^0 _= • ^ ^ 'at .'' v-^-'y' "°**^''/ ■\''^''"y \.''" ^\^ Wl ^^o"^ A'^^ v-^^ ^' o_ * ^0 4 o V-^' A^ D \ V VINDICATION OF THE PHESIDENT. EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH OF HOK JOHlSr A. LOGAN Delivehed In the Senate of the United States, Junh 3, 1872, ^^| Reply (0 SeuMor thinner's Atta<}k on President Granf 8 Admiriistration.. Mr. Presideut, at the close of the war in 1865, ou the 22d day of May, when the armies were marshaled here in the streets of Wash- ington, as we passed-by this Senate Chamber and marched down iPennsylvania avenue, with the officers at the head of their columns, I remember to have rend ©n the outer walls this motto: "There is one debt this country can never renay, and that is the debt o? grat- itude it owes to the^sokliers wlio have pre- .ferved the Union." Little did I think, then, sir, that within seven years afterward I should hear an assault like this upon the. leader of that Army within these very walls. Mr. President, is that debt of gratitude so soon forgotten? Shall the fair fame and reputation of the man who led those armies l>e trampled'^in the dust by one man, who claims so egotistically here that ho organized the party which made the war against the oligarchy of slavery ? But, sir, that attempt has been witnessed here, to onr great sorrow. The eloquence, the power, the education, ail that belong to the -Senator from Massachu- setts has been bronghfc to bear, not in conso- nance with that motto, not in keeping alive in the bosoms of the people of the United States that feeling of gratitude to the men who saved the country, but of ingratitude; and worse, of want of decent respect which should be shown either for tho memory of the dead or for the character of the living. The next division of thespeech of the Sen- ator from Massachusetts is in reference to "presidential pretension," and in discussing presidential pretSbsions, he draws himself to his full height and exclaims, "Upon what meat doth our Caesar feed that he assumes so much?" That is the language of the Sena- tor from Massachusetts. 1 might reply to the Senator and ask : " Upon what meat doth thisotir Ctfsar feed, That he Is sTTOvrnso-ffreat?" Where did he acquire the charter or the right to stand in this Senate Chamber and perpetrate slander upoa slander, vile and malignant, against the best men of our land? I ask the Senator from Massachusetts, where does ho acquire that title; where does be oi>- tain that right belonging to himself alone? A right, however, that no one will covet. The Senator says the President of J;ho United States violates the Constitution, vio- lates law, violates every principle that ought to govern the Chief Magistrate of a great na- tion. I should like to ask a question of the Senator if he were iiere, and I am sorry that he is not. "The wicked flet^ when no man pursueth." It certainly is ui»t that he is in terror of anything that may br' said; b;it why is it? Is he afraid that tho gh.)st of liis own slanders will come back to hauni him even here as well as in his chamber at night? Will it hauit him as the ghost of San Do- mingo haunts him every day? And this seems to follow him likethe ghost of Banqiio, making its appearance wtien he least ex- pects it. Now, sir, in what has the Presi- dent of the United States violated the Con- stitution? If the President has violated thw Constitution, it is the duty of the House of Representatives to prefer charges against him, and of the Senate to try him for that offense. In what has tho President violated the law? I ask the Senator from Massachu- setts to tell this country in what has he vio- lated the Constitution, in v/hat particular? It may be that all of us have not construed the law alike. It is possible to construe the Constitution differently in certain respects. The President may have differed from us at times in reference to a construction of the law or of the Constitution, but if he has I have no knowledge of it. Bat even if that were the case it would be no violation of the Con- Etitution or of the law ia the seusa in wblcit such a thing as inuuendo, and the Senator fjcom Massachusetts, by tbQ innuendoes in his .speech, would leave the impression on the country that President Grant has ap- pointed men to oiBce who made him gifts be- cause of the fact that they did make gifts; in other words, that the gift was the consid- f^ration for the office; therefore it was a cor- rupt bargain between the President and the office-taker. So far as this intimation, insin- uation, or innuendo is concerned, as any one may please to term it, I say, and take the responsibility, for the President of the United States, of denouncing it as false, and basely false. I do so for the reason that men who have been appointed to office were appointed to the two offices he mentioned because of their friendship to the President, and their abilitj- for the duties of tl:o ofiioe, and their fealty to tha EepubJican party. Let us see for a moment what this gift-tak- ing is. is it a cri me for a man to receive gifts who has accomplished great deeds for his country ? If it i=!, let us examine tiie historj' •of the country for a moment. President Grant was a great chieftain. lie had achieved great things for this Government. He was a great commander of armies and forces. He was victorious