^iMM

LYON PHELPS

ME^°*

Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth President of the United States.

LIFE, SPEECHES AND SERVICES

OF

ANDREW JOHNSON

SEVENTEENTH

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

With a full history of his Life ; his career as a Tailor Boy,
Alderman, Mayor, Legislator, State Senator, Governor of Ten
nessee, and his services in Congress, with his Speeches on the
Bebellion, and the part taken by him from the first outbreak of
the War, with his Speeches, Proclamations, Acts, and services
since becoming President of the United States.

PHILADELPHIA:
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,
306 CHESTNUT STREET.

Entered,' according to Act of Congress, in. the year 1865, by
T. 33. PETERSON & BROTIJERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

cdH.m

CONTENTS.

PA8B
Andrew Johnson's Birth and Parentage — Death of his
Father  22
Andrew apprenticed to a Tailor  23
He works as a Journeyman Tailor in South Carolina — His
removal to East Tennessee  24
His Marriage and subsequent Eomantic History — He is
educated by his wife  >  24
His debut on the Political stage — is elected Alderman,
Mayor and Legislator  25
He is chosen Presidential Elector, and subsequently
elected State Senator  26
Andrew Johnson becomes a Congressman — His Offlcial
career at "Washington  „  27
Johnson as Governor of Tennessee  28
Andrew Johnson as United States Senator  29
The Secession movement in 1860  29
Johnson insulted and burned in Effigy  30
Andrew Johnson's Speech at Cincinnati  30
Proposed Amendments to the Constitution  38
The origin of the Eebellion — Object of the War  39
Speech of Andrew Johnson, on the Eesolution approving
certain acts of the President for suppressing Eebellion. 40
The War in Tennessee — Johnson's personal experiences. . 91
Andrew Johnson as Military Governor of Tennessee  92
Johnson's determination of character  v  110
Nominated for Vice-President  113
President Lincoln's opinion of Andrew Johnson  114
17

18 CONTENTS." ?AQH
The Presidential Election  115
Andrew Johnson sworn in as Vice-President  115
His' Inaugural Address  116
Indications of Johnson's policy  118
The Martyrdom of Abraham Lincoln  „...., 121
The Cabinet announcement to President Johnson  123
Address of President Andrew Johnson  124^
Is waited on by the Clergy and Treasury Officers  139
His Eeception of the Illinois Delegation  139
The President's Reply  141
Eeception of the Christian Commission  144
Eeply of the President  145
Keception of the Committee of the New York Chamber
of Commerce  146
The President's Eeply  147
Eeception of the British Ambassador  147
Eeply of the President  '.  148
Eeception of the Diplomatic Corps  149
Eeply of the President  150
Address to Loyal Southerners  151
Important Speech to the Indiana Delegation  154
Eeception of a Delegation from Pennsylvania, with a letter
from Governor Curtin  156
Eeply of the President  157
Another Pennsylvania Delegation, headed by Hon. Simon
Cameron and Hon. Thaddeus Stevens  158
Eeply of the President  159
Courage of the President  161
The Last Days of the War— The President's Policy  162
Appointment of a Day of Humiliation and Prayer  163
Eeduction of the Military Expenses of the Government. . 165
Commerce in Insurrectionary States  167
The Military Commission for the Trial of the Accomplices
of John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of President Lin
coln  168
The Flight of Jefferson Davis — Connection of himself and
other Eebels with the Assassination  169
Ee-establishment of Federal authority in Virginia  170
Virtual Close of the Rebellion — Piratical Cruisers  172

CONTENTS. 19
PiOE
Rules and Eegulations concerning Commercial Inter
course with Insurrectionary States  173
Address to Colored People  179
A Foreign Consul appointed at Eichmond, Va  181
Eeception of the French Minister  182
The President's Eeply  183
Opening of Southern Ports  183
President Johnson declines the Testimonial of a Carriage,
Horses, Harness, etc., offered him by some of the prom
inent citizens of New York, with the correspondence. . . 185
Reorganization of the Union — Confiscation of Property —
Eights of Citizenship, etc  187
Opinion of Attorney General Speed, in relation to the
Amnesty Proclamations of December 8th, 1863, and of
March 26th, 1864, issued by President Lincoln  187
The Amnesty Proclamation of December 8th, 1863, issued
by President Lincoln  196
The Amnesty Proclamation of March 26th, 1864, issued
by President Lincoln  200
The Amnesty Proclamation of President Andrew John
son, of May 29th, 1865  201
The Eeorganization Proclamation of President Andrew
Johnson, of May 29th, 1865  204
Address of President Johnson to the Sabbath-school Chil
dren of Washington City, on May 29th, 1865  207
Character and Policy of Andrew Johnson  212

LIFE, SPEECHES, AND SERVICES

OF

ANDREW JOHNSON.

SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT OP THE
UNITED STATES.

History is being created very rapidly in America at
this era. We cannot say, in Biblical language, that " a
nation is born in a day," but we can say, with truth, that
great principles are receiving their verification with almost
instantaneous flashes, and that character is being tested in
such crucibles as humanity never before expected to be
tried in. Tremendous tests are applied to military repu
tations, and holocausts of failures are piled up for the
wondering speculation of future generations. Political
fame has also been sternly brought to the test, and when
found wanting, have been cast aside. The stern practi
cality of the American people has been quickened by the
events of this war, and they will not brook imbecility, luke-
warmness, or inattention to the great work before the
nation. The Republic has just lost, by the infamous blow
of an assasin, a beloved head. The stroke came from a
representative of the slave aristocracy, which has sought
to destroy the life of the nation, and it fully represented
the feeling of that faction towards the Republic. The
martyr-victim who fell, represented the sentiment of tho
21

22 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
loyal people, in his true democracy, his magnanimity, and
his sympathy with all humanity.
In his successor, Andrew Johnson, whose life we are
about to narrate, we have just such a representative of the
people as our martyred President. Born in obscurity,
brought up in comparative ignorance, and finally strug
gling into distinction almost unaided, Andrew Johnson's
career is salmost parallel with that of Abraham Lincoln.
The same traits of American character inspired their
hearts and nerved their souls, and from youth to man
hood, they were impelled by common impulses.. Andrew
Johnson has exulted in the fact that he was ho slave-
holding oligarch ; that he was " a plebeian," and as an
American, citizen, he could have no other title before
which, as to a crown, he could "bid kings bow." A
native of North Carolina, and a resident of Tennessee for
nearly his entire life, he has inwrought into his character
the sturdiest traits which mark the people of those com
monwealths, and in the grand test which tried the soul of
every man in America, in 1860 and 1861, he was proof
against both blandishments and the threats of treason.
HIS BIRTH AND PARENTAGE— DEATH OP HIS
PATHER.
A little more than fifty years ago, a poor but industrious
couple resided in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina.
Their social position was necessarily, from their pecuniary
circumstances, of that grade which debarred them from
all, save business intercourse, with their more wealthy and
taristocratic neighbors ; yet within their humble dwelling
was born a babe, who was destined to attain a position
in after years which but few of those who despised the
parents by whom he was begotten ever realized.
Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, on the 29th of
December, 1808. When Andrew was only four years

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 23
of age, his father, in exerting himself to save from
drowning Colonel Thomas Henderson, the editor of the
"Gazette," a newspaper published in Raleigh, unhappily
injured himself so severely that his own life was sacri
ficed.
ANDREW APPRENTICED TO A TAILOR.
From that time until he was ten years old, the youth
was reared by a fond mother ; but at that tender age her
pecuniary circumstances compelled his entering upon
some trade, by which in the early future he could support
himself and his widowed protector. He was therefore
placed as an apprentice to a tailor in his native city, and
until he was seventeen, plied the needle faithfully and
patiently for his employer. The blessings of the public
school system which are now guaranteed to the poor
children of the Union, had not at that time been experi
enced in North Carolina, and consequently young Johnson
was never enabled to spend an hour in a school-room. He,
however, became anxious to learn, and this anxiety was
greatly increased by an incident, which, although trivial
in itself, was of momentous importance to the poor lad.
A person residing in the town, who enjoyed 'the advan
tages of an education, was wont to visit the tailor's shop
and read to the apprentices and journeymen while they
were at work. His favorite book, and one which appeared
to please the workmen more than any other, was a
volume of speeches, principally those of British statesmen,
and so interested did young Johnson become, that he
determined to apply himself to study after he had finished
his daily labors. He, by perseverance, soon mastered
the alphabet, and then soliciting the privilege of using
the book as a means by which he might learn to spell, his
request was more than granted by the owner, who, instead
of loaning, presented the work, and also gave him some
instruction in the formation of words. His exertions

24 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Were crowned with success, and to his great delight he
found himself able to read the speeches to which he had
only a short time before been such an interested listener.
HE WORKS AS A JOURNEYMAN TAILOR IN
SOUTH CAROLINA— HIS REMOVAL TO EAST
TENNESSEE.
In the latter part of the year 1824, his term of appren
ticeship having been completed, he bade adieu to Raleigh,
and went to Laurens Court House, in the north-western
part of South Carolina, where he worked as a journeyman
for two years. While there, he became attached to a
young lady, who returned his affection, and to whom it is
said he was engaged to be married, but her family object
ing to the match on account of his youth and poverty, he,
in May, 1826, left' the scene of his mingled happiness and
sorrow, and returned to Raleigh, where he worked at his
trade until the following September. Believing that a
settlement farther to the westward offered greater pecuniary
inducements, he, in September, 1826, removed to Greene-
ville, in Eastern Tennessee, taking with him his mother
and step-father.
HIS MARRIAGE AND SUBSEQUENT ROMANTIC
HISTORY-HE IS EDUCATED BY HIS WIPE.
He had not been there many months before he married .
an estimable woman, and from the day the two became
one, may be dated the commencement of a chapter in the
history of the poor tailor boy which is as yet incompleted,
and which is tinged with more romance than is generally
found in the book of lives of distinguished men, even in
this country, where none can justly claim superiority on
account of birth or social position. Well educated her
self, she determined that her husband should enjoy the
same blessings, and scarcely had the marriage ceremony-
been performed, before this excellent woman commenced

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 25
the pleasing task of instructing her husband. Day after
day, while he sat upon his board, she patiently remained
by his side, book in hand, increasing the slight knowledge
of reading he had secured while an apprentice in Raleigh.
At night, when the needle and the partly made garments
had been laid aside, she substituted the pen and pencil
for the book, and after months of sweet labor she had the
satisfaction of finding her efforts rewarded, and her once
ignorant pupil become proficient in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, rudiments which she knew the industry of her
husband would soon enable him to mature into a complete
system of education. While this romantic portion of
their history was in progress, young Johnson again
determined to change his location, and removed farther
westward ; but failing to find a suitable place in which
to settle, and at the solicitation of a friend, who felt
assured that his industrious habits could not fail to secure
success in Greeneville, he returned to that place, and re
commenced, work.
HIS DEBUT ON THE POLITICAL STAGE— IS
ELECTED ALDERMAN, MAYOR AND LEGIS
LATOR.
Andrew Johnson's position in the community was of
that character which naturally made him inimical to what
ever would give power and wealth to the few, at the ex
pense of the many ; and thanks to the tuition of his wife,
and-to his own natural powers, he soon became known as
one of the most able exponents of the views of the work
ing men in Greeneville. He talked with them and to
them, and by their influence and power succeeded in
crushing a .powerful aristocratic sentiment, which had
until that time ruled in the town, and which had prohibited
honest citizens who labored for their daily bread, from
occupying even the most trivial political offices.

26 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
The first contest took place in the year 1828, when Mr
Johnson was triumphantly elected Alderman over the
candidate of the aristocratic coterie, which had for so
many years presided over the destinies of the town. In
1829, and again in 1830, he was re-elected to the same
position. In the latter year he was elected to the Mayor
alty, the duties of which office he ably performed for
three years, at the same time holding the position of
Trustee of Rhea Academy, to which he had been ap
pointed by the County Court. In 1834 he used his in
fluence to ensure the adoption of a new Constitution for the
State, by which the freedom of speech and of the press
was guaranteed, and by which also the liberties of the
masses were greatly enlarged. In the following year he
was elected to the Legislature from Greene and Washing
ton counties, and at once became a prominent member,
a prominence attained more particularly by the earnest
and decided manner in which he opposed a scheme of in
ternal improvements, which he contended would prove a
failure, and would at the same time incur a vast debt,
which could but cripple the resources of the common
wealth. This opposition prevented his re-election in
1837 ; but two years later, when the evils he had pre
dicted by the passage of the bill had become manifest,
and the public had been made painfully aware, by the
rapidly accumulating debt, of their error in having
encouraged their legislators to vote in favor of the
scheme, he again became a candidate, and was re-elected
by a large majority.
HE IS CHOSEN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR, AND
SUBSEQUENTLY ELECTED STATE SENATOR.
In 1840, he was a Presidential Elector on the Demo
cratic ticket, in the contest between General Harrison
and Martin Van Buren, and during the campaign can-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 27
vassed a large portion of Tennessee, not unfrequently
meeting upon the stump some of the most able orators of
the opposition party, and by his eloquence competing
successfully in his political arguments with the most
talented of his oratorical adversaries. In 1841, he was
sent to the State Senate, from Greene and Hawkins
counties, by a handsome majority, and while in that body
introduced some excellent and judicious projects for
internal improvements in his section of the State.
ANDREW JOHNSON BECOMES A CONGRESS
MAN. HIS OFFICIAL CAREER AT WASHING
TON.
Two years later (1843) he was rewarded for his valuable
services in the Legislature by a nomination for Congress
in the First District of Tennessee, comprising seven coun
ties, and although opposed by Colonel John A. Asken, a
United States Bank Democrat, and a gentleman of great
popularity, he was elected, and in December of the same
year took his seat in the House of Representatives at
Washington. His maiden speech was a forcible address
in support of the resolution to restore the fine imposed
upon General Andrew Jackson for having placed New
Orleans under martial law, and this was followed at
different times during the session by no less able argu
ments in advocacy of the leading Democratic measures
which were brought up for the consideration of the House.
In the ensuing session he spoke and voted with his col
leagues who were favorable to the annexation of Texas,
and during an exciting debate, he made an eloquent
speech in answer to some remarks of Mr. Clingman of
North Carolina, who had made certain slanderous asser
tions relative to the position of the members of the Cath
olic Church at the preceding Presidential election. There
were few members of this church in Mr. Johnson's district,

28 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
but he defended them with an earnestness and power
which confounded his Carolina opponent, and caused him
to receive the thanks of the denomination of which he had
voluntarily become the champion.
Mr. Johnson warmly advocated the annexation of Texas,
and in alluding to the capabilities of that State he thought
it probable it would " prove to be the gateway out of
which the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage
to freedom and become merged in a population congenial
with themselves." In 1845 he was re-elected to the
House of Representatives, and ranged himself at once
with the advocates of the doctrine of " 54° 40' " in the
contest between this country and Great Britain on the
Oregon boundary question. He, however, sustained Presi
dent Polk in the subsequent adjustment of the question.
In 1847, being again elected to Congress, Mr. Johnson
made an eloquent argument in favor of the veto, power.
He presented an historical outline of the exercise of the
veto power, running back to the Roman republic. He
showed that from the establishment of the Federal gov
ernment to the time at which he spoke, the veto power
had been exercised twenty-five times : by Washington,
twice ; by Madison, six times ; by Monroe, once ; by
Jackson, nine times ; by Tyler, four times ; by Polk,
thrice. He also continued his advocacy of the Mexican
war during this session, and he opened the agitation of
the Homestead bill, of which he continued to be the advo
cate until its passage.
JOHNSON AS GOVERNOR OP TENNESSEE.
In the year 1853, Andrew Johnson and Gustavus A.
Henry were competitors for the office of Governor. The
contest was unusually fierce, and the State was thoroughly
canvassed by both candidates, who were men of the first
order of ability. Mr. Johnson triumphed by a consider-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 29
able majority, and controlled the destinies of the common
wealth until 1855: In the latter year he was pitted
against Meredith P. Gentry, and after an active contest
was re-elected Governor.

