Year: 1866

!. Tyociferous applause.l / helped my dis
I tinpui,bed friend on my right General
Grant) to fight the rebellion at the South.
You all remember his peculiar phrase,
"That he was going to fight 1t out on that
EIine.n fLaughter.1 / was with him, and !
did all that could. We whipped them at
that end of the line; and want to say to
YOU here that am now fighting at the
other end laughter and applause]; and il
he IL not in the field now in the military
sense, he is where he does good service.
tits o struggle for the Union in which we
dare engaged. The Union is essential to US.
The North cannot get along without the
South. nor the South without the North.
But men say, do you want to be governed
and controlled by rebels! / answer no
We want to let loyal men in, and none but
loyal men (applause); and ask here to-
night upon what reasonable ground rests
the fear that men coming into Congress
from the South would control the country
to its destruction3 Take the entire dele
-fifty-eight representatives, COM
Dared with two hundred and eighty two
do you fear that fifty-eight men will con-
troll all the restf [Laughter.l Oh, men
saw they will repudate our public debt.
Now, place these fifty-cight men in the
most powerful position that you possibly
can, and you have one hundred and fifty
or one hundred and eighty-an overwhelm-
ing majority against them. Surely enough
to keep them from doing serious harm.
uaughter.l Are we great peopleS Are
we all cowardss MOL Did they control
You before the rebellion commenced, and
will they have any more power now than
they had before am no prophet, but l
predicted some things at the beginning OF
this rebellion that have literally come to
pass. I told the southern people years
ago that whenever they should attempt to
dissolve the Union the institution OF
slavery was gone. You, sir, turning to
Mr.. Seward,) know that I made that ar
gument to jeff. Davis; you were in the
Senate, and you will bear witness to the
position l then occupied. l told them
then that the institution of slavery had
little or no protection outside of the Union.
They thought differently. They put
up the stake-you all know how great
that stake was-and they lost it CON-
pletely. The Constitution still exists
the Union is still preserved; they did not
succeed in escaping from it, and the in
stituton of slavery is destroyed. Zap
plause.l Since its destruction, the south
ern States have come up magnanimously
and acknowledged the fact, and have gone
into these State conventions and ratified
its abolition. There is another thing. You
have about three thousand millions Of dol
lars in bonds. How are you going to pre-
serve the credit of them? Will you tell
me how the security, how the value, how
! the ultimate payment of the interest and
principal of those bonds is to be secured
| Is it by continuing this Government, dis
rupted as it is, by crippliDg our energies
and dividing us up into half dozen petty
StatesS Let me tell you-and mark what
/ tell you-that there is no way by which
those bonds can be ultimately paid, inte-
rest and principal, than by the consolida-
tion of our nationality, the perpetuity and
| completeness of the union of the States.
! [Applauss.l Pardon me when say un-
dcrstand this question:; and tell you that
YOU play false part now, and play into
the hands of your enemies and the enc
mics of your country, when you aid those
who would keep the Government disrupt
ed. Let us unite all portions of the coun-
try firmly together, and you will have more
capital than you need. lam proud to say on
this occasion, not by way OF iattery or
compliment to the people of New York
am proud to say that l find liberal,
comprehensive, patriotic, and expansive
view of this whole question among the
people of New York. ! am proud also
to find that you do not feel that your
existence depends on aggression and
destruction that while you are anxious to
live, you are willing to let others live, and
do not wish to live by their destruction.
New York is a great commercial city. l
was asking a man the other night what
amount of taxes you collect in the city OF
! New York. I was told 1t was sixteen or
eighteen millions. You remember what
your Government started fromi You re-
member that when George Washington
was inaugurated President that the total
cost of the Government was two millions and
a half, while here to-day my distinguished
friend on my left (Mr. Hoffman) is con-
trolling the destiniss of city whose taxes
amount to eighteen millions Of dollars
and your State, with its population OF four
millions, has system OF government
general and municipal, more complex and
costly than the whole Federal Government





CITY, with views cOeytenSive with all the
States and Territories, and with an amount
of capital greater than is to be found col
lected in any other point in the country,
are possessed Of great influence. You are
enabled to occupy the points of gravlta-
ton, and New York is destined to take
great and conspicuous part in the work OF
restoration of this country and as have
said before on similar occasions, so say
again now, that all resistance to the resto-
ration of this Union, all opposition to it,
will be just about as availing as an at
tempt to chain up the ocean or turn the
Mississippi backward to its source. MY
faith in the people is very strong. have
sometimes been called demagogue, but
would to God we had enough dcmagogues
in the land. The demonstration here to-
day has confirmed me in my opinions oi
some of these demagogues. ! believe that
the great mass of tho people will take
care of the Government, and when they
understand it, will always do right. You
have evinced o good will tho pillows be.
gin to heave, and tell those persons that
are croaking and seeking individual az.
grandizement or the perpetuity Of aparty
that they had better stand ont Of tho way
the country is coming together again, and
they cannot prevent 1t. For myself, an
content to be guided by the example of the
Saviour of mankind. II have pardoned
many, it has been because thought it was
for the best interests Of the country
having found them repentant and anxious
to be pardoned. Gentlemen, have talked
long enough. 1t has never been my habit