in all his battles. When he came homo from a victorious war, when States had been jeined together that had be- fore been severed, and people were united that had been divided by war, the people of the country felt grateful to him for his achievements and what ha bad done for them. There was no way in which some of the wealthy men of this country beheved they could show their gratitude to this great chieftain more appropriately, inasmuch as he was a.man of small means, than by pre- senting him with that which would make him a comfortable income the rest of his Ufe. They did it because they were actuated by gen- erous feelings toward him, because they were loyal men, because they loved their country. Their country had been saved, their property bad been saved, and they were willing to contributa to the benefit of this man. They •did so. In contributing to him they con- tributed to many others, as was said by the .Senator from Wisconsin. General Sherman and other generals that 1 could mention they contributed to because of their gratefulness to them for tb« service they had rendered the country. These contributions were made to him when he was a soldier; they were made to him when he was not President; tliey were given to him, and given to him with good feeling, a generous feeling, a feel- ing of kindness, without any hesitancy on the part of the people who gave them, without the e.^ipectation of any remuneration or any reward that would be given to them by the President of tha United States. When General Sherman and Genera! Grant received presents, men, women, and children all over the land thanked God that some persons were able to make them pres- futs, because of the fact that they deserved it, the people being a grateful people. Let uie read in reference to some other soldiers and groat rn?.n who hn.vf rocpivcd presents, and why? Because pf ^the gratefulness of their country to thetn; "When the Duke of Wellington returned to En- gland from his victorious campaigns agaiust iflapoleon, not only were honors, of every sort, heaped upon him by the Government, but as a substantial testi- monial of national gratitude the mansion and estate of Sbrathfieldsaye, in Hampshire, were purchased for him, by subscription, at a cost of £263,000, (or $1,315,000.) and presented to him as tha gift of the nation. "After a good many y^rs of active and strenuous agitation, Mr. Richard C?&J)den, the founder of the British Anti-Corn Law League, and one of the ablest and purest of British statesmen, whose fame is as broad as the ^vorld, succeeded in securin<» the repeal of the corn laws. «In gratitude for their (ieliverance, through his efibrts, trdSi this great burden, hw friends and admirers presented ilr. CoMen with the sum of S3o0,000, raised by subscription, on the receipt of which ho retired ft-oin his business of eotton printing. "When General George B. JlcClellan was retired from the conimand of "the anny of the Potomac, after the disasters inflicted «ipon "it by his bad gen- eralship, his wealthy Deraooratio friends, desirous of salving hi.? wounded feelings with a substantial evi- dence ef their appreciation of his inestimable success with the spade, mado him a present of a furnished house, in New York, which cost 250,000, and 'a con- siderable amount of greenbacks besides, all raised by private subscription, and soon r.i'torward made him the Democratic caadidata for President. " If General MeClellan, who had never won a battle of any consequence, and who had led our finest army to a succession of terrible defeats, was thought worthy of .':0 substantial a reoognition of his military services by his Democratic frionds, it could hardly be expected that Republicans should show a less grateful appreciation o'f tho services of tho most successful of our generals, who led our armies, cast and west, through a long succesaioD of splendid and decisive victories. Accordinfly, when General Grant had smitten down tho rebel power, east and west of tho Alleghanies, by bis tremendous and unerring blows, tho sum of $100,000, we believe, was raised by subscription, among loyal and weilthy citizens, and presented to him as a testimonial of their and tho nation's gratitudo; and, if we remember rightly, a house was presented to him by Philadelphians. This was in tho summer of lS6o, a few moatlis after the surrender of Lee and Johnson, when General Grant had no more thought of ever being President of the United States than of being Empwror of Russia, lie had, to his honor be H said, returned, from hia conquest of the rebel South, crowned with tho laurels of a hun- dred victories, no richer for the war whicii enriched so many army contractors and commissaiaes than when, four years before, lie had gone from his Galena tan- nery 'to offer his sorvicos to Governor Yates." I might go on and enumerate quite a num- ber of men who have received gifts because of the gratitude of the people of their coun- try for that whlcli they had done. In fact, if 'we were to search the pages of ancient hi.s- tory for the purpose of finding something obfectionable to apply to General Grant, we would find tliat those who came home victorious received triumphs. It has been from time immemorial tlio case that men who aclneved great things in war were re- ceived triumphantly by their people, some