ANDREW JOHNSON AS UNITED STATES
SENATOR.
In 1857, Mr. Johnson wasieleoted United States Senator
for a full term of six years. He urged his favorite project,
the Homestead bill ; he pressed a resolution of scrutiny
into the expenses of the government ; and he took an
active part in the discussion of all the prominent measures
of the period, extending to March, 1862.
THE SECESSION MOVEMENT IN 1860.
It would be needless to go into details describing the
rise. of the rebellious feeling in the year 1860, after the
election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United
States. That event threw the entire South into a fever
of excitement, which culminated in the secession of South
Carolina from the Union, in December 3, 1860. At Wash
ington, the fury of political feeling was really awful, and
Congress rang with fierce debates. Mr. Crittenden, and
other "conservative" members of both houses, endeavored
to allay. the storm, but in vain, and sides were taken by all
the members, for or against secession. We need not say
that Andrew Johnson unhesitatingly declared for the
Union, without any reservation. He warned those
senators and representatives who left their seats to follow
the fortunes of the rebellion, that they would suffer the
doom of traitors, W& he declared that the Federal Gov-
ernment had full power to coerce a State. His views
on the great questions involved, will be given in subse
quent pages.

30 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
JOHNSON INSULTED, AND BURNED IN EFFIGY
The course of Mr. Johnson did not please the mad
dened secessionists of Tennessee, and on the 22d of
December, 1860, he was burned in effigy, amid the hoot-
ings of a mob, at Memphis. He left Washington city on
his return home, in April, 1861, and on the 21st of that
month he suffered personal peril at Lynchburg, Va.,
being groaned and hissed"by a large mob, who threatened
to take him from the cars to hang him. The Memphis
"Avalanche " of April 25th, exultantly described his hav
ing his nose pulled by infuriated men, backed by mobs,
at Liberty, Va., and at other places along his route from
Washington to Tennessee. Such seeming indignities
were the more honorable to him, inasmuch as they arose
from his noble devotion to principle, when strong men
failed and yielded to what they weakly assumed to be the
real " sentiment " of their States in reference to secession.
On the 19th of June, 1861, Mr. Johnson was the reci
pient of a warm public welcome from the loyal people of
Cincinnati. On that occasion he delivered an able ad
dress, which we think worthy of record here :
SPEECH AT CINCINNATI.
Fellow-Citizens: — In reply to the eordial welcome
which has just been tendered to me, through your chosen
organ — in reply to what has been said by the gentlemen
chosen by you to bid me welcome to Cincinnati, I have
not language adequate to express my feelings of grati
tude. I cannot find language to thank you for the tender
of good fellowship which has been made to me on the
present occasion. I came here without any expectation
that such a reception was in store fo^fce. I had no ex
pectation of being received and welromed in the lan
guage, I may say, the eloquent and forcible language of
your chosen organ. I am deserving of no such tender.
I might conclude what little I am going to say by
merely responding to, and endorsing every single sentence

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 31
uttered on this occasion, in welooming me to your midst.
(Applause. )
For myself, I feel that while I am a citizen of a
Southern State— a citizen of the South, and of the State
of Tennessee, I feel, at the same time, that I am also a
citizen of the United States. (Applause.) Most cor
dially do I respond to what has been said in reference to
the maintenance of the Constitution of the United States,
in all its bearings, in all its principles therein contained.
The Constitution of the United States lays down the
basis upon which the Union of all the States of this Con
federacy can and may be maintained and preserved, if it
be literally and faithfully carried out. (Applause.) So
far as I am concerned, feeling that I am a citizen of the
Union — that I am a citizen of the United States, I am
willing to abide by that Constitution. I am willing to
live under a Government that is built upon and per
petuated upon the principles laid down by the Constitu
tion, which was framed by Washington and his compeers,
after coming from the heat and strife of bloody revolution.
(Applause.) I repeat, again, that I have not language adequate to
express my gratitude and appreciation of the kindness
which has been manifested in regard to my humble self.
I cannot sufficiently thank you, for the manifestation of
your appreciation of the course I have pursued, in regard
*to the crisis which is now upon this country. I have no
words to utter, or rather I have words which will not
give utterance to the feelings that I entertain on this
occasion. (Applause.) I feel, to-day, a confidence in
my own bosom, that the cordiality and the sympathy,
and the response that comes here from the people of
Ohio, is heartfelt and sincere. I feel that in reference to
the great question now before the people, those whom I
see before me are honest and sincere. (Applause.) I
repeat again, and for the third time, that I ha$e no lan
guage with which I can express my gratitude to you, and
" tt the same time, my devotion to the principles of the
Constitution, and the flag and emblem of our glorious
Union of States. (Applause.)
I know that there has been much said about the
North, much said about the South. I am proud here to
day, to bear the sentiments which have been uttered in
2

32 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
reference to the North and the South, and the relationg
that exist between these two sections. (Applause.) I
am glad to hear it said in such a place as this, that the
pending difficulties— I might say, the existing war —
which are now upon this country, do not grow out of any
animosity to the local institution of any section. (Ap
plause.) I am glad to be assured that it grows out of a
determination to maintain the glorious principles upon
which the Government itself rests — the principles con
tained in the Constitution-*-and, at the same time, to
rebuke and to bring back, as far as may be practicable,
within the pale of the Constitution, those individuals, or
States even, who have taken it upon themselves to exer
cise a principle and doctrine at war with all government,
with all association — political, moral, and religious. (Ap
plause.) I mean the doctrine of secession, which is
neither more nor less than a heresy — a fundamental
error — a political absurdity, coming in conflict with all
organized government, with every thing that tends to
preserve law and order in the United States, or wherever
else the odious and abominable doctrine may be attempted
to be exercised. I look upon the doctrine of secession,
as coming in conflict with all organism, moral and social.
I repeat, without regard to the peculiar institutions of
the respective States composing this Confederacy ; with
out regard to any Government that may be founded in the
future, or exists in the present, this odious doctrine of
secession should be crushed out, destroyed, and totally
annihilated. No Government can stand, no religious, or
moral, or social organization can stand, where this doer
trine is tolerated. (Applause.) It is disintegration— •
universal dissolvement — in making war upon every thing
that has a tendency to promote and ameliorate the con
dition of the mass of mankind. (Applause.) Therefore,
I repeat, that this odious and abominable doctrine — you
must pardon me for using a strong expression — I do not
say it in a profane sense — but this doctrine I conceive to
be — hell-born and hell-bound, and one which will carry '
every thing in its train, unless it is arrested and crushed
out from our midst. (Great Applause.) %
In response to what has been said to me here to-day.
I confess, when I lay my hand upon my bosom, I feel*
gratified at hearing the sentiments that have been ut-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 33
tered— that we are all willing to stand up for the consti
tutional rights guaranteed to every State, every commu
nity — that we are all deteggigfsrd to stand up for the pre
rogatives secured to us inthe Constitution as citizens of
States, composing one grand Confederacy, whether we
belong to the North or to the South, to the East or to
the West. I say that I am gratified to hear such senti
ments uttered here to-day. I regard them as the most
conclusive evidence that there is no disposition on the
part of any citizens of the loyal States to make war upon
any peculiar institution of the South, (Applause) whether
it be slavery or any thing else — leaving that institution
under the Constitution, to be controlled by time, circum
stances, and the great laws which lie at the foundation of
all things which political legislation can control. (Ap
plause.) While I am before you, my countrymen, I am in hopes
it will not be considered out of place for me to make a
single remark or two, in reference to myself as connected
with the present crisis. My position in the Congress of
the United States during its last session, is, I suppose,
familiar to most, if not all of you. You know the doc
trine I laid down then, and I can safely say that the
opinions I entertain now on the questions of the day, are
as they were then. I have not changed them. I have
seen no reason to change them. I believe that a Govern
ment without the power to enforce its laws, made in con
formity with the Constitution, is no Government at all.
(Applause.) We have arrived at that period in our na
tional history, at which it has become necessary for this
Government to say to the civilized, as well as to the pagan
world, whether it is in reality a Government, or whethei
it is but a pretext for a Government. If it has power t<?
preserve its existence, and to maintain the principles of
the Constitution and the laws, that time has noHtarrived-
If it is a Government, that authority should wBsserted.
I say, then, let the civilized world see that we have »•
Government Let us dispel the delusion under which we
have been laboring since the inauguration of the Govern
ment in 1789 — let us show that it is not an ephemeral
»|titution ; that we have not merely imagined we had a
overnment, and when the test came, that the Govern
ment frittered away between our fingers and quickly faded

34. LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
in the.distance. (Applause.) The time has come when
the Government reared by our fathers should assert itself,
and give conclusive proof to the civilized world that it is
a reality arid a perpetuity. (Applause.) Let us show to
other nations that this doctrine of secession is a heresyf-
that States coming into the Confederacy, that individuals
lhing in the Confederacy, under the Constitution have no
right nor authority, upon their own volition, to set the
laws and the Constitution aside, and to bid defiance to the
authority of the Government under which they live. (Ap
plause.) I substantially cited the best authority that could be
produced upon this subject, and took this position during;
the last session of Congress. I stand here to-day before
you and advocate the same principles for which I then
contended. As early as 1833, (let me here say I am glad
to find that the committee which have waited upon me
on this occasion represent all the parties among which we
have been divided ;) as early as 1833, I say, I formed my
opinions in reference to this doctrine of secession in the
nullification of the laws of the United States. I held
these doctrines up to the year 1850, and I maintain them
still. (Applause.) I entertained these opinions down to
the latest sitting of Congress, and I have reiterated them.
I entertain and express them here to-day. (Applause.)
In this connection I may be permitted to remark that,,,
during our last struggle for the Presidency, all partil&
contended for the preservation of the Union. Without
going further back, what was that struggle ? Senator
Douglas, of the State of Illinois, was a candidate. His
friends, presented him as the best Union man. I shall
speak upon this subject in reference to my position. Mr.
Breckinridge's friends presented him to the people as the
Union candidate. I was one of Mr.' Breckinridge's friends. ¦
The Bejmen presented the claims of the Hon. John Bell,
of TenflKee, for the Presidency, upon the ground that he
was thebest Union candidate. The Republican party*
so far as I understand them, have always been in favor
of the Union. Then here was the contest between four
candidates presented to the consideration of the people
di the United States. alt
Now, where do we find ourselves ? In times gone
by, you know we had our discussions and our quarrels.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 35
It was bank and anti-bank questions, tariff and anti,tariff,
internal improvement and anti-internal improvement, or
the distribution of the money derived from the sale of
public land, among the several States. Snch .'measures
as these was presented to the people, and the aim in the
solution of all was how best to preserve the Union of
these States. One party favored the measures as calcu
lated to promote the welfare of our common country ;
another opposed them to bring about the same result.
Then what was the former contest ? Bringing it down
to the present times, there has been no disagreement be
tween Republicans, Bell men, Douglas men, and Breckin
ridge men, as regards the preservation of the Union of
States. Now, however, these measures are all laid aside ;
all these. party questions are left out of consideration, and
the great question comes up as to the Constitution, as
adopted by the old Articles of Confederation, and after
wards reaffirmed in the adoption of the Constitution of
the United States. Now, when this great question arises
involving the preservation and existence of the United
States, I am proud to meet this vast concourse of people,
and hear them say they are willing to lay aside all party
measures, all party considerations, and come up to join
in one fraternal hug to sustain the bright stars and broad
stripes of our glorious Union — all willing to cooperate for
the consummation of a sublime purpose, without regard
to former party differences — that we are all determined
to stand fast by the Union of these States. (Applause.)
So far as I am concerned I am willing to say in this
connection that I am proud to stand here among you as
one of the humble upholders and supporters of the Stars
and Stripes that have been borne by Washington through
a seven years' revolution — a bold and manly struggle for
our independence, and separation from the mother coun
try. That is my flag — that flag was borne by Washing
ton in triumph. Under it I want to live, and Spider no
pther. It is that flag that has been borne in triumph by
the Revolutionary fathers over every battle-field, when
our brave men, after toil and danger, laid down and slept
on the cold ground, with no covering but the inclement
sljy, and arose in the morning, and renewed their march
over the frozen ground, as the blood trickled from their
feet — all to protect that banner and bear it aloft triumph-

