Year: 1866

-..... e-as.s .- a.. q. 6s- -.


authority, am induced to cherish the belle


that sectional animosity is surely and rapidly


merging itself into a spirit OF nationality


and that representation, connected with u


properly adjusted system Of taxation. will re-


suit in a harmonious restoration Of the rea


tion, OF the states to the national union."


There is a little more testimony yet, Mr.


President and it is worth while to consider,


while we are here to take counsel and 10 know


what we are to do in the extraordinary situs.


ton in which we find ourselves, from whom


we will take that counsel. Are we tn take il


from men, the purpose Of whose life seems to


be to wage war upon these people and their in.


stituiions Shall We take it from men whom


they hate personally andby name, and to whom


1T Is almost impossible to suppose they ever
| will be reconciled, or in the nature of things


can be recoEciled Or are we to take it from,


the men who have not made this personal


war, who have treated it as national war, aud


Who, In their conduct Of it, have won the an.
plause of both sections The president says
that part OF bis Information was received from
General Grant. Who is Gen Grant 7 Who
is to be put in the scale with the SCARED sol.
dier, and whose testimony is to weigh down
his Is he "whitewashing" here, too Has
he forgotten the position he occupies before
the American people With the highest mill
! itaTy character to day Of aay man upon thu
earth. has he condcscenled to come here to
deceive the senate of his country, and to lie
about the condition of affairs in the south,
which he has recently visited 7 Let us hear
what he says, and listen with patient reverence
! to the atterances of man of sense, a patriot
and prudent man, who desires not to embroil,
not to emhitter, not to widen the gap that al-
ready exists between the two people who
ought to be frdternally united but man who
desires to heal and to pacify man imbucd
with the spirit of Hochc when he went TO La
Vendee, and where he succeeded when others
had failed. What does he say7 1t is not tho
tone or the manner Of the letter writer, but i.
is the manner of a man and soldier


81 am satisfied" says he and when he sa.s
he Is satisfied who dare say he is not satisfied
upon the score OF honesty and good intent to.
ward this,republc 7 .. ... ..... ......... =
al am satisfied that the mass Of thinking
men in the south accept the present situation
ofaffairs in good faith"


That is what Gen. Grant says. Is that
"whitewashing % II .~f
"The questions which have heretofore diyid.
ed the sentiments OF the people of the two see.
tions-slavery and state rights, or the right Of
state to secede from the union-they regard
as having been settled forever by the highest
trtbnnal-arms-that man can resort to-


1t is now said they do not think so-that
they are only pretending, and have covert
this thing, nobody can tell exactly what
Perhaps VIC will be told they will not abide
the result.


Il was pleased to learn from the leading
men whom | met, that they not only accepted
the decision arrived at as final, but that now.
when the smoke of battle has cleared away,
and time has been given for reflection, this de-
cision has been fortunate one for the coun.,
try, they receiving like benefits from it til
those who opposed them in the field and in the
council A..


Why, Mr. President, the common sense Of
that last utterance is worth more as testimony
than that of Thousand scribblers who merely
look at detached points OF this great hed--'
They have resolved to accept the decision as
final. And what we all ought to be glad to
know, they have found it is for their benefit.
They have found. too, after the smoke has
cleared away, that they really are in a better
condition than they were before, that they
have been relieved from the incubus which
oppressed them for 30 long time, and they
are ready now to take their places in the an-;
ion, and alongside the northern states who
have made liberty their great principle rather
than slavery. Why should they not Ifany
man can give reason why they should de-
sire to keep up this strife longer, with their
devastated ueCs, with their treasures empty,
with .her society disorganized, should like
to hear. ..-.- -.
Therefore hope, Mr.. President, that we may
meet them in a different spirit that We may
show to them that we made this war, not 10
make them eternal enemies of ours, not to hn.
initiate them, but to rescue them that we
made this war to go and get them out of the
clutches of the bad men who had mised them
into the gloomy realm Of secession and disun-
ion. And that we intend, after the great mil.
itary victory we have achieved. to achieve an.
other by Inagninimity and clemency in our
conduct toward them that we will win them
back to be as they were before, our friends.
and our brothers. OF the same race and OF the
same lineage. Ihope, too, that this angry. r-
ritating aud exciting method OF treating the
subject, which is calculated to make US any.
thing else than friends, will be Discarded here
after, and that we shall cooly and calmly, and
in the spirit Of the nation. (because that is tho
spirit Of the nation) examine this question and
do With it that which will be calculated to re ;,
store the old harmony and peace, and the old
union again.