wich gifts and presents, some in ono way and some in another ; and yet because the custom of the ancient world followed down to the present day in the instance of President Grant, it is brought against him here as a charge to show that he has used it as a con- sideration by giving office to persons not en- titled thereto," and therefore should not be again elected. Sir, you must show some- thing more than tlse acquiescence in cnstorn'S ■io turn this country against its greatest pre- server amonp; men. Let me call the attention of the Senator from Massachusetts to the fact that on our statute-books to-day we find the law that where naval officers capture prizes they are entitled to a division of the prizes. "VVTiy? To encourage the navy to capture prizes and he vigilant. Even here you make presents to naval officers by statute law, for doing what? Just for performing their duty and •nothing more. But inasmuch as President Grant performed his duty without prize money, when ho came home and the people bestowed upon him that wliich you bestow by law on naval ofQcers the eloquent Sen- ator from Massachusetts arises in his place and charges corruption. How easy it is, sir, for us to find fault with otliers whom the people honor, lest wo raay never be placed in a position to bo so liighly favored ourselves. After discussing the question of gift-taking h9says that Mr. Stewart, of New York, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and he uses that for the purpose of showing the ig- norance of President Grant, lie says that President Grant appointed Mr. Stewart; ho does not say it was because Mr. Stewart had ■ made him a present, bnt that is the inference from his language, and at tho same time he intimates tho ignorance of tho President to be so great that he did not know that an im- porting merchant could not bo collector of the port of New York or Secretary of the Treasury. Now, I venture the assertion, and I think I can prove it from the record, that tho Senator's ignorance was so great at the same time that he did not know it was the law. Mr. Lincoln once tendered the ap- pointment to an importing merchant of col- lector of New York, without a knowledge of the "law, and tho merchant declined. It was an old statute, unknown to any one almost, Tinthought-of for years. Mr. Stewart's name was sent to the Senate Chamber, and in the message withdrawing the name of Mr. Stew- art the President said^ after mentioning the statute : "In view of these proTislons and the fact that Mr. Stewart ha3 been unanimousfy confirnieii by the Sea- «.ate, I -withdraw his name." In view -of what? lu view of the fact that this statute exists, and what other fact? The fact that he has been unanimously con- firmed! Tell mo how could he be unani- mously confirmed in this Senate if there was a man in the Senate who knew that law ex- isted at that time. It was not ignorance on the part of President Grant any more than It was on the part of the Senator from Massa- chusetts, who voted for his confirmation with that statute on our books. Yet he brings this forward as a fact to prove the ignorance of President Grant that he did not know that the law existed. We are all very wise after finding out something. If wo only find out that which others did not kilow before, we are very anxious to tell the world of our great dfscovery, and when it was ascertained. 'rhe Senator did not tell the Senate that he found and discovered this .statute. It is a •wonder he did not say, "I arose and objected at the time, because it was in violation of law." Ho did not say that; but the statato was discovered by a clerk in the Treasury Department, and not by the Senator from Massachusetts or any other Senator. Yet the Senator from Massachusetts has achieved a great victory over President Grant in prov- ing him to be ignorant of a statute that he knew nothing about himself. The next suggestion of the Senator is, tliat President Grant quarrels with ewry one. I know that President Grant is not a quar- relsome man. If he dislikes y*a he has nothing to do with you, but he does not quar- rel. In the army, if an officer did not per- form his duty, ho merely sent him a little order relieving him from duty, and you have never heard General Grant lisp the reason up to this day why he relieved an officer in the army, and if you will go and ask him now why he relieved many oiBcersclurinathewar, he will not tell you. He did it because he though they had failed to perform their duty, but the reason he did not give, because per- haps he thought others might not soothe fault as he did, and if ho was mistaken ho would let it work itself out without trying to injure the party any worse than by simply relieving him. This was his mode of doing business in the army. I brieve it is his man- ner to-day. If you dislike him and let him know it, that is enough; you hear nothing from him. If he dislikes you it is the same thing precisely, but ho quarrels with no one. Mr. President, the speech of the Senator from Massachusetts presented to the country at this particular time is a very significant fact. 1 wish to call his attention to one point in it, but this suggestion I wish to make in order to show him how fatal to him- seK this speech may be. He says that at the time ho approached Secretary Stanton on his