36 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
antly. I have intimated that I should make some allusion
to myself. I have indicated to you what were my opin
ions and my views from 1838 down to the moment I stand
before you. With the facts in relation to the contest^
which took place recently in the State of Tennessee, you
are all familiar. No longer ago than last February there
was an extra session of the Legislature called. There
was then a law passed authorizing a Convention to he
called. The people of that State voted it down by a
majority of sixty-four thousand.
In a very short time afterwards, another session of
the Legislature was called. This Legislature went into'
secret session in a very short time. While the Southern
Confederacy, or its agents, had access to it, and were put
in possession of the doings and proceedings of this secret"
session, the great mass of my own State were not per
mitted even to put their ears to the keyhole, or to look'
through a crevice in the doors, to ascertain what was be
ing done. A league with the Southern Confederacy has
been formed, and the State has been handed over to the
Southern Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis at its head. :
We, the people of Tennessee, have been' handed over to
this Confederacy, I say, like sheep in the shambles, bound
hand and foot, to be disposed of as Jefferson Davis and
his cohorts may think proper. This Ordinance was
passed by the Convention with a proviso that it should
be submitted to the people. The Governor was author
ized to raise fifty-five thousand men. Money was appro
priated to enable him to carry out this diabolical and
nefarious scheme, depriving the people of their rights*
disposing of them as stock in the market — handing them
over body and soul, to the Southern Confederacy.
Now you may talk about slaves and slavery, but in
most instances when a slave changes his master, even he
has the arjvilege of choosing whom he desires for his next
master ;^But in this instance the sovereign people of a
free State have not been allowed the power or privilege
of choosing the master they desired to serve. They have
been given a master without their consent or advice. No
trouble was taken to ascertain what their desires were —
they were at once handed over to this Southern Con
federacy.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 37
Mr. Johnson here gave a statement of the provisions
of the Tennessee Secession Ordinance, etc. The eastern
portion of the State, he said, had rejected the ordinance
by a large majority, and would always remain firmly op
posed to it. He referred to the refusal of Governor Har
ris to furnish arms to East Tennessee, unless the people
would agree to fight for the State Government. Speaking
of the persecution of 'the Union men in Tennessee, he
said :
But while this contest has been going on, a portion
of our fellow-citizens have been standing up for the Con
stitution and the Union, and because they have dared to
stand upon the great embattlement of constitutional liber
ties, exercising the freedom and the liberty of speech, a
portion of our people have declared that we are traitors;
they have said that our fate was to be the fate of traitors;
and that hemp was growing, and that the day of our exe
cution was approaching — that the time would come when
those who dare stand by the Constitution and the princi
ples therein embraced, would expiate their deeds upon the
gallows. We have met all these things. We have met
them in open day. We have met them face to face — toe
to toe — at least in one portion of the State. We have
told them that the Constitution of the United States de
fines treason, and that definition is, that treason against
the United States shall consist only in levying war against
the General Government of the United States We have
told them that the time would come when the principles
of the Constitution, and the law defining treason would
be maintained. We have told them that the time would
come when the judiciary of the Government would be
sustained in such a manner that it could define what was
treason under the Constitution and the law made in con
formity with it, and that when defined, they would ascer
tain who were the traitors, and who it was that would
stretch the hemp they had prepared for us. (Applause.)
I know that in reference to myself and others, rewards
have been offered, and it has been said that warrants have
been issued for our arrest. Let me say to y u here to
day, that I am no fugitive, especially no fugitive from j,us-

38 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
tice. (Laughter.) If I were a fugitive, I would be a
fugitive from tyranny — a fugitive from the reign of terror.
But, thank God, the country in which I live, and that
division of the State from which I hail, will record a vote
of twenty-five thousand against the Secession Ordinance.
The county in which I live, gave a majority of two
thousand and seven against this odious, diabolical, nefa
rious, hell-born and hell-bound doctrine.
The speaker continued in a strain similar to the above
for about fifteen minutes longer. He made many humor
ous allusions to the " bravery" of the secession soldiery,
and wound up with a heart-stirring appeal for the preser
vation of the Union.

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITU
TION.
During the session of 1861, amid the innumerable plans
of pacification offered, Senator Johnson presented three
amendments to the Constitution. One proposed to make
the President and Vice-President elected by the people
directly, instead of by the electoral college. The second
proposed that the Senators of the United States should
be elected by the people, instead of by the Legislatures
of the various States. The third provided that the Su
preme Court should be divided into three classes, the
term of the first class of judges to expire in four years
from the time of making the classification ; of the second
class in eight years, and of the third class in twelve years,
and as these vacancies occur they are to be filled by per
sons chosen — one half from the Slave States and the
pother half from the Free States, thereby taking the judges,
so far as their selection goes, from the respective divisions
of the country; also, that either the President or Vice-
President, at each election, shall be from the slaveholding
States. These amendments did not carry, but they af
forded Mr. Johnson an opportunity to make a very able

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 39
speech, showing the impossibility of legally breaking up
the Union and the absurdity of any State claiming the
right of secession. He said : " If the States have the
right to secede at will, for real or imaginary evils or op
pressions, I repeat again, this Government is at an end ;
it is not stronger than a rope of sand ; its own weight
will tumble it to pieces, and it cannot exist."
On the 13th of July, 1861, Senator Johnson presented
the credentials of Senators Willey and Carlisle, elected
Senators by the Legislature of the new State of Western
Virginia. After a long debate the credentials were re
ceived, and the new Senators were sworn in.
THE ORIGIN OP THE REBELLION-OBJECT
OP THE WAR.
On the 26th of July, 1861, Senator Johnson offered the
following resolution :
Eesolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been
forced upon the country by the disunionists of the South
ern States, now in revolt against the Constitutional gov
ernment, and in arms around the Capitol; that, in this
national emergency, Congress, banishing all feeling of
mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty- to
the whole country ; that this war is not prosecuted upon
our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of
conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of autho
rizing or interfering with the rights, or established insti
tutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the
supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pur
suance thereof, and to preserve the Union, with all the
dignity, equality, and rights of the several States, unim
paired ; that as soon as these objects are accomplished,
the war ought to cease.
After a spirited debate, the resolution was adopted —
ayes 80 ; noes 5.
A similar resolution had been adopted by the House of
Representatives, on motion of John J. Crittenden, of Ken
tucky, on the 22d of the same month.

40 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Perhaps the noblest speech of Mr. Johnson's Senatorial
career — certainly, the one showing the deepest political
research, the profoundest philosophy, and the most tho
rough and unselfish patriotism, was that delivered on the
27th of July, 1861. It was on the joint resolution ap
proving certain acts of the President for suppressing
insurrection and rebellion. The resolution finally passed,
and as a precedent, it will be a warning to all who aim at
rebellion in future, that salus respublica suprema lex.
We regard Mr. Johnson's masterly oration as so grand
and conclusive that, in spite of its length, we quote it
in full :
SPEECH OP ANDREW JOHNSON, ON THE RE
SOLUTION APPROVING CERTAIN ACTS OF
THE PRESIDENT FOR SUPPRESSING REBEL
LION.
The Senate having under consideration the joint reso
lution to approve and confirm certain acts of the Presi
dent of the United States for suppressing insurrection
and rebellion, Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, said :
Mb,. President : — When I came from my home to the seat
of Government, in compliance with the proclamation of
the President of the United States calling us together in
extra session, it was not my intention to engage in any
of the discussions that might transpire in this body ; but
since the session began, in consequence of the course
which things have taken, I feel unwilling to allow the
Senate to adjourn without saying a few words in response
to many things that have been submitted to the Senate
since its session commenced. What little I shall say to
day will be without much method or order. I shall pre
sent the suggestions that occur to my mind, and shall
endeavor to speak of the condition of the country as it is.
On returning here, we find ourselves, as we were when
we adjourned last spring, in the midst of a civil war.
That war is now progressing, without much hope or
prospect of a speedy termination. It seems to me Mr.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 41
President, that our Government has reached one of three
periods through which all Governments must pass. A
nation, or a people, have first to pass through a fierce
ordeal in obtaining their independence or separation from
the Government to which they were attached. In some
instances this is a severe ordeal. We passed through
such a one in the Revolution ; we were seven years in
effecting the separation, and in taking our position among
the nations of the earth as a separate and distinct power.
Then, after having succeeded in establishing its indepen
dence, and taken its position among the nations of the
earth, a nation must show its ability to maintain that
position, that separate and distinct independence, against
other powers, against foreign foes. In 1812, in the his
tory of our Government, this ordeal commenced, and ter
minated in 1815.
There is still another trial through which a nation must
pass. It has to contend against internal foes, against
enemies at home ; against those who have no confidence
in its integrity, or in the institutions established under its
organic law. We are in the midst of this third ordeal,
and the problem now being solved before the nations of
the earth, and before the people of the United States, is
whether, we can succeed in maintaining ourselves against
the internal foes of the Government ; whether we can
succeed in putting down traitors and treason, and in
establishing the great fact that we have a Government
with sufficient strength to maintain its existence against
whatever combination may be presented in opposition
to it.
This brings me to a proposition laid down by the
Executive in his recent message to the Congress of the
United States. In that message the President said :
" This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of
the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world
that form and substance of government, whose leading
object is to elevate the condition of men ; to lift artificial
weights from all shoulders ; to clear the paths of laudable
pursuit for all ; to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair
chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and tempo
rary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object
of the Government for whose existence we contend."
I think the question is fairly and properly stated by

42 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
the President, that it is a struggle whether the people
shall rule ; whether the people shall have a Government
based upon their intelligence, upon their integrity, upon
their purity of character, sufficient to govern themselves.
I think this is the true issue; and the time has now
arrived when the energies of the nation must be put forth,
when there must be union and concert on the part of all
those who agree in man's capability of self-government,
without regard to their former divisions or party prejudices,
in order to demonstrate that great proposition.
Since this discussion commenced, it has been urged
and argued, by Senators on one side, that there was a
disposition to change the nature and character of the
Government, and that, if we proceed as we are going, it
would result in establishing a dictatorship. It has been
said that the whole frame-work, nature, genius, and
character of the Government would be entirely changed ;
and great apprehensions have been thrown out that it
would result in a consolidation of the Government, or a.
dictatorship. We find, in the speech delivered by the
distinguished Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Breckinridge)
the other day, the following paragraph, alluding to what
will be the effect of the passage of this joint resolution
approving the action of the President : .
" Here in Washington, in Kentucky, in Missouri,
everywhere where the authority of the President extends,
in his discretion he will feel himself warranted, by the
action of Congress upon this resolution, to subordinate
the civil to the military power; to imprison citizens with
out warrant of law ; to suspend the writ of habeas corpus ;
to establish martial law ; to make seizures and searches
without warrant ; to suppress the press ; to do all those
acts which rest in the will and in the authority of a
military commander. In my judgment, sir, if we pass it,
we are upon the eve of putting, so far as we can, in the
hands of the President of the United States the power of
a dictator." Then, in reply to the Senator from Oregon, (Mr. Baker,)
he seems to have great apprehension of a radical change in
our form of government. The Senator goes on to say :
" The pregnant question, Mr. President, for us to
decide is, whether the Constitution is to be respected in
this struggle ; whether we are to be called upon to follow

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 43
the flag over the ruins of the Constitution ? Without
questioning the motives of any, I believe that the whole
tendency of the present proceedings is to establish a
government without limitation of powers, and to change
radically our frame and character of government."
Sir, I most fully concur with the Senator that there is '
a great effort being made to change the nature and
character of our Government. I think that effort is being
demonstrated and manifested most clearly every day ; but
we differ as to the parties making this great effort.
The Senator alludes, in his speech, to a conversation
he had with some very intelligent gentlemen who formerly
represented our country abroad. It appears from that
conversation that foreigners were accustomed to say to
Americans, "I thought your Government existed by con
sent ; now how is it to exist ?" and the reply was, " We
intend to change it ; we intend to adapt it to our con
dition ; these old colonial geographical divisions and
States will ultimately be rubbed out, and we shall have
a Government strong and powerful enough." The
Senator seemed to have great apprehensions based on
those conversations. He read a paragraph from a paper
indicating that State lines were to be rubbed out. In
addition to all this, he goes on to state that the writ of
habeas corpus has been violated, and he says that since
the Government commenced, there has not been a case
equal to the one which has recently transpired in Mary
land. I shall take up some of his points in their order,
and speak of them as I think they deserve to be spoken
of. The Senator says :
" The civil authorities of the country are paralyzed,
and a practical martial law is being established all over
the land. The like never happened in this country before,
and would not be tolerated in any country in Europe
which pretends to the elements of civilization and regu
lated liberty. George Washington carried the thirteen
colonies through the war of the Revolution without
martial law. The President of the United States cannot
conduct the Government three months without resorting
to it,"
The Senator puts great stress on the point, and
speaks of it in very emphatic language, that General
Washington carried the country through the seven years

44 LIFE- AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
of the Revolution without resorting to martial law during
all that period of time. Now, how does the matter
stand ? When we come to examine the history of the
country, it would seem that the Senator had not hunted
up all the cases. We can find some, and one in particular,
not very different from the case which has recently
occurred, and to which he alluded. In 1777, the second
year of the war of the Revolution, members of the society
of Friends in Philadelphia were arrested on suspicion of
being disaffected to the cause of American Freedom. A
publication now before me says :
" The persons arrested, to the number of twenty," * *
¦.* * * " were taken into custody by military force, at
their homes or usual places of business ; many of them
could not obtain any knowledge of the cause of their
arrest, or of any one to whom they were amenable, and
they could only hope to avail themselves of the interven
tion of some civil authority.
" The Executive Council, of the State of Pennsylvania,
being formed of residents of the city and county of Phila
delphia, had a better knowledge of the Society of Friends
and of their individual characters than the members of
Congress assembled from the various parts of the country,
and ought to have protected them. But instead of this,
they caused these arrests of their fellow-citizens to be
made with unrelenting severity, and from the 1st to the
4th day of September, 1777, the party was taken into
confinement in the Mason's Lodge in Philadelphia.
"On the minutes of Congress of 3d September, 1777, it
appears that a letter was received by them fiom George
Bryan, Vice President of the Supreme Executive Council,
dated 2d September, stating that arrests had been made
of persons inimical to the American States, and desiring
the advice of Congress particularly whether Augusta and
Winchester, in Virginia, would not be proper places at
which to secure prisoners." * * "*
" Congress must have been aware that it was becoming
a case of very unjust suffering, for they passed their reso
lution of 6th September, 1777, as follows:
" ' That it be recommended to the Supreme Executive
Council of the State of Pennsylvania to hear what the
said remonstrants can allege to remove the suspicions of
their being disaffected or dangerous to the United State* '

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 45
" But the Supreme Executive Council, on the same
day, referring to the above,
" ' Resolved, That the President do write to Congress
to let them know that the Council has not time to attend
to that business in the present alarming crisis, and that
they were agreeably to the recommendation of Congress,
at the moment the resolve was brought into Council, dis
posing of every thing for the departure of the prisoners.'
" As the recommendation of Congress of the 6th ot
September to give the prisoners a hearing was refused by
the Supreme Executive Council, the next minute made by
Congress was as follows :
" 'In Congress, 8th September, 1777.
" ' Resolved, That it would be improper for Congress to
enter into a hearing of the remonstrants or other prison
ers in the Mason's Lodge, they being inhabitants of Penn
sylvania ; and therefore, as the Council declines giving
them a hearing for the reasons assigned in their letter to
Congress, that it be recommended to said Council to order
the immediate departure of such of said prisoners as yet
refuse to swear or affirm allegiance to the State of Penn
sylvania, to Staunton, in Virginia.'
" The remonstrances made to Congress, and to the Su
preme Executive Council being unavailing, the parties
arrested were ordered to depart for Virginia on the 11th
September, 1777, when, as their last resource, they applied
under the laws of Pennsylvania, to be brought before the
judicial courts by writs of habeas corpus.
"The departure of the prisoners was committed to the
care of Colonel Jacob Morgan, of Bucks county, and they
were guarded by six of the light-horse, commanded by
Alexander Nesbitt and Samuel Caldwell, who were to
obey the despatches from the Board of War, of which Gen
eral Horatio Gates was president, directed to the lieuten
ants of the counties through which the prisoners were to
pass. " The writs of habeas corpus, on being presented to the
Chief Justice, were marked by him, ' Allowed by Thomas
McKean,' and they were served on the officers who had
the prisoners in custody, when they had been taken on
their journey as far as, Reading, Pennsylvania, on the

