has fought
this rebellion with more consistency and deter |
minatiOn than have who has sacrificed or suf-
fered more for the country? But because my sac
rifces and sutferingS have been great as an Incl
dent growing out of great civil war, should l. |
therefore, become insensibe to truth and princi-
pie? We are told hat those men, notwithstand-
ing their profession of loyalty and devotion to the
Union, are not to be believed but ask You what
b tier evidence you can have of loyalty and devO-
ton than profession and action? Who dares in
this d1y of political an religious freedom to set
up an inquisition aud go into the human bosom
to search for motives and sentiments?
How many men have lived under this Govern
ment all along from its origin up to the present
time, who have Loyalty obeyed the laws and paid
their taxes and aided the Government in every
way required Of them, yet who, perhaps would
much have preferred to have hadit greatly modified
in form, or even to live under monarchy? The
best evidence that can be shown of loyalty are
loyal professions and loyal actions and when those
gentlemen, met in Convention from the North and
South come forward and profess devotion to the
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