dying bed, and the Secretary repeated to him tho reasons why he had no faith in General Grant's ability to administer the Government, he said to the Secretary, " It is too late ; why did you not say this sooner?" I repeat the same thing to Senator Sumner. Your speech, to per- form tho office you intended it, came too late. Hence I am led to the conclusion that it was not intended to perform t4io office which he says it was intended, but it was to perform a very different office from that which ho inti- mates he intended it should perform; that is to say, to advise the American people that President Grant was not qualified to exer- cise the functions of that office, and hence ought to be supplanted by some one else at Philadelphia. No, sir; if that was the object it comes too late. That being so, I have como to the conclusion that a man of so much wisdom and of so many pretensions as the Senator from Massachuse'its had a very dif- ferent intention. Sir, his intention was to strangle and de- stroy the Republican partj', that party which he says he created, if he did. 1 say to him he performed a great work. If he was the architect and builder of the Republican party he is a great master workman— its domo so beautifully rounded, its columns soadmir« ihWy chiseiea, bucS aH us parlb »y admirabiy prepared, and buiided together so smoothly and 30 perfectly that the mechauism charms the eye of every one who has over seen it. SiDce the ScDator has performed such a great work, I appeal to him to kuow why it is that he attempts to destroy the workmanship of his owrj haacls. Uh* let me give him one word of ad vie©, \yhile he may think, Sam- *6n-hke, that he has tiio strength to carry off Che gates and the pillars of the temple, let me tell him when he stretches forth his arm to cause the pillars to reel and totter beneath this fabric, there are thousands and thou- sands of true-hearted Republicans who will come up to the work, and stretching fnrth their strong right arms, say, "Stay thou there; these piiiars stand beneath this "mighty fabric of ours, within which we all dvrcil; it is the ark of our safetjr, and shall not be de- stroyed." [Manifestations of applause in the galleries.] Now, Mr. President, iet uie call attention to the strange statement of the Senator in regard to Secretary Stanton's dying declara- tion about Cxeneral Grant. According to this statement Secretary Stanton is made to say, iu regard to his speeches, "i never intro- duced the name ot General Grant." Sh-, I am constrained to say that the statement can not be true. I have the record here to prove its falsity. I will in a moment read the evidence, and let tshe country judge between the living and the dead. Mr. President, Sec- tary Stantozj, iu my jKidgmeut, never made that statement I w"iil not drag forth the dead from their eiient graves into the pres- ence of this Senate te make them bear wit- ness to my statements. T was with Secretary Stanton night aifter night, in company with General Chipman, of this city, waiting at the Secretary's office, and watching there, too, during a certain time which you all remember well. I remembei conversation after convei'sation that we had, but 1 will not repeat them. I will give only such testi- mony as can be brought forwaTrd and as I have now. But as the Senator from Massa- chusetts stated tiiat Secretary Stanton told him he .never introduced the name of Gen- eral Grant during the campaign of 1868, I have before me all the speeches that were made by Secretary Stanton during that Pres- idential campaign, three in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania, all printed iu full. 1 vdll read that poi-tion of the firet one which has reference to General Grant, delivered at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 3d of October, 1S38. I will read the fourth paragraph of the speech. After speaking of the great vic- tories of the v,-iir, Secretary Stanton said: "Let him bear iu mind hissafety heovrcs to Grant; that it S3 an houor to htniseif to aupyort Grant, tlio feucra! », [Great epplaose.l Grantthen •■tf.L'iJui thi3 0!i Lookout Blountaiu, throughout the vVilderneaa. before Richmond, at Fiv3 Forks, at Appomattox Court-house, an'1 shouldering proudly, marchsd with two hundred thousand of his fellow-soldiora thrcuch the streetsof Washington, and around the Capitol and Eiecutivo Mansion that he defended ivith his life, lor years, in the long march, the wearisome si 3ge, and the storm of battlfij let such man veto against General Grant. [Applause.] If there is any man amoue; you who would biot from Iho page of our history t'ne story of these (Treat achievements, let him draw black lines »rouna them and write across their face, "Have no share in these great deeds, I'or I vote against Grant," [Applause.] Is there any raaa among you that would compel the armies of liio Potomac, oi the James, of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, of the Tennessee, and of the Guh", to be again gathered at the tap of the drum, and eurreudered, as prisoners of war, to Leo and Johnson, Beauregard and Forrest, and Pres- ton, let him vote against Genai-al Grant. [Applause.] If there is any man among you who has forgotten ^hat bright summer Sabbath day the little llonitor, as she steamed out againut the new oca monster, \ the