46 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
1 4th day of September, but the officers refused to obey
them. " It appears by the journal of the Supreme Executive
Council of the 16th of September, that Alexander Nes
bitt, one of the officers, had previously obtained informa
tion about the writs, and made a report of them ; when
the Pennsylvania Legislature, at the instance of the Su
preme Executive Council, passed a law, on the 16th of
September, 1777, to suspend the habeas corpus act ; and
although it was an ex post facto law, as it related to their
case, the Supreme Executive Council on that day ordered
the same to be carried into effect."
Continuing the history of this case, we find that
" The party consisted of twenty persons, of whom sev
enteen were members of the Society of Friends. They
were ordered first to Staunton, then a frontier town in
the western settlement of Virginia, but afterward to be
detained at Winchester, where they were kept in partial
confinement nearly eight months, without provision being
made for their support ; for the only reference to this
was by a resolution of the Supreme Executive Council of
Pennsylvania, dated April 8, 1778, as follows :
" ' Ordered, That the whole expenses of arresting and
confining the prisoners sent to Virginia, the expenses of
their journey, and all other incidental charges, be paid by
the said prisoners.'
" During the stay of the exiles at Winchester, nearly
all of them suffered greatly from circumstances unavoid
able in their situation — from anxiety, separation from their
families, left unprotected in Philadelphia, then a besieged
city, liable at any time to be starved out or taken by as
sault; while from sickness and exposure during the winter
season, in accommodations entirely unsuitable for them,
two of their number departed this life ip the month of
March, 1778."
Thus, Mr. President, we find that the writ of habeas
corpus was suspended by the authorities of Pennsylvania
during the Revolution, in the case of persons who were
considered dangerous and inimical to the country. A
writ was taken out and served upon the officers, and
they refused to surrender the prisoners, or even to give
them a hearing. If the Senator from Kentucky had de
sired an extreme case and wished to make a display of

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 47
his legal and historical information, it would have been
very easy for him to have cited this case — much more
aggravated, much more extravagant, much more striking,
than the one in regard to which he was speaking. Let it
be remembered, also, that this case, although it seems to be
an extravagant and striking one, occurred during the war
of the Revolution, under General Washington, before we
had a President. We find that at that time the writ of
habeas corpus was suspended, and twenty individuals were
denied even the privilege of a hearing, because they were
considered inimical and dangerous to the liberties of the
country. In the midst of the Revolution, when the writ
of habeas corpus was as well understood as it is now,
when they were familiar with its operation in Great Brit
ain, when they knew and understood all the rights and
privileges it granted to the citizen, we find that the Legis
lature of Pennsylvania passed a law repealing the power
to issue the writ of habeas corpus, and went back and
relieved the officers who refused to obey the writs, and
indemnified them from the operation of any wrong they
might have done. If the Senator wanted a strong and
striking case, one that would bear comment, why did he
not go back to this case, that occurred in the Revolution,
during the very period referred to by him ? But no ; all
these cases seem to have been forgotten, and the mind was
fixed down upon a case of recent occurrence. There is a
great similarity in the cases. The one to which I have
alluded, however, is a much stronger case than that re
ferred to by the Senator. It was in Philadelphia where
Congress was sitting; it was in Pennsylvania where these
persons, who were considered inimical to the freedom of
the country were found. Congress was appealed to, but
Congress executed the order ; and the Legislature of
Pennsylvania, after it was executed, though it was in vio
lation of the right to the writ of habeas corpus, passed a
law indemnifying the persons that had violated it, and
made it retrospective in its operation. What is our case
now ? We are not struggling for the establishment of
our nationality, but we are now struggling for the exist
ence of the Government. Suppose the writ of habeas
corpus has been suspended ; the question arises whether
it was not a justifiable suspension at the time ; and ough4-
we not now to endorse simply what we would have done
3

48 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
if we had been here ourselves at the time the power was
exercised ?
The impression is sought to be made on the public
mind, that this is the first and only case where the power
has been exercised. I have shown that there is one ten
fold more striking, that occurred during our struggle for
independence. Is this the first time that persons in the
United States have been placed under martial law ? In
1815, when New Orleans was about to be sacked, when a
foreign foe was upon the soil of Louisiana, New Orleans
was put under martial law, and Judge Hall was made a
prisoner because he attempted to interpose. Is there a
man here, or in the country, who condemns General
Jackson for the exercise of the power of proclaiming
martial law in 1815? , Could that city have been saved
without placing it under martial law, and making Judge
Hall submit to it ? I know that General Jackson sub
mitted to be arrested, tried, and fined $1,000; but what
did Congress do in that case ? It did just what we are
called on to do in this case. By the restoration of his
fine— an act passed by an overwhelming majority in the
two Houses of Congress — the nation said, " We approve
what you did." Suppose Mr. President, (and it may have
been the case,) that the existence of the Government
depended upon the protection and successful defence of
New Orleans ; and suppose, too, it was in violation of the
strict letter of the Constitution for General Jackson to
place New Orleans under martial law, but without placing
it under martial law the Government would have been
overthrown : is there any reasonable, any intelligent man,
in or out of Congress, who would not endorse and acknow
ledge the exercise of a power which was indispensable to
the existence and maintenance of the Government ? The
Constitution was likely to be overthrown, the law was
about to be violated, and the Government trampled under
foot ; and when it becomes necessary to prevent this, even
by exercising a power that comes in conflict with the Con
stitution in time of peace, it should and ought to be exer
cised. If General Jackson had lost the city of New
Orleans, and the Government had been overthrown by a
refusal on his part to place Judge Hall and the city of
New Orleans under martial law, he ought to have lost his
head. But he acted as a soldier ; he acted as a patriot •

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 49
he acted as a statesman ; as one devoted to the institutions
and the preservation and the existence of his Government ;
and the grateful homage of a nation was hisreward.
Then, sir, the power which has been exercised in this
instance is no new thing. In great emergencies, when the
life of a nation is in peril, when its very existence is
flickering, to question too nicely, to scan too critically, its
acts in the very midst of that crisis, when the Government
is likely to be overthrown, is to make war upon it, and to
try to paralyze its energies. If war is to be made upon
those who seem to violate the laws of the United States
in their efforts to preserve the Government, wait until the
country passes out of its peril ; wait until the country is
relieved from its difficulty ; wait until the crisis passes by,
and then come forward, dispassionately, and ascertain to
what extent the law has been violated, if, indeed, it has
been violated at all.
A gl-eat ado has been made in reference to the Execu
tive proclamation calling out the militia of the States to
the extent of seventy-five thousand men. That call was
made under the authority of the act of 1795, and is
perfectly in accordance with the law. It has been decided
by the Supreme Court of the United States that that act
is constitutional, and that the President alone is the judge
of the question whether the exigency has arisen. This
decision was made in the celebrated case of Martin agt.
Mott. The opinion of the Court was delivered by Judge
Story. Let me read from the opinion of the Court :
"It has not been denied here that the act of 1795 is
within the constitutional authority of Congress, or that
Congress may not lawfully provide for cases of imminent
danger of invasion, as well as for cases where an invasion
has actually taken place. In our opinion there is no
ground for a doubt on this point, even if it had been relied
on ; for the power to provide for repelling invasion
includes the power to provide against the attempt and
danger of invasion, as the necessary and proper means to
effectuate the object. One of the best means to repel
invasion is to provide the requisite force for action before
the invader himself has reached the soil.
" The power thus confided by Congress to the President
is, doubtless, of a very high and delicate nature. A free
people are naturally jealous of the exercise of military

50 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
power; and the power to call the militia into actual
service is certainly felt to be one of no ordinary magni
tude. But it is not a power which can be executed with
out a corresponding responsibility. It is, in its terms, a
limited power, confined to cases of actual invasion, or of
imminent danger of invasion. If it be a limited power,
the question arises, by whom is the exigency to be judged
of and decided ? - Is the President the sole and exclusive
judge whether the exigency has arisen, or is it to be con
sidered as an open question, upon which every officer, to
whom the orders of the President are addressed, may decide
for himself, and equally open to be contested by every militia
man who shall refuse to obey the orders of the President ?
We are all of opinion that the authority to decide whether
the exigency has arisen belongs exclusively to the President,
and that his decision is conclusive upon all other persons.
We think that this construction necessarily results from the
nature of the power itself, and from the manifest object
contemplated by the act of Congress. The power itself
is to be exercised upon sudden emergencies, upon great
occasions of state, and under circumstances which may
be vital to the existence of the Union. A prompt and
unhesitating obedience to orders is indispensable to the
complete attainment of the object. The service is a mili
tary service, and the command of a military nature ; and
in such cases every delay and every obstacle to an
efficient and immediate compliance necessarily tend to
jeopard the public interests." — Martin vs. Mott, 12 Whea-
ton's Reports, p. 29.
We see, then, that the power is clear as to calling out
the militia ; we see that we have precedents for the suspen
sion of the writ of. habeas corpus.
The next objection made is that the President had no
power to make additions to the navy and army. I say, in
these two instances, he is justified by the great law of
necessity. At the time I believe it was necessary to the
existence of the Government; and, it being necessary, he
had a right to exercise all those powers, that, in his judg
ment, the crisis demanded for the maintenance of the exist
ence of the Government itself. The simple question — if
you condemn the President for acting in the absence of
. law — is, Do you condemn the propriety of his course ; do
you condemn the increase of the army ? Do you condemn

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 51
the increase of the navy? If you oppose the measure simply
upon the ground that the Executive called them forth antici
pating law, what will you do now ? The question presents
itself at this time, Is it not necessary to increase the army
and the navy ? If you condemn the exercise of the power of
the Executive in the absence of law, what will you do now,
as the law-making power, when it is manifest that the
army and the navy should be increased ? You may make war
upon the Executive for anticipating the action of Congress.
What do gentlemen do now, when called upon to support
the Government ? Do they do it? They say the Presi
dent anticipated the action of Congress. Does not the
Government need an increase of the army and the navy ?
Where do gentlemen stand now ? Are they for it ? Do
they sustain the Government ? Are they giving it a help
ing hand ? No : they go back and fifld fault with the
exercise of a power that they say is without law ; but now,
when they have the power to make the law, and when the
necessity is apparent, they stand back and refuse. Where
does that place those who take that course ? It places them
against- the Government, and against placing the means in
the hands of the Government to defend and perpetuate its
existence. The object is apparent, Mr. President. We
had enemies of the Government here last winter ; in my
opinion we have enemies of the Government here now.
I said that I agreed with the Senator from Kentucky
that there was a design — a deliberate determination — to
change the nature and character of our Government. Yes
sir, it has been the design for a long time. Aft the talk
about slavery and compromise has been but a pretext.
We had a long disquisition, and a very feeling one, from
the Senator from Kentucky. He became pathetic in the
hopelessness of compromises. Did not the Senator from
California, [Mr. Latham,] the other day, show unmistak
ably that it was not compromise they wanted ? I will add
that compromise was the, thing they most feared ; and
their great effort was to get out of Congress before any
compromise could be made. At first their cry was peace
able secession and reconstruction. They talked not of
compromise ; and, 1 repeat, their greatest dread and fear
was that something would be agreed upon ; that their last
and only pretext would be swept from under them, and
that they would stand before the country naked and exposed.

52 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
The Senator from California pointed out to you a num
ber of them who stood here and did not vote for certain
propositions, and those propositions were lost. What was
the action before the Committee of Thirteen ? Why did
not that committee agree ? Some of the most ultra men
from the North were members of that committee, and they
proposed to amend the Constitution so as to provide that
Congress in the future never should interfere with the
subject of slavery. The Committee failed to agree, and
some of its members at once telegraphed to their States,
that they must go out of the Union at once. But after all
that transpired in the early part of the session, what was
done ? We know what the argument has been ; in times
gone by I met it ; I have heard it again and again. It
has been said that one great object was, first to abolish
slavery in the District of Columbia and the slave trade
between the States, as a kind of initiative measure ; next,
to exclude it from the Territories ; and when the free
States constituted three-fourths of all the States, so as to
have power to change the Constitution, they would amend
the Constitution, so as to give Congress power to legislate
upon the subject of slavery in the States, and expel it from -
the States in which it is now. Has not that been the
argument ? Now, how does the matter stand ? At the
last session of Congress seven States withdrew — it may be
said that eight withdrew ; reducing the remaining slave
States down to one-fourth of the whole number of States.
The charge has been made, that whenever the free States
constituted a majority in the Congress of the United States,
sufficient to amend the Constitution, they would so amend
it as to legislate upon the institution of slavery within the
States, and that the institution of slavery would be over
thrown. This has been the argument ; it has been repeat
ed again and again ; and hence the great struggle about
the Territories. The argument was, we wanted to prevent
the creation of free States ; we did not want to be reduced
down to that point where, under the sixth article of the
Constitution, three-fourths could amend the Constitution
so as to exclude slavery from the States. This has been
the great point ; this has been the rampart ; this has been
the very point to which it has been urged that the free
States wanted to pass. Now, how does the fact stand ?
Let us " render unto Caesar the things that are Ceesar's."

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 53
We reached, at the last session, just the point where we
were in the power of the free States ; and then what was
done ? Instead of an amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, conferring power upon Congress to
legislate upon the subject of slavery, what was done ?
This joint resolution was passed by a two-thirds majority
in each House.
" Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled,
That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures
of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution
of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths
of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and pur
poses, as part of the said Constitution, viz :
" Art. 13. No amendment shall be made to the Con
stitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power
to abolish, or interfere, within any State, with the domes
tic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to
service or labor by the laws of said State."
Is not that very conclusive ? Here is an amendment to
the Constitution of the United States to make the Consti
tution unamendable upon that subject, as it is upon some
other subjects ; that Congress, in the future, should have
no power to legislate on the subject of slavery within the
States. Talk about "^compromise," and about' the settle
ment of this question ; how can you settle it more substan
tially ? How can you get a guarantee that is more binding
than such an amendment to the Constitution ? This
places the institution of slavery in the States entirely
beyond the control of Congress. Why have not the
Legislatures that talk about "reconstruction" and "com
promise" and " guaranties" taken up this amendment to
the Constitution and adopted it ? Some States have
adopted it. How many Southern States have done so ?
Take my own State, for instance. Instead of accepting
guarantees, protecting them in all future time against the
legislation of Congress on the subject of slavery, they un
dertake to pass ordinances violating the Constitution of
the country, and taking the State out of the Union and
into the Southern Confederacy. It is evident to me that
with many the talk about compromise and the settlement
of this question is mere pretext, especially with those who
understand the question.

