Year: 1866

but these arc local in character, not fre
, qucnt in occurrence, and are RAPIDLY disap
pcarng as the authority Of civil law is cx
tended and sustained. Pcrplexng oucs
tons were naturally TO be expected from tn,
great and sudden change in the relations


between the two races; but systems are grad
: nally developing themselves, under which
the freedman will receive the protection Il


which he is justly entitled, and by means O


his labor make himself useful and indie
pendent member ofthc community in which
, he has his home. From all the information
in my possession, and from that which |
} have recently derived from the most reliable


authority, am induced to cherish the be
lief that sectional animosty is surely ant


rapidly merging itself into spirit of nation


ality, and that representations connected


with properly adjusted system oftaxation
will result in a harmonious restoration Of


the relations Of the States to the Nationa


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 t.


know what we are to do in the extraordinary


situation in which We find ourselves from


whom will we take that counsel. Are VIC
| to take 1t from men, the purpose of whose


lite seems to be to wage war upon these peo.
! pie and their Institutions? Shall we take it
from men whom they hate personally and


by name, and to whom it is almost impossi-


BILE to suppose they ever will be rcconciled,
or IN the nature of things can be reconcied?
Or are we take it from the men who have
not made this personal war; who have
| treated it as national war, and who, in
their conduct of it, have won the applause
of both sections? The President says that
part of his information has been received
! from Gen. Grant Who is Cen Grant p
Who is to be put in the scale with the
Scared soldier, and whose testimony is to
weigh down his? Is he 'whitewashing"
here, too? Has he forgotten the position
he occupies before the American people p
With the highest military character of any
man to day upon the earth has he conde-
sccndcd to come here to deceive the Senate
of his country, and to lie about the condition
of affairs in the South, which he has recent
ly visited? Let us hear what he says, and
listen with patient reverence to the utterance
OF a man OF sense, patriot and a prudent
man, who desires not to embroil, not to
embtter, not to widen the gap that already
exists between the two people who ought to
be fraternally united, but man who desires
to heal and to pacify; man imbued with
the spirit of Hochc when he went to La
Vendec, and where he succeeded whenothers
had failed. What does he say? 1t is not
the tone or the manner of the letter writer,
but it is in the manner of a man and a sol
der


Il am satisfied" says he; and when he
is satisfied who dares say he is not satisfied
upon the score of honesty and good intent
! toward this republic?


Il am satisfied that the mass of thinking
men in the South accept the present situa-
ton Of affairs in good faith. "


That is what Gen Grant says. Is that
"whitewashing


'1The questions which have heretofore di.
vidcd the sentiments Of the people of the
TWO seetiens-slavery and state rights, or
the right of n State to secede from the
Union-they regard as having been settled
forever by the highest tribunal-arms-.
that man can resort to. -


1t is now said that they do not think So
that they are only pretending, and have a
covert purpose of doing something hereafter
about this thing, nobody can tell exactly
what Perhaps we will be told they will
not abide the result.


II was pleased to learn from the leading
men whom | met, that they not only ac.
cepted the decision arrived at as final, but
that now, when the smoke of battle had
cleared away and time had been given for
reflection, this decision has been a fortu-
nate one for the whole countay, they receiv-
ing like benefits from it with those who Op-
posed them in the field and in the council.


Why, Mr. President, the common sense
of that last utterance is worth more as tes-
timony than that of thousand scribblers
who merely look at detached points of this
great field. They have found, too, after
the smoke has cleared away, that they real
ly are in better condition than they were
before, and they have been relieved from
the incubus which oppressed them for SO
long time, and they are ready now to take
their places in the union, and along side of
the northern states who have made liberty
their great principle rather than slavery.
Why should they not? If any man can
give a reason why they should desire to
Keep up this strife longer, with their de-
vastated fields, with their treasures empty, |
with their society disorganized, should |
like to hear, therefore hope, Mr.. Pres- |
dent, that we may meet them in different
spirit; that we may show to them that we
made this war, not to make them enemies
Of ours not to humiliate them, but to res
cue them; that we made this war to 60 and
get them out Of the clutches of the bad
men who had misled them into the gloomy
realm Of secession and disunion; and that
we intend, after the great military victory
which we have achieved, to achieve another
by magnanity and clemency in our conduct
towards them; that we will win them back
to be as they were before our friends and
our brothers, ofthe same race and of the same
lineage. | hope, too, that this angry, irri-
tating and exciting mode of treating this
subject, which is calculated to make us any
thing else than friends, will be discarded
hereafter, and that we shall coolly and calm
ly, and in the spirit of the nation, because
that is the spirit of the nation, examine
this question and do with it that which will
be calculated to restore the old harmony and
peace, and the old union again.