Merrlmac, and, before noon, drove hor, shat- tered and crippled, to port ; if there is any man who •would havo rejoiced to boho'.d a cannoa ball shatter Farragui. as, lashed to bis mast, ho drove through the (rebel fleet and pushed them to pieces, let that man vote jigaiast Grant. If auv man wou[d havo Worden, and Farragut, and Wiuslow, and all our great admirals haul down the star-spangled banner, never again to brave the battle and the breeze; if he would aee them slink Jn shamo from their own quarter- decks, and give up their ships to Maury, and Buchan- aan, and Semmes. and MoUat, while tho Confederate bars, emblems o/ slavery, flaunt on every sea, in iVory State, let him vote against Grant. ViOte i-i-^'v and Tnic often' for '* Grant b« elected, thut glou« BhAll disappear from tho flrmameat before tho banner of the United States ehall suffer tarniah or shame on the land <^ on the deep. [Applause.] !f there is any man among you that would revers* the order of history ; who would bring upon you a shame and a reproach never before known among the nations of the earth ; who would havo the commander of tho United States armies deliver up his sword and humbly bow before the rebel com- mander—let that maa vote against Grant, but never again call himself an Amerioan citizan. f Applause.] If there is any man whose cyebatia would not burn to behold Lee upon the portico of the Capitol, with Beauregard, Preston, and Forrest at his side, with a Confederate army arouad him, and, as the Govern- ment is transferred to them, listen to tho rebel yell as it sounds on tho Beld of battle and la the New York convention, [loud ehecr8,| let such a man vote against Grant and go t^ Washington on the 4tb of March. rApplauao.j Why, then, I repeat, should any lovopof his country vote against Grant, Colfax, and tho Republican members of Congress ? A conven- tion has been held in New York and put In nomi- nation opposition candidates — Horatio Seymour and Frank P. Blstir. Seymour professes that he is an un- willingcandidate,cou^ht up by a whirlwind. [Laugh- ter and cheers.] Blair was put in aomination by Preston, of Kentucky, who fought for years against his country, and the nomiaation was seconded by Forrest, of Fort Pillow. That nomination was re- ceived with acclamation, and the opposing candidates thus stand before you for your cnoico. The watch- word of Grant, as I have said, is peac«. Now, what is the watchword of the New York convention." Mr. President, I only desired to read por- tions of tlie speeehea of Secretary Stanton, for the purpose of sustaining w&at I said: that was that 1 did not believe the statement of the Senator from Massachusetts. I do nob believe that any one wlio reads the speeches of Secretary Stantoa during that time can believe the stateaient of the Senator. I am inclined to take a charitable view of it, if wo are ailowwl to view such statements with charity. It is tho only thing that can excuse him from being false in his statements before tho country. The history c* tho v/orid would write tho A-merican people down as a people not worthy of trust, as a people without gratitude, as a people who had seen a maa hew his way to fame by his own strong arm, and then allowed an ambitiou3 politician to strike him down with a merciless blow, and no one to stand by and to say, "The blow is too Bovere;" and I say to the Senator from ISiassachnsetts that wliile he has stnick this blow, as ha believea a heavy one, on the head cf the political prospects of General (irant, he has, made him friends by the thousand, strong ones, too, thai were merely lukewarm yesterday. He has aroused the sp'irir, of tiiis land that can not be quelled. He has, in fact, inflamed the old war spirit in tne soldiery of the coun- try. He has aroused the feeling of indigna- tion in every man that v;armed his feet by a camp-fire during i?he war. He has sent through this land athrlH which will return to him in such a manner and with such force as will make him feel ifc. For myself, I will say that I have sat quietly here for months, and had not intended to say anything ; I had : no argument to make, intending to await the : nomination of the Philadelphia Convention, be it Grant or be it whom it might, believing, however, it would be Grant; but when I heard these vile slanders hurled like javelins against the President of tha United States, it aroused A a feeling iu my breast wliicb has been aroused many times before. I am now ready to buckle on my armor ad A am ready for the fray, and from now untM November next to fight this battle in behalf of an honest man, a good soldier, and a faithful servant. [Applause in the galleries. J Ton will hear a response to this every- where. As I said the other day, it will be heard from one end of this land to the other. The lines of blue coats that were arrayed upon the hill-tops and along the valleys, with bur- nished bayonets, ready for the fight, the same men, although they liave divested themselves of their battle array, yet retain their warlike spirit burning in their bosoms. They will respond to this challenge: they will say' to tiie eloquent Senator from Massachusetts, "Tou have thrown down the glove and we will take it up." I tall the Senator he will find a re- sponse in his own State that will not give his elumberiugs much quiet. lie will