54 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
What more was done at the last session of Congress,
when the North had the power ? Let us tell the truth.
Three territorial bills were brought forward and passed.
You remember in 1847, when the agitation arose in refer
ence to the Wilmot proviso. You remember in 1850 the
contest about slavery prohibition in the territories. You
remember in 1854 the excitement in reference to the
Kansas- Nebraska bill, and the power conferred on the
Legislature by it. Now we have a constitutional amend
ment, proposed at a time when the Republicans have
'Jke power ; and at the same time they come forward with
three territorial bills, and in neither of those bills can be
found any prohibition, so far as slavery is concerned in
the territories. Colorado, Nevada, and Dacotah are or
ganized without any prohibition of slavery. But what
do you find in these bills ? Mark, Mr. President, that
there is no slavery prohibition ; mark, too, the language
of the sixth section, conferring power upon the territorial
Legislature :
" Sec 6. And be it further enacted, That the Legislative
power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful sub
jects of legislation consistent with the Constitution of the
United States and the provisions of this act ; but no law
shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of
the soil ; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of
the United States ; nor shall the lands or other property
of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other
property of residents ; nor shall any law be passed im
pairing the rights of private property ; nor shall any dis
crimination be made in taxing different kinds of property ;
but all property subject to taxation shall be in propor
tion to the value of the property taxed. "
Can there be any thing more clear and conclusive ?
^First, there is no prohibition ; next, the Legislature shall
have no power to legislate so as to impair the rights of pri
vate property, and shall not tax one description of property
higher than another. Now, Mr. President, right here I
ask any reasonable, intelligent man throughout the Union
to take the amendment to the Constitution, take the three
territorial bills, put them all together, and how much of
the slavery question is left ? Is there any of it left ? Yet
we hear talk about compromise ; and it is said the Union
must be broken because you cannot get compromise. Does

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 55
not this settle the whole question ? There is no slavery
prohibition by Congress, and the Territorial Legislatures
are expressly forbidden from legislating so as to impair the
rights of property. I know there are some who are sin
cere in this talk about compromise ; but there are others
who are merely making it a pretext, who come here
claiming something in the hope that it will be refused,
and that then, upon that refusal, their States may be car
ried out of the Union. I should like to know how much
more secure we can be in regard to this question of
slavery. These three territorial bills cover every square
inch of territory we have got ; and here is an amendment
to the Constitution embracing the whole question, so far
as the States and the public lands of the United States are
concerned. I am as much for compromise as any one can be ; and
there is no one who would desire more than myself to see
peace and prosperity restored to the land ; but when we
look at the condition of the country, we find that rebellion
is rife ; that treason has reared its head. A distinguished
Senator from Georgia once said, " When traitors become
numerous enough, treason becomes respectable." Traitors
are getting to be so numerous now that I suppose treason
has almost got to be respectable ; but God being wil
ling, whether traitors be many or few, as I have hitherto
waged war against traitors and treason, and in behalf of
the Government which was constructed by our fathers, I
intend to continue it to the end. (Applause in the gal
leries.) \
The President pro tempore — Order.
Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee — Mr. President, we/are in
the midst of a civil war ; blood has been shed ; life has
been sacrificed. Who commenced it ? Of that we will
speak hereafter. I am speaking now of the talk about
compromise. Traitors and rebels are standing with arms
in their hands, and it is said that we must go forward and
compromise with them. They are in the wrong ; they
are making war upon the Government ; they are trying
to upturn and destroy our free institutions. I say to
them that the compromise I have to make under the exist
ing circumstances is, " ground your arms ; obey the laws ;
acknowledge the supremacy of the Constitution — when
you do that, I will talk to you about compromises." All

56 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.*
the compromise that I have to make is the compromise of
the Constitution of the United States. It is one of the
best compromises that can be made. We lived under it
from 1789 down to the 20th of December, 1860, when
South Carolina undertook to go out of the Union. We
prospered ; we advanced in wealth, in commerce, in agri
culture, in trade, in manufactures, in all the arts and sci
ences, and in religion, more than any people upon the
face of God's earth had ever done before in the same time.
What better compromise do you want ? You lived under
it till you got to be a great and prosperous people. It
was made by our fathers, and cemented by their blood.
When you talk to me about compromise, I hold up to you
the Constitution under which you derived all your great
ness, and which was made by the fathers of your country.
It will protect you in all your rights.
But it is said that we had better divide the country and
make a treaty and restore peace. If, under the Constitu
tion which was framed by Washington and Madison and
the patriots of the Revolution, we cannot live as broth
ers, as we have in times gone by, I ask can we live quietly
under a treaty, separated as enemies ? The same causes
will exist; our geographical and physical position will
remain just the same. Suppose you make a treaty of
peace and division ; if the same causes of irritation, if the
same causes of division continue to exist, and we cannot
live as brothers in fraternity under the Constitution made
by our fathers, and as friends in the same Government,
how can we live in peace as aliens and enemies under a
treaty ? It cannot be done ; it is impracticable. <
But, Mr. President, I concur fully with the distinguished
Senator from Kentucky in the dislike expressed by him to
a change in the form of Government. He seemed to be
apprehensive of a dictatorship. He feared there might be
a change in the nature and character of our institutions.
I could, if I chose, refer to many proofs to establish the
fact that there has been a design to change the nature of
our Government. I could refer to Mr. Rhett ; I could
refer to Mr. Inglis ; I could refer to various others to
prove this. The Montgomery Daily Advertiser, one of
the organs of the so-called Southern Confederacy, says :
" Has it been a precipitate revolution ? It has not.
With coolness and deliberation the subject has been

' LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 57
thought of for forty years ; for ten years it has been the
all-absorbing theme in political circles. From Maine to
Mexico all the different phases and forms of the question
have been presented to the people, until nothing else was
thought of, nothing else spoken of, and nothing else
taught in many of the political schools."
This, in connection with other things, shows that this
movement has been long contemplated, and that the idea
has been to separate from and break up this Government,
to change its nature and character ; and now, after they
have attempted the separation, if they can succeed, their
intention is to subjugate and overthrow and make the
other States submit to their form of government.
To carry out the idea of the Senator from Kentucky, I
want to show that, there is conclusive proof of a design
to change our Government.
I quote from the Georgia Chronicle :
" Our own republican Government has failed midway
in its trial, and with it have nearly vanished the hopes of
those philanthropists who, believing in man's capacity for
self-government, believed, therefore, in spite of so many
failures, in the practicability of a republic. "
"If this Government has gone down," asks the editor,
" what shall be its substitute ?" And he answers by say
ing that, as to the present generation, " it seems their only
resort must be to a constitutional monarchy." Hence you
see the Senator and myself begin to agree in the proposi
tion that the nature and character of the Government are
to be changed.
William Howard Russell, the celebrated correspondent
of The London Times, spent some time in South Carolina,
and he writes :
" From all quarters have come to my ears the echoes of
the same voice ; it may be feigned, but there is no discord
in the note, and it sounds in wonderful strength and mo
notony all over the country. Shades of George III., of
North, of Johnson, all of whom contended against the great
rebellion which tore these colonies from England, can you
hear the chorus which rings through the State of Marion,
Sumter, and Pinckney, and not clap your ghostly hands
in triumph ? That voice says, ' If we could only get one
of the royal race of England to rule over us, we should be

58 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
content !' Let there be no misconception on this point.
That sentiment, varied in a hundred ways, has been re
peated to me over and over again. There is a general ad
mission that the means to such an end are wanting, and
that the desire cannot be gratified. But the admiration
for monarchical institutions on the English model, for
privileged classes, and for a landed aristocracy and gentry,
is undisguised and apparently genuine. With the pride of
having achieved their independence, is mingled in the
South Carolinian's heart a strange regret at the result and
consequences, and many are they who ' would go back to
morrow, if we could.' An intense affection for the British
connection, a love of British habits and customs, a respect
for British sentiment, law, authority, order, civilization,
and literature, preeminently distinguish the inhabitants of
this State," &e.
This idea was not confined to localities. It was exten
sively prevalent, though policy prompted its occasional
repudiation. At a meeting of the people of Bibb County,
Georgia, the subject was discussed, and a constitutional
monarchy was not recommended for the Southern States,
" as recommended by some of the advocates of immediate
disunion." Here is evidence that the public mind had
been sought to be influenced in that direction ; but the
people were not prepared for it. Mr. Toombs, of Georgia,
during the delivery of a speech by Mr. A. H. Stephens,
before the Legislature of that State, did not hesitate to
prefer the form of the British Government to our own.
Not long since — some time in the month of May — I
read in The Richmond Whig, published at the place where
their Government is now operating, the centre from which
they are directing their armies, which are making war
upon this Government, an article in which it is stated that,
rather than submit to the Administration now in power in
the City of Washington, they would prefer passingunderthe
constitutional reign of the amiable Queen of Great Britain
I agree, therefore, with the Senator from Kentucky, that
there is a desire to change this Government. We see it
emanating from every point in the South. Mr. Toombs
was not willing to wait for the movement of the people.
Mr. Stephens, in his speech to the Legislature of Georgia,
preferred the calling of a Convention ; but Mr. Toombs wa»
unwilling to wait. Mr. Stephens was unwilling to see any

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 59
violent action in advance of fhe action of the people ; but
Mr. Toombs replied : "I will not wait; I will take the sword
in my own hand, disregarding the will of the people, even
in the shape of a Convention," and history will record that
he kept his word. He and others had become tired and
dissatisfied with a government of the people ; they have
lost confidence in man's capacity for self-government ; and
furthermore, they would be willing to form an alliance with
Great Britain ; or, if Great Britain were slow in forming
the alliance, with France ; and they know they can succeed
there, on account of the hate and malignity which exist
between the two nations. They would be willing to pass
under the reign of the amiable and constitutional Queen of
Great Britain 1 Sir, I love woman, and woman's reign in
the right place ; but when we talk about the amiable and
accomplished Queen of Great Britain, I must say that all
our women are ladies, all are queens, all are equal to Queen
Victoria, and many of them greatly her superiors. They
desire no such thing ; nor do we. Hence we see whither
this movement is tending. It is a change of government ;
and in that the Senator and myself most fully concur.
The Senator from Kentucky was wonderfully alarmed
at the idea of a " dictator," and replied with as much
point as possible to the Senator from Oregon, who made
the suggestion. But, sir, what do we find in The
Richmond Examiner, published at the seat of govern
ment of the so-called Confederate States ?
"In the late debates of the Congress of this Con
federacy, Mr. Wright, of Georgia, showed a true appre
ciation of the crisis when he advocated the grant of power
to the President, that would enable him to make imme
diate defence of Richmond, and to bring the whole force
of the Confederacy to bear on the affairs of Virginia. It
is here that the fate of the Confederacy is to be decided ;
and the time is too short to permit red tape to interfere
with public safety. No power in executive hands can be
too great, no discretion too absolute, at such moments as
these. We need a dictator. Let lawyers talk when the
world has time to hear them. Now let the sword do its
work. Usurpations of power by the chief, for the preser
vation of the people from robbers and murderers, will be
reckoned as genius and patriotism by all sensible men in

60 LIFE. AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
the world, now, and by every historian that will judge
the deed hereafter."
The articles of their leading papers, The Whig and The
Examiner, and the speeches of their leading men — all
show unmistakably that their great object is to change
the character of the Government. Hence we come back
to the proposition that it is a contest whether the people
shall govern or not. I have here an article that appeared
in The Memphis Bulletin, of my own State, from which
it appears that under this reign of Secession, this reign
of terror, this disintegrating element that is destructivf
of all good, and the acomplisher of nothing that is right
they have got things beyond their control :
" In times like these, there must be one ruling powei
to which all others must yield. 'In a multitude ol
counsellors,' saith the Book of Books, 'there is safety,/. but
nowhere we are told, in history or Revelation, that there
is aught of safety in a multitude of rulers. Any 'rule of
action,' sometimes called the ' law,' is better than a multi
tude of conflicting, irreconcilable statutes. Any one
head is better than forty, each of which may conceive
itself the nonpareil, par excellence, supreme 'caput' of all
civil and military affairs.
" Let Governor Harris be king, if need be, and Baugh
a despot." " Let Governor Harris be king, and Baugh a despot,"
says The Bulletin. Who is Baugh? The Mayor of
Memphis. The mob reign of terror gotten up under
this doctrine of Secession is so great that we find they
are appealing to the one-man power. They are even
willing to make the Mayor of the city a despot, and
Isham G. Harris, a little petty Governor of Tennessee, a
king; He is to be made king over the State that contains
the bones of the immortal, the illustrious Jackson. Isham
G. Harris a king ! Or Jeff. Davis a dictator, and Isham
G. Harris one of his satraps. He a king over the free
and patriotic people of Tennessee 1 Isham G. Harris to
be my king. Yes, sir, my king I I know the man. I
know his elements. I know the ingredients that consti
tute the compound called Isham G. Harris. King Harris
to be my master, and the master of the people that I
have the proud and conscious satisfaction of representing
on this floor ! Mr. President, he should not be my slave!
[Applause in the galleries.]

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 61
The President pro tempore — Order ! A repetition of
the offence will compel the chair to order the galleries to
be cleared forthwith. The order of the Senate must and
shall be preserved. No demonstrations of applause or
disapprobation will be allowed. The Chair hopes not to
be compelled to resort to the extremity of clearing the
galleries of the audience.
Mr. Johnson of Tennessee — I was proceeding with this
line of argument to show that, in the general proposition
that there was a fixed determination to change the
character and nature of the Government, the Senator from
Kentucky and myself agree, and so far I think I have
succeeded very well. And now, when we are looking at
the elements of which this Southern Confederacy is com
posed, it may be well enough to examine the principles
of the elements out of which a government is to be made
that they prefer to this. We have shown, so far as the
slavery question is concerned, that the whole question is
settled, and it is now shown to the American people and
the world that the people of the Southern States have
now got no right which they said they had lost before
they went out of this Union ; but, on the contrary, many
of their rights have been diminished, and oppression
and tyranny have been inaugurated in their stead. Let
me ask you, sir, and let me ask the nation, what right
has any State in this so-called Confederacy lost under
the Constitution of the United States ? Let me ask each
individual citizen in the United States, what right has he
lost by the continuance of this Government based on the
Constitution of the United States? Is there a man North
or South, East or West, who can put his finger on one
single privilege, or one single right, of which he has been
deprived by the Constitution or Union of these States ?
Can he do it ? Can he touch it ? Can he see it ? " Can
he feel it? No, sir; there is no one right that he has
lost. How many rights and privileges, and how much
protection have they lost by going out of the Union, and
violating the Constitution of the United States ?
Pursuing this line of argument in regard to the forma
tion of their Government, let us take South Carolina, for
instance, and see what her notions of government are.
She is the leading spirit, and will constitute one of the
master elements in the formation of this proposed Con
federate Government. What qualifications has South