find a re- sponse everywhere. The people of this coun- try will not see a man sacrificed to vile calum- ny. I would l^e willing, and I believe every one else would, to allow the contest to be set- tled fairly and justly. Let the people select whom they desire to'have lor their President or for any btlicr position. And when the Sen- ■ator from Massachusetts with his thundering voice echoing in this chamber proposes to ex- clude every man who fought for his country, every man tliat has been a soldier from civil office, and claiming that the right to hold of- fice belongs alone to men like himself, I say he will find even poor but honest, hard-work- ing men saying to him the time has not come in this free Kepubiioof America for such doc- trine to be tolerated on the floor of the Senate cr on the floor of the lower Uouse of Con- 4iress, and if so, it will not be taken and rel- ished as a sweet morsel by the people of this land. No, Mr. Piesideut, when we are challenged to the contest, and when we are told that soldiers are only made to be soldiers, and educated civilians only should hold high po- sitions of trust in this country, I am sorry to say to the Senator, unfortunate man, you were oever born to bo President of the United States; you will never be the Presi- dent of that grand paity which you claim to have originated ani organized. No man with such aspirations and such views and such feelings for the common people of this country can ever succeed as a politician or statesman in the midst of a people devoted to republican institutions. President Grant has made an honest Presi- dent lie has been faithful. The afilairs of the nation are in pood condition. We are at peace with the civilized world. Notwith- standing the Senator said we were iu a mud- dle with every nation, we are at war with none. Every State in this Union is quiet; the laws have been faithfully executed and administered; we have quiet and peace throughout our land. Such blessings we have not had since the war until recently. But the Senator from Massachusetts would turn the Government of the United States over to the bands of our enemies. That is what we do not desire. If ho desires not to u.r.om- plish that let him b« faithful and stand by the old RepubUcau ship, in which there is life, and outside of which there is death. But whether he does or not, success will be ours; this Government will be peaceful, the people happy and prosperous, harmony and unity will prevail, to the great advancement of the material interests of this great n?.tion. Mr. President, let me ask Senators here who stood anxiously waiting at th« close of; this war to sea the veryfetate of things brought about that we see 'to-day, peace, comfort, quiet, and prosperity, as they looked out UT>on the boisterous ocean of secession and saw the raging and fierce billows of angry strife, if ft was hot the prayer then of every patriotic man, woman, and child in this land that the angry billows should cease, and that we should once more have placid seas; and as wo looked out upon these angry waves of rebel- lion and strifn and saw the old ship of State struggling to make her way to a harbor of safety, and saw this man, now President, then guiding and commanding the crew that managed this crafty when at his command our guns ceased their thunder and everything was still and quiet, the old ship, manned by ' her devoted crew, came safely into the harbor of safety, freighted with the hopes of man- kind, where she is moored (jjiietand peaceful to-day? Who is there that can describe the outbreak of overjoyous hearts in strains of praise for the safety of our Republic that went forth on that day of triumph? :3ir, that feeling still is iu the bosom of patriots, and though slumbering will break forth again, having been aroused by the Glast of the enemy's bugle. Who is there among the Republicans that desires to set the old craft adrift again into the boisterous seas of tumult and confusion? I presume there is not one. Then let us as quiet, law-abiding, peaceable citizens, de- sirous of doing the best we can for our coun- try, go straight forward in the execution of the proper plans and designs for the accom- plishment of the oivjecls for which repubfican institutions are established and are main- tained. Let us, then, proceed with our business; let us go home and present to the peoplo of this country the indictment with its malignant charsjes, and ask them if they will submit to have a man so worthy as the President of the United States receive such calumny at the hands of any one without a proper rcbiike, and I pledge you that you will hav-D a re- sponse indicating no uncertain sound, coaiinpt from the lips and heart of every true patriot in the land. Mr. President, I have detained the Senate much longer than I intended, but I deemed it just to myself and to my constituents that that document should not go before them without ray raising my voice at least in pro- test against it. I have done so in my feeble manner, not ably, but the best that 1 could do; having done tliat [ have performed what I consider my duty, and will now gi?« way for the business of the Senate te i>to- ceed. M C- 2. 4. o IB S '!2 ^^-^^ .^'\ "°-^-! % 1 -^i .1 ^ aO '\^ "^ ^v^ ^^^ .jBS BROS. r. 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