62 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Carolina affixed upon members of her Legislature ? Let
us see what are her notions of government — a State that
will contribute to the formation of the Government that
is to exist hereafter. In the Constitution of South Caro
lina it is provided that
" No person shall be eligible to a seat in the House of
Representatives unless he is a free white man, of the age
of twenty-one, and hath been a citizen and resident of
this State three years previous to his election. If a resi
dent in the election district, he shall not be eligible to a
seat in the House of Representatives unless he be legally
seized and possessed, in his own right, of a settled free
hold estate of five hundred acres of land and ten ne
groes." This is the notion that South Carolina has of the
necessary qualifications of a member of the lower branch
of the State Legislature. _ Now, I desire to ask the dis
tinguished Senator from Kentucky — who seems to he
so' tenacious about compromises, about rights, and about
the settlement of this question, and who can discover
that the Constitution has been violated so often and
so flagrantly by the administration now in power, yet
never can see that it has been violated anywhere else. If
he desires to seek under this South Carolina Government
for his lost rights ? I do not intend to be personal. I
wish he were in his seat, for he knows that I have the
greatest kindness for him. I am free to say, in connec
tion with what I am about to observe, that I am selfish
in this ; because, if I lived in South Carolina, with these
disabilities or disqualifications affixed upon a member, I
would not be eligible to a seat in the lower branch of the
Legislature. That would be a poor place for me to go
and get my rights ; would it not ? I doubt whether the
Senator from Kentucky is eligible to-day to a seat in the
lower branch of the Legislature of South Carolina. I
do not refer to him in any other than the most respectful
terms, but I doubt whether he would be qualified to^ake
a seat in the lower branch of her Legislature. I should
not be, and I believe I am just as good as any who do
take seats there.
In looking further into the Constitution of South Caro
lina, in order to ascertain what are her principles of gov
ernment, what do we find ?. We find it provided that, in

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 63
the apportionment of these representatives, the whole
number of white inhabitants is to be divided by sixty-two,
and every sixty-second part is to have one member. Then
all the taxes are to be divided by sixty-two, and every
sixty-second part of the taxes is to have one member
also. Hence we see that slaves, constituting the basis
;f property, would get the largest amount of representa
tion ; and we see that property goes in an unequal repre-
sention to all the numbers, while those numbers consti
tute a part of the property-holders. That is the basis of
their representation.
Sir, the people whom I represent desire no such form
of government. Nothwithstanding they have been borne
down ; notwithstanding there has been an army of fifty-five
thousand men created by the Legislature; notwithstand
ing $5,000,000 of money has been appropriated to be ex
pended against the Union ; and notwithstanding the
arms manufactured by the Government, and distributed
among the States for the protection of the people, have
been denied to them by this little petty tyrant of a king,
and are now turned upon the Government for its over
throw and destruction, those people, when left to them
selves to carry out their own government and the honest
dictates of their own consciences, will be found to be op
posed to this revolution.
Mr. President, while the Congress of the Confederate
States was engaged in the formation of their Constitution,
I find a protest from South Carolina against a decision
of that Congress in relation to the slave-trade, in The
Charleston Mercury of Feb. 13. It is written by L. W.
Spratt, to " the Hon. John Perkins, delegate from Louis
iana." It begins in this way :
"From the abstract of the Constitution for the Pro
visional Government, published in the papers this morn
ing, it appears that the slave-trade, except with the Slave
States of North America, shall be prohibited. The Con
gress, therefore, not content with the laws of the late
United States against it, which, it is to be presumed,
were re-adopted, have unalterably fixed the subject, by a
provision of the Constitution."
He goes on and protests. We all know that that Consti
tution is made for the day, just for the time being, a mere
tub thrown out to the whale, to amuse and entertain the
public mind for a time. We know this to be so. But in
4

64 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
making his argument, what does he say ? Mr. Spratt, a
Commissioner who went to Florida, a member of the
Convention that took the State of South Carolina out of
the Union, says in this protest :
"The South is now in the formation of a slave republic.
This, perhaps is not admitted generally. There are many
contented to believe that the South as a geographical sec
tion, is in mere assertion of its independence ; that it is
instinct with no especial truth — pregnant of no distinct
social nature ; that for some unaccountable reason the
two sections have become opposed to each other ; that
for reasons equally insufficient, there is disagreement be
tween the people that direct them; and that from no
overruling necessity, no impossibility of co-existence, but
as mere matter of policy, it has been considered best for
the South to strike out for herself, and establish an inde
pendence of her own. This, I fear, is an inadequate con
ception of the controversy. "
This indicates the whole scheme.
" The contest is not between the North and South as
geographical sections, for between such sections merely
there can be no contest; nor between the people of the
North and the people of the South ; for our relations
have been pleasant ; and on neutral grounds there is still
nothing to estrange us. We eat together, trade together,
and practice yet, in intercourse with great respect, the
courtesies of common life. But the real contest is be
tween two forms of society which have become estab
lished, the one at the North, and the other at the South."
The protest continues :
" With that perfect economy of resources, that just
application of power, that concentration of forces, that
security of order which results to slavery from the per- '
manent direction of its best intelligence, there is no other
form of human labor that can' stand against it, and it will
build itself a home, and erect for itself, at some point
within the present limits of the Southern States, a struc-
tur3 of imperial power and grandeur — a glorious Con
federacy of States that will stand aloft and serene for ages,
amid the anarchy of democracies that will reel around it."
* * * * * # M
" But it may be that to this end another revolution may
he necessary. It is to be apprehended that this contest

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 65
between democracy and slavery is not yet over. It is cer
tain that both forms of society exist within the limits of the
Southern States ; both are distinctly developed within
the limits of Virginia ; and there, whether we perceive the
fact or not, the war already rages. In that State there
are about five hundred thousand slaves to about one mil
lion of whites ; and as at least as many slaves as masters
are necessary to the constitution of slave society, about
five hundred thousand of the white population are in
legitimate relation to' the slaves, and the rest are in excess. "
Hence we see the propriety of Mr. Mason's letter, in
which he declared that all those who would not vote for
secession must leave the State, and thereby you get clear
of the excess of white population over slaves. They must
emigrate. " Like an excess of alkali or acid in chemical experi
ments, they are unfixed in the social compound. Without
legitimate connection with the slave, they are in compe
tition with him."
The protest continues :
" And even in this State, (South Carolina), the ultimate
result is not determined. The slave condition here would
seem to be established. There is here an excess of one hun
dred and twenty thousand sjaves; and here is fairly ex
hibited the normal nature of the institution. The officers
of the State are slave-owners, and the representatives ol
slave-owners. In their public acts they exhibit the con
sciousness of a superior position. Without unusual indi
vidual ability, they exhibit the elevation of tone and
composiwe of public sentiment proper to a master class.
There is no appeal to the mass, for there is no mass to
appeal to ; there are no demagogues, for there is no
populace to breed them ; judges are not forced upon
the stump ; Governors are not to be dragged before the
people ; and when there is cause to act upon the fortunes
of Our social institution, there is perhaps an unusual
readiness to meet it."
Again :
" It is probable that more abundant pauper labor may
pour in, and it is to be feared that, even in this State, the
purest in its slave condition, democracy may gain a foot
hold, and that here also the contest for existence may be
waged between them.

66 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
" It thus appears that the contest is not ended with a
dissolution of the Union, and that the agents of that
contest still exist within the limits of the Southern States.
The causes that have contributed to the defeat of slavery
still occur ; our slaves are still drawn off by higher prices
£o the West. There is still foreign pauper labor ready to
supply their place. Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Mis
souri, possibly Tennessee and North Carolina, may lose
their slaves as New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey
have done. In that condition they must recommence the
contest. There is no avoiding that necessity. The sys
tems cannot mix ; and thus it is that slavery, like the Thra-
cian horse returning from the field of victory, still bears a
master on his back ; and, having achieved one revolution
to escape democracy at the North, it must still achieve
another to escape it at the South. That it will ultimately
triumph none can doubt. It will become redeemed and
vindicated, and the only question now to be determined is,
shall there be an other revolution to that end?" * *
" If, in short, you shall own slavery as the source of
your authority, and act for it, and erect, as you are com
missioned to erect, not only a Southern but a slave repub
lic, the work will be accomplished." * * *
" But if you shall not ; if you shall commence by igno
ring slavery, or shall be content to edge it on by indirec
tion ; if you shall exhibit care but for the republic, respect
but a democracy ; if you shall stipulate for the toleration
of slavery as an existing evil, by admitting assumptions
to its prejudice, and restrictions to its power and progress,
you reinaugurate the blunder of 1789 ; you will combine
States, whether true or not, to slavery ; you will have no
tests of faith ; some will find it to their interest to aban
don it ; slave labor will be fettered, hireling labor will be
free ; your Confederacy is again divided into antagonistic
societies ; the irrepressible conflict is again commenced ;
and as slavery can sustain the structure of a stable Gov
ernment, and will sustain such a structure, and as it will
sustain no structure but its own, another revolution comes ;
but whether in the order and propriety of this, is gravely
to be doubted."
In another part of this protest I find this paragraph :
" If the clause be carried into the permanent Govern-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 67
ment, our whole movement is defeated. It will abolition-
ize the border slave States — it will brand our institution.
Slavery cannot share a Government with democracy — it
cannot bear a brand upon it ; thence another revolution.
It may be painful, but we must make it. The Constitu
tion cannot be changed without. The border States, dis
charged of slavery, will oppose it. They are to be in
cluded by the concession ; they will be sufficient to defeat
it. It is doubtful if another movement will be as peace
ful." In this connection, let me read the following paragraph
from De Bow's Review :
"All government begins by usurpation, and is continued
by force. Nature puts the ruling elements uppermost,
and the masses below and subject to those elements. Less
than this is not government. The right to govern resides
in a very small minority; the duty to obey is inherent in
the great mass of mankind."
We find by an examination of all these articles that the
whole idea is to establish a republic based upon slavery
exclusively, in which the great mass of the people are not
to participate. We find an argument made here against
the admission of non-slaveholding- States into their Con
federacy. If they refuse to admit a non-slaveholding
State into the Confederacy, for the very same reason they
will exclude an individual who is not a slaveholder, in a
slaveholding State, from participating in the exercise of
the powers of the Government. Taking the whole argu
ment through, and that is th"plain meaning of it. Mr.
Spratt says that sooner or later it will be done ; and if
the present revolution will not accomplish it, it must be
brought about even if another revolution has to take place.
We see, therefore, that it is most clearly contemplated to
change the character and nature of the Government so
far as they are concerned. They have lost confidence in
the integrity, in the capability, in the virtue and intel
ligence of the great mass of the people to govern. Sir,
in the section of the country where I live, notwithstand
ing we reside in a slave State, we believe that freemen are
capable of self-government. We care not in what shape
their poverty exists ; whether it is in the shape of slaves
or otherwise. We hold that it is upon the intelligent

68 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
free white people of the country that all governments
should rest, and by them all governments should be con
trolled. I think, therefore, sir, that the President and the Senator
from Kentucky have stated the question aright. This is
a struggle between two forms of government. It is a
struggle for the existence of the Government we have.
The issue' is now fairly made up. All who favor free
government must stand with the Constitution, and in favor
of the Union of the States as it is. That Union being once
restored, the Constitution again becoming supreme and
paramount, when peace, law, and order shall be restored,
when the Government shall be restored to its pristine posi
tion, then, if necesary, we can come forward under proper
and favorable circumstances to amend, change, alter, and
modify the Constitution, as pointed out by the fifth article
of the instrument, and thereby perpetuate the Government.
This can be done, and this should be done.
We have heard a great deal said in reference to the viola
tion of the Constitution. The Senator from Kentucky
seems exceedingly sensitve about violations of the Consti
tution. Sir, it seems to me, admitting that his apprehen
sions are well founded, that a violation of the Constitution
for the preservation of the Government is more tolerable
than one for its destruction. In all these complaints, in
all these arraignments of the present Government for viola
tion of law and disregard of the Constiution, have you
heard, as was forcibly and eloquently said by the Senator
from Illinois (Mr. Browning| before me, one word uttered
against violations of the Constitution and the trampling
under foot of law by the States or the party now making
war upon the Government of the United States ? Not a
word, sir.
The Senator enumerates what he calls violations of the
Constitution — the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus,
the proclaiming of martial law, the' increase of the army
and navy, and the existing war ; and then he asks, " Why
all this ? " The answer must be apparent to all.
But first, let me supply a chronological table of events
on the other side :
December 27, 1860. The revenue cutter William Aiken
surrendered by her commander, and taken possession of
by South Carolina.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 69"
December 28. Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, at
Charleston, seized.
December 30. The United States arsenal at Charleston
seized. January 2, 1861. Fort Macon and the United States
arsenal at Fayetteville seized by North Carolina.
January 3. Forts Pulaski and Jackson, and the United
States arsenal at Savannah, seized by Georgia troops.
January 4. Fort Morgan and the United States arsenal
at Mobile seized by Alabama.
January 8. Forts Johnson and Caswell, at Smithville,
seized by North Carolina ; restored by order of Gov. Ellis.
January 9. The Star of the West, bearing reinforce
ments to Major Anderson, fired at in Charleston harbor.
January 10. The steamer Marion seized by South
Carolina; restored on the 11th.
January 11. The United States arsenal at Baton
Rouge, and Forts Pike, St. Philip, and Jackson, seized by
Louisiana. January 12. Fort Barancas and the navy-yard at Pen-
sacola seized by P'lorida.
January 12. Fort McRae, at Pensacola, seized by
Florida. These forts cost $5,947,000, are pierced for 1,099 guns,
and are adapted for a war garrison of 5,430 men.
We find, as was shown here the other day, and as has
been shown on former occasions, that the State of South
Carolina seceded, or attempted to secede, from this con
federacy of States without c§use. In seceding, her first
step was a violation of the Constitution. She seceded on
the 20th of last December, making the first innovation and
violation of the law and the Constitution of the country.
On the 28th day of December what did she do ? She
seized Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, and caused
your little band of sixty or seventy men, under the com
mand of Major Anderson, to retire to a little pen in the
ocean — Fort Sumter. She commenced erecting batteries,
arraying cannon, preparing for war ; in effect, proclaiming
herself at once our enemy. Seceding from the Union,
taking Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, driving your
men, in fact, into Fort Sumter, I say were piratical acts
of war. You need not talk to me about technicalities, and
the distinction that you have got no war till Congress de-

<40 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
clares it. Congress could legalize it, or could make war,
it is true ; but that was practical war. Who began it?
Then, sir, if South Carolina secedes, withdraws from the
Union, becomes our common enemy, is it not the duty,
the constitutional duty of the Government, and of the Pres
ident of the United States to make war, or to resist the
attacks and assaults made by an enemy ? Is she not as
much our enemy as Great Britain was in the revolution
ary struggle ? Is she not to day as much our enemy as
Great Britain was during the war of 1812 ?
In this connection I desire to read some remarks made
by the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Polk) in his speech
the other day, in regard to this general idea of who made
the war.
" This has all been brought about since the adjournment
of the last Congress — since the 4th of March ; indeed,
since the 15th of April. Congress has declared no war.
The Constitution of the United States says ' that Con
gress shall be authorized to declare war;' and yet, sir,
though Congress has declared no war, we are in the
midst of a war monstrous in its character, and hugely
monstrous in its proportions. That war has been brought
on by the President of the United States since the 4th of
March, of his own motion and of his own wrong ; and un
der what circumstances ? Before the close of the last
Congress, as early as the month of January, secession
was an accomplished fact. Before the close of the last
Congress, as many States had seceded from the Union,
or had claimed to secede, asjhad on the 15th of April ;
and yet the last Congress made no declaration of war ; the
last Congress passed no legislation calculated to carry on
the war; the last Congress refused to pass bills having
this direction or having any purpose of coercion. Now,
sir, how has this war been brought on ? I have said that,
in my judgment, it has been brought on by the President
of the United States, and a portion of the procedure which
has resulted in it is named in the preamble of this joint
resolution, which it is proposed that we shall approve and
legalize." The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Powell) spoke in
similar language. Alluding to the refusal of Kentucky
to respond to the first call of the President for seventy-five
thousand men, he said :

LIFE AND" SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 71
" She believed that the calling forth of such an immense
armament was for the purpose of making a war of subju
gation on the Southern States, and upon that ground she
refused to furnish the regiments called for. The Senator
seems to be a little offended at the neutrality of Kentucky.
Sir, Kentucky has assumed a position of neutrality, and I
only hope that she may be able to maintain it. She has
assumed that position because there is no impulse of her
patriotic heart that desires her to imbrue her hands in a
brother's blood, whether he be from the North or the
South. Kentucky looks upon this war as unholy, un
righteous, and unjust. Kentucky believes that this war,
if carried out, can result in nothing else than the total dis
ruption of the Confederacy. She hopes, she wishes, she
prays, that this Union may be maintained. She believes
that cannot be done by force of arms ; that it must be
done by compromise and conciliation if it can be done at
all; and hence, being devoted truly to the Union, she de
sires measures of peace to be presented for the adjustment
of our difficulties."
I desire in this connection to place before the Senate
the remarks of both the Senators from Kentucky and the
Senator from Missouri, and to answer them at the same
time. The Senator from Missouri says the war was
brought on since the 4th of March by the President of the
United States of his own motion. The Senator from Ken
tucky (Mr. Powell) pronounces it an unjust, an unright
eous and an unholy war.
But, sir, I commenced enumerating the facts with the
view of showing who commenced the war. How do they
stand ? I have just stated that South Carolina seceded —
withdrew from the Confederacy ; and in the very act of
withdrawing, she makes practical war upon the Govern
ment, and becomes its enemy. The Star of the West, on
the 7th of January, laden simply with provisions to sup
ply those starving men at Fort Sumter, attempted to enter
the harbor, and was fired upon, and had to tack about, and
leave the men in the fort to perish or do the best they
could. We also find, that on the 11th of April, General
Beauregard had an interview with Major Anderson, and
made a proposition to him to surrender. Major Anderson
stated, in substance, that he could do no such thing; that
he could not strike the colors of his country, and refused

72 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
to surrender ; but he said, at the same time, that by the
15th of the month his provisions would give out, and if
not reinforced and supplied starvation must take place.
It seems that at this time Mr. Pryor, from Virginia, was
in Charleston. The Convention of Virginia was sitting,
and it was important that the cannon's roar should be
heard in the land. Virginia was to be taken out of the
Union, although a majority of the delegates in the Con
vention were elected against secession, and in favor of the
Union. We find that after being in possession of the fact
that by the 15th of the month the garrison would be
starved out and compelled to surrender, on the morning of
the 12th they commenced the bombardment, fired upon
the fort and upon your men. They knew that in three
days they would be compelled to surrender, but they
wanted war. It was indispensable to produce an excite
ment in order to hurry Virginia out of the Union, and
they commenced the war. The firing was kept up until
such time as the fort was involved in smoke and flames,
and Major Anderson and his men were compelled to lie
on the floor with their wet handkerchiefs to their faces to
save them from suffocation and death. Even in the midst
of all this, they refused to cease their firing, but kept it up
until he was compelled to surrender.
Who, then, commenced the war ? Who struck the
first blow? Who violated the Constitution in the first
place ? Who trampled the law under foot, and violated
the law morally and legally ? Was it not South Carolina
in seceding ? And yet you talk about the President hav
ing brought on the war by his own motion, when these
facts are incontrovertible. No one dare attempt to assail
them. But after Fort Sumter was attacked and surren
dered, what do we find stated in Montgomery when the
news reached there ? Here is the telegraphic announce
ment of the reception of the news there :
Montgomery, Friday, April 12, 1861.
"An immense crowd serenaded President Davis and
S|cretary Walker, at the Exchange Hotel to-night."
Mr. Davis refused to address the audience, but, hia
Secretary of War did. The Secretary of ' War Mr
Walker, said • '

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 73
" No man could tell where the war this day commenced
would end, but he would prophesy that the flag which now
flaunts the breeze here would float over the old Capitol, at
Washington, before the 1st of May. Let them try Southern
chivalry and test the extent of Southern resources, and it
might float eventually over Faneuil Hall itself."
What is the announcement ? We have attacked Fort
Sumter and it has surrendered, and no one can tell where
this war will end. By the 1st of May our flag will wave
in triumph from the dome of the old Capitol at Wash
ington, and ere long, perhaps, from Faneuil Hall in Boston.
Then was this war commenced by the President on his own
motion f You say that the President of the United States did
wrong in ordering out seventy-five thousand men, and in in
creasing the army and navy under the exigency. Do we not
know, in connection with these facts, that so soon as Fort
Sumter surrendered they took up the line of march for Wash
ington ? Do not some of us who were here know that we did
not even go to bed very confidently and securely, for the fear
that the city would be taken before the rising sun ? Has it
not been published in the Southern newspapers that Ben
McCulloch was in readiness, with five thousand picked men,
in the State of Virginia, to make a descent and attack the
city, and take it ?
What more do we find ? We find that the Congress of
this same pseudo-republic, this same Southern Confederacy
that has sprung up in the South, as early as the 6th of
March passed a law preparing for this invasion — preparing
for this war which they commenced. Here it is :
" That in order to provide speedily forces to repel inva
sion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate
States of America in every portion of territory belonging
to each State, and to secure the public tranquility and
independence against threatened assault, the President be,
and he is hereby, authorized to employ the militia, military,
and naval forces of the Confederate States of America,
and ask for and accept the services of anjfcnumber of volun
teers, not exceeding one hundred thousand."
When your forts were surrendered, and when the Presi
dent of the so-called Southern Confederacy was authorized
to call out the entire militia, naval, and military forces, and
then to receive in the service of the Confederate States

74 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
one hundred thousand men, the President calls for seventy-
five thousand men to defend the capital and the public
property. Are we for the Government, or are we against
it? That is the question. Taking all the facts into con
sideration, do we not see that an invasion was intended ?
It was even announced by Mr. Iverson upon this floor that
ere long their Congress would be sitting here, and this
Government would be overthrown. When the facts are all
put together we see the scheme, and it is nothing more nor
less than executing a programme deliberately made out ;
and yet Senators hesitate, falter, and complain, and say the
President has suspended the writ of habeas corpus, increased
the army and navy, and they ask, where was the necessity
for all this ? With your forts taken, your men fired upon,
your ships attacked at sea, and one hundred thousand men
called into the field by this so-called Southern Confederacy,
with the additional authority to call out the entire military
and naval force of those States, Senators talk about the
enormous call of the President for seventy-five thousand
men and the increase he has made of the army and navy.
Mr. President, it all goes to show, in my opinion, that the
sympathies of Senators are with the one Government and
against the other. Admitting that there was a little stretch
of power ; admitting that the margin was pretty wide when
the power was exercised, the query now comes, when you
have got the power, when you are sitting here in a legisla
tive attitude, are you willing to sustain the Government
and give it the means to sustain itself? It is not worth
while to talk about what has been done before. The ques
tion on any measure should be, is it necessary now ? If it
is, it should not be withheld from the Government.
Senators talk about violating the Constitution and the
laws. A great deal has been said about searches and
seizures, and the right of protection of persons and of
papers. I reckon it is equally as important to protect a
Government from seizure as it is an individual. I reckon
the moral and the law of the case would be just as strong
in seizing upon that which belonged to the Federal Gov
ernment as it would upon that belonging to an individual.
What belongs to us in the aggregate is protected and
maintained by the same law, moral and legal, as that which
applies to an individual. These rebellious States, after
commencing this war, after violating the Constitution,

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 75.
seized our forts, our arsenals, our dock-yards, our custom
houses, our public buildings, our ships, and last, though
not least, plundered the independent treasury at New
Orleans of $1,000,000. And yet Senators talk about vio
lations of the law and the Constitution. They say the
Constitution is disregarded, and the Government is about
to be overthrown. Does not this talk about violations of
the Constitution and the law come with a beautiful grace
from that side of the House ? I repeat again, Sir, are not
violations of the Constitution necessary for its protection
and vindication more tolerable than the violations of that
sacred instrument aimed at the overthrow and destruction
of the Government? We have seen instances, and other
instances might occur, where it might be indispensably
necessary for the Government to exercise a power and to
assume a position that was not clearly legal and constitu
tional, in order to resist the entire overthrow and upturning
of the Government and all our institutions.
But the President issued his proclamation. When did
he issue it, and for what ? He issued his proclamation
calling out seventy-five thousand men after the Congress
of the so-called Southern Confederacy had passed a law to
call out the entire militia, and to receive into their service
one hundred thousand men. The President issued his pro
clamation after they had taken Fort Moultrie and Castle
Pinckney ; after they had fired upon and reduced Fort
Sumter. Fort Sumter was taken on the 12th, and on
the 15th he issued his. proclamation. Taking all these
circumstances together, it showed that they intended to
advance, and that their object was to extend their power,
to subjugate the other States, and to overthrow the Con
stitution and the laws of the Government.
Senators talk about the violation of the Constitution.
Have you heard any intimation of complaint from those
Senators about this Southern Confederacy — this band of
traitors to their country and country's institutions ? I
repeat, substantially, the language of the Senator from
Illinois (Mr. Browning): "Have you heard any complaint
or alarm about violations of constitutional law on the other
side ? Oh, no ! But we must stand still ; the Government
must not move while they are moving with a hundred
thousand men ; while they have the power to call forth the
entire militia and the army and the navy. While they are

76 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
*
reducing our forts, and robbing us of our property, we
must stand still ; the Constitution and the laws must not
be violated ; and an arraignment is made to weaken and
paralyze the Government in its greatest peril and trial."
On the 15th of April, the proclamation was issued calling
out seventy-five thousand men, after the Confederate States
had authorized one hundred thousand men to be received
by their President — this man Davis, who stood up here and
made a retiring speech — a man educated and nurtured by
the Government ; who sucked its pap ; who received all
his military instruction at the hands of this Government ;
a man who got all his distinction, civil and military, in the
service of this Government, beneath the Stars and Stripes,
and then, without cause — without being deprived of a
single right and privilege — the sword he unsheathed in
vindication of that flag in a foreign land, given to him by
the hand of his cherishing mother, he stands this day pre
pared to plunge into her bosom. Such men as these have
their apologists here in Congress to excuse and extenuate
their acts, either directly or indirectly. You never hear
from them of law or Constitution being violated down
there. Oh, no ; that is not mentioned.
On the 15th, the President issued his proclamation
calling seventy-five thousand men into the service of the
United States, and on the 17th, this same Jefferson Davis,
President of the Southern Confederacy, issued a proclama
tion proposing or opening the door to the issuance of
letters of marque and reprisal, and that, too, in violation
of the pseudo-hermaphrodite Government that has been
gotten up down there. In retaliation for the proclamation
issued by the President of the United States, he, in viola
tion of the Constitution of this pseudo-confederacy, issued
his proclamation proposing to issue letters of marque and
reprisal. In other words, he proposed to open an office
and say, we will give out licenses to rob the citizens of the
United States of all their property wherever it can be
picked up upon the high seas. This he proposed to do, not
only in violation of the Constitution of the Confederate
States, but in violation of the law of nations ; for no
people — I care not by what name you call it — has a right
to issue letters of marque and reprisal until its indepen
dence is first acknowledged as a separate and distinct
power. Has that been done ? I think, therefore, Senators

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSCN. 77
can find some little violation of Constitution and law down
there among themselves. Sir, they have violated the law
and the Constitution every step they progressed in going
there, and now they violate it in trying to come this way.
There was a general license offered, a premium offered, to
every freebooter, to every man who wanted to. plunder and
play the pirate on the high seas, to come and take a com
mission, and plunder in the name of the Southern Con
federacy ; to take, at that time, the property of Tennessee
or the property of Kentucky. — your beef, your pork, your
flour, and every other product making its way to a foreign
market. Mr. Davis authorized letters of marque and
reprisal to pick them up and appropriate them. After
that their Congress saw that he had gone ahead of theii
Constitution and the laws of nations, and they passed a
law modifying the issuance of letters of marque and repri
sal, that they should prey upon the property of the citizens
of the United States, excepting certain States — excepting
Kentucky and Tennessee — holding that out as a bait, as an
inducement to get them in.
I do not think, therefore,' when we approach the subject
fairly and squarely, that there was any very great wrong
in the President of the United States, on the 19th, issuing
• his proclamation blockading their ports, saying you shall
not have the opportunity, so far as I can prevent it, of
plundering and appropriating other people's property on
the high seas. I think he did precisely what was right.
He would have been derelict to his duty, and to the high
behest of the American people, if he had set here and
failed to exert every power within his reach and scope
to protect the property of the United States on the high
seas. Senators seem .to think it is no violation of the Consti
tution to make war on your Government, and when its
enemies are stationed in sight of the capital, there is no
alarm, no dread, no scare, no fright. Some of us would
not feei so very comfortable if they were to get this city.
I believe there are others who would not be very much
disturbed. I do not think I could sleep right sound if
they were in possession of this city ; not that I believe I
am more timid than most men, but I do not believe there
would be much quarter for me ; and, by way of self-
protection, and enjoying what few rights I have remaining,

78 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
I expect it would be better, if they were in possession of
this city, for me to be located in some other point not too
inconvenient or too remote. I believe there are others
who would feel very comfortable here.
Then, Mr. President, in tracing this subject along, I
cannot see what great wrong has been committed by the
Government in taking the course it has taken. I repeat
again, this Government is now passing through its third
ordeal ; and the time has arrived when it should put forth
its entire power, and say to the rebels and traitors,
wherever they are, that the supremacy of the Constitution,
and laws made in pursuance thereof, shall be sustained ;
that those citizens who have been borne down and tyran
nized over, and who have had laws of treason passed
against them in their own States, threatened with confisca
tion of property, shall be protected. I say it is the para
mount duty of this Government to assert its power and
maintain its integrity. I say it is the duty of this Gov
ernment to protect those States, or the loyal citizens of
those States, in the enjoyment of a republican form of
government, for we have seen one continued system of
usurpation carried on from one end of these Southern
States to the other, disregarding the popular judgment,
disregarding the popular will, setting at defiance the judg
ment of the people, disregarding their rights, paying no
attention to their State Constitutions in any sense what
ever. We are bound, under the Constitution, to protect
those States and their citizens. We are bound to guar
antee to them a republican form of government ; it is our
duty to do it. If we have no government, let the delusion
be dispelled, let the dream pass away, and let the people
of the United States, and the nations of the earth, know
at once that we have no government. If we have a gov
ernment, based on the intelligence and virtue of the
American people, let that great fact be now established,
and once established this Government will be on a more
enduring and permanent basis than it ever was before. I
still have confidence in the integrity, the virtue, the intelli
gence, and the patriotism of the great mass of the people ;
and so believing, I intend to stand by the Government of
my fathers to the last extremity.
In the last Presidential contest, I am free to say that I
took some part. I advocated the pretensions and claims

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 79
of one of the distinguished sons of Kentucky, as a Demo
crat. I am a Democrat to-day ; I expect to die one. My
Democracy rests upon the great principle I have stated ;
and in the support of measures, I have always tried to be
guided by a conscientious conviction of right ; and I have
laid down for myself, as a rule of action in all doubtful
questions, to pursue principle ; and in the pursuit of a
great principle I can never reach a wrong conclusion. I
intend, in this case, to pursue principle. I am a Demo
crat, believing the principles of this government are demo
cratic. It is based upon the democratic theory. I believe
Democracy can stand, notwithstanding all the taunts and
jeers that are thrown at it throughout the Southern Con
federacy. The principles which I call Democracy — I care
not by what name they are sustained, whether by Repub
licans, by Whigs, or not — are the great principles that lie
at the foundation of this Government, and they will be
maintained. We have seen that so far the experiment
has succeeded well ; and now we should make an effort,
in this last ordeal through which we are passing, to crush
out the fataf doctrine of Secession, and those who are co
operating with it in the shape of rebels and traitors.
I advocated the professions of a distinguished son of
Kentucky, at the late election, for the reason that I be
lieved he was a better Union man than any other candidate
in the field. Others advocated the claims of Mr. Bell,
believing him to be a better Union man ; others, those of
Mr. Douglas. In the South we know that there was no
Republican ticket. I was a Union man then ; I was a
Union man in 1833 ; I am a Union man now. And what
has transpired since the election in November last that
has produced sufficient cause to break up this Govern
ment ? The Senator from California enumerated the facts
up to the 25th day of May, 1860, when there was a vote
taken in this body for the protection of slave property in
the Territories. Now, from the 6th of November up to
the 20th of December, tell me what transpired of sufficient
cause to break up this Government ? Was there any in
novation, was there any additional step taken in reference
to the institution of slavery ? If the candidate whose
claims I advocated had been elected President — I speak
of him as a candidate, of course not meaning to be per
sonal— I do not believe this Government would have been
5

80 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
broken up. If Stephen A. Douglas had been elected, I
do not believe this Government would have been broken
up. Why ? Because those who advocated the preten
sions of Mr. Lincoln would have done as all parties have
done heretofore : they would have yielded to the high
behest of the American people.
Then, is the mere defeat of one man, and the election
of another according to the forms of law and the Consti
tution, sufficient cause to break up this Government ?
No ; it is not sufficient cause. Do we not know, too, that
if all the seceding Senators had stood here as faithful sen
tinels, representing the interests of their States, they had
it in their power to check any advance that might be made
by the incoming administration. I showed these facts,
and enumerated them at the last session. They were
shown here the other day. On the 4th of March, when
President Lincoln was inaugurated, we had a majority of
six upon this floor in opposition to his administration.
Where, then, is there even a pretext for breaking up the
Government, upon the idea that he would have encroached
upon our rights ? Does not the nation know that Mr.
Lincoln could not have made his Cabinet without the con
sent of the majority of the Senate ? Do we not know
that he could not even have sent a minister abroad without
the majority of the Senate confirming the nomination ?
Do we not know that if any minister whom he sent abroad
should make a treaty inimical to the institutions of the
South, that treaty could not have been ratified without a
majority of two-thirds of the Senate ?
With all these facts staring them in the face, where is
the pretence for breaking up the Government ? Is it not
clear that there has been a fixed purpose, a settled design,
to break up the Government and change the nature and
character, and whole genius of the Government itself?
Does it not prove conclusively, as there was no cause, that
they simply selected it as an occasion that was favorable to
excite the prejudices of the South, and thereby enable them
to break up this Government and establish a Southern Con
federacy ?
Then, when we get at it, what is the real cause ? If
Mr. Breckinridge, or Mr. Davis, or some other favorite of
those who are now engaged in breaking up the Govern
ment, had been elected President of the United States, it

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 81
would have been a very nice thing : they would have
respected the judgment of the people, and no doubt their
confidence in the capacity of the people for self-govern
ment would have been increased ; but it so happened that
the people thought proper to elect somebody else, accord
ing to law and the Constitution. Then, as all parties had
done heretofore, it was the duty of the whole people to
acquiesce ; if he made a good President, sustain him ; if
he became a bad one, condemn him ; if he violated the
law and the Constitution, impeach him. We had our
remedy under the Constitution, and in the Union.
What is the real cause ? Disappointed ambition ; an
. unhallowed ambition. Certain men could not wait any
longer, and they seized this occasion to do what they had
been wanting to do for a long time — break up the Govern
ment. If they could not rule a large country, they thought
they might rule a small one. Hence, one of the prime
movers in the Senate ceased to be a Senator, and passed
out to be President of the Southern Confederacy. An
other, who was bold enough on this floor to proclaim him
self a rebel, retired as a Senator, and became Secretary
of State. All perfectly disinterested — no ambition about
it! Another — Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana — one who un
derstands something about the idea of dividing garments ;
who belongs to the tribe that parted the garments of our
Saviour, and upon his vesture cast lots — went out of this
body, and was made Attorney-General, to show his patriot
ism and disinterestedness — nothing else 1 Mr. Slidell, dis
interested altogether, is to go as Minister to France. I
might enumerate many such instances. This is all patriot-'
ism, pore disinterestedness I Do we not see where it all
ends !¦£ Disappointed, impatient, unhallowed ambition.
There nas been no cause for breaking up this Govern
ment ; there have been no rights denied, no privileges
trampled upon under the Constitution and Union, that
might not have been remedied more effectually in the Union
than outside of it. What rights are to be attained out
side of the Union ? The seceders have violated the
Constitution, trampled it under foot; and. what is their
condition now ? Upon the abstract idea that they had a
right to secede, they have gone out ; and what is the con
sequence ? Oppression, taxation, blood, and civil war !

82 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
They have gone out of the Union ; and, I repeat again,
they have got taxes, usurpations, blood, and civil war 1
I said just now that I had advocated the election to the
Presidency of the distinguished Senator from Kentucky,
on the ground that he was a good Union man. I wish
we could now hear his eloquent voice in favor of the old
government of our fathers, and in vindication of the stars
and stripes that have been borne in triumph everywhere.
I hold in my hand a document which was our text-book in
the campaign. It is headed "Breckinridge and Lane
Campaign Document, No. 16. Who are the" Disunionists ?
Breckinridge and Lane the true Union candidates." It
contains an extract, which I will read, from the Senator's
address on the removal of the Senate from the old to the
new chamber. I would to God he was as good a Union
man to-day as I think he was then :
" Such is our country ; ay, and more — far more than my
mind could conceive, or my tongue could utter. Is there
an American who regrets the past ? Is there one who will
deride his country's laws, pervert her Constitution, or
alienate her people ? If there be such a man, let his
memory descend to posterity laden with the execrations
of all mankind. * * * * Let us devoutly trust that an
other Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and
larger chamber, this Constitution, vigorous and inviolate,
and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the
deliberations of the Representatives of American States
. still United, prosperous, and free. "
Now, this was the text — an extract from a speech of
the Senator, after the nomination was made :
"When that Convention selected me as one of ite candi
dates, looking at my humble antecedents and the place of
my habitation, it gave to the country, so far as I was con
cerned, a personal and geographical guaranty that its in
terest was in the Union."
Id addition to that, in Tennessee we- headed our electoral
ticket, as if to give unmistakeable evidence of our devotion
to the Union, and the reason why we sustained him, "Na
tional Democratic ticket. ' Instead of dissolving the Union,
we intend to lengthen it and to stengthen it.' — Breckin
ridge." Where are his eloquent tones now? They are
heard arraigning the Administration for what he conceives

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 83
to be premature action, in advance of the law, or a slight
departure from the Constitution. Which is the most tol
erable, premature action, action in advance of law, a slight
departure from the Constitution, (putting it on his own
ground), or an entire overthrow of the Government? Are
there no advances, are there no inroads, being made to-day
upon the Constitution and the existence of the Government
itself? Let us look at the question plainly and fairly.
Here is an invading army almost within cannon-shot of the
capital, headed by Jeff. Davis and Beauregard. Suppose
they advance on the city to-night ; subjugate it ; depose
the existing authorities ; expel the present Government :
what kind of Government have you then ? Is there any
Constitution in it ? Is there any law in it ? The Senator
can stand here almost in sight of the enemy, see the citade*
of freedom — the Constitution — trampled upon, and there
is no apprehension ; but he can look with an eagle eye
and, with an analytic process, almost unsurpassed, discrim
inate against and attack those who are trying to manage
your Government for its safety and preservation. He ha?
no word of condemnatiorr-for the invading army that threat
ens to overthrow the capital, that threatens to trample the
Constitution and the law under foot. I repeat, suppn-*
Davis at the head of his advancing columns should depose
your Government and expel your authority : what kind of
Government will you have ? Will there be any Constitu
tion left ? How eloquent my friend was upon Constitu
tions 1 He told us the Constitution was the measure of
power, and that we should understand and feel constitu
tional restraints ; and yet when your Government is per-
hapsjkhin a few hours of being overthrown, and the law
audJHfcstitution trampled under foot, there are no appre-
hensrow'on his part ; no words of rebuke for those who
are endeavoring to accomplish such results.
The Old Dominion has got the brunt of the war upon
her hands. I sympathize with her most deeply, and espe
cially with the loyal portion of her citizens, who have been
brow-beaten and domineered over. Now the war is trans
ferred to Virginia, and her plains are made to run with
blood ; and when this is secured, what do we hear in the
far South ? Howell Cobb, another of these disinterested
patriots, said not long since, in a speech in Georgia :
" The people of the Gulf States need have no apprehen-

84 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
sions ; they might go on with their planting and their
other business as usual ; the war would not come to their
section ; its theatre would be along the borders of the
Ohio river and in Virginia."
Virginia ought to coftgratulate herself upon that posi
tion, for she has got the war. Now they want to advance,
Their plans and designs are to get across into Maryland,
and carry on a war of subjugation. There is wonderful
alarm among certain gentlemen here at the term " subju
gate." They are alarmed at the idea of making citizens
who have violated the law simply conform to it by enforc
ing their obedience. If a majority of the citizens in a
State have violated the Constitution, have trampled it
under foot and violated the law, is it subjugation to assert
the supremacy of the Constitution and the law ? Is it any
more than a simple enforcement of the law ? It would be
one of the best subjugations that could take place if some
of them were subjugated and brought back to the Consti
tutional position that they occupied before. I would to
God that Tennessee stood to-day where she did three
months ago.
Mr. President, it is provided in the Constitution of the
^„!ted States that "no State shall, without the consent of
Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of
war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact
with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in
war unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as
will not admit of delay. " The State authorities of Ten
nessee, before her people had even voted upon an ordi
nance to separate her from the Union, formed a league by
which they transferred fifty-five thousand men, tbj^whole
army, over to the Confederate States for the puaBpf of
prosecuting their war. Is it not strange that sucfr^i pal
pable violation of the Constitution should not be referred
to and condemned by any one ? Here is a member of the
Union, without even having the vote taken upon an ordi
nance of separation or secession, forming a league, by its com
missioners or ministers, and handing over fifty-five thousand
men to make war upon the Government of the United
States, though they were themselves then within the Union.
No one seems to find fault with that. The fact is, that in
the whole progress of seccession, the Constitution and the
law have been violated at every step from its incipieney

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANRDEW JOHNSON. 85
to the present point. How have the people of my State
been treated ? I know that this may not interest the Sen
ate to any very great extent ; but I must briefly refer to it.
The people of a portion of that State, having devotion
and attachment to the Constitution and the Government
as framed by the sires of the Revolution, still adhering to
it, gave a majority of more than twenty thousand votes, in
favor of the Union at the election. After that, this por
tion of the State, East Tennessee, called a convention, and
the convention published an address, in which they sum up
some of the grievances which we have been bearing in that
portion of the country. They say :
" The Memphis Appeal, a prominent disunion paper,
published a false account of our proceedings, under the
head ' The Traitors in Council,' and styled us, who repre
sented every county but two in East Tennessee, the little
batch of disaffected traitors who hover around the noxious
atmosphere of Andrew Johnson's home. Our meeting w&s
telegraphed to the New Orleans Delta, and it was falsely
said that we had passed a resolution recommending sub
mission if seventy thousand votes were not cast against
secession. The despatch added that 'the Southern Rights
men are determined to hold possession of the State, though
they should be in a minority.' "
They had fifty-five thousand men and $5,000,000 to
sustain them, the State authorities with them, and made
the declaration- that they, intended to hold the State
though they should be in a minority. This shows the
advance of tyranny and usurpation. By way of showing
theJHfcte some of the wrongs borne and submitted to by
thjfllnple who are loyal to the Government — who have
been(!eprived of the arms furnished by the Government
for their protection — witheld by this little man Harris, the
Governor of the State — I will read a few paragraphs from
the. address :
' It has passed laws declaring it treason to say or do
any thing in favor of the Government of the United States
or against the Confederate States ; and such a law is now
before, and we apprehend will soon be passed by, the
Legislature of Tennessee.
" It has involved the Southern States in a war whose

86 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
success is hopeless, and which must ultimately lead to the
ruin of the people.
" It's bigoted, overbearing, and intolerant spirit has
already subjected the people of East Tennessee* to many
petty grievances ; our people have been insulted ; our flags
have been fired upon and torri down ; our houses have
been rudely entered ; our families have been subjected to
insult ; our peaceable meetings interrupted ; our women
and children shot at by a merciless soldiery ; our towns
pillaged ; our citizens robbed, and some of them assassi
nated and murdered.
" No effort has been spared to deter the Union men of
East Tennessee from the expression of their^free thoughts.
The penalties of Treason have been threatened against
them, and murder and assassination have been openly
encouraged by leading secession journals. As secession
has been thus overbearing and intolerant while in the
minority in East Tennessee, nothing better can be expected
of the pretended majority than wild, unconstitutional, and
oppressive legislation ; an utter contempt and disregard
of law, a determination to force every Union man in the
State to swear to the support of a constitution he abhors,
to yield his money and property to aid a cause he detests,
and to become the object of scorn and derision, as well as
the victim of intolerable and relentless oppression."
These are some of the wrongs that we are enduring in
that section of Tennessee ; not near all of them, but a few
which I have presented that the country may know what
we are submitting to. Since I left my home, having only
one way to leave the State, through two or threejflfeses
coming out through Cumberland Gap, I have beedfl Hed
that they had even sent their armies to blockaH H^se
passes in the mountains, as they say, to prevent Worrnsou
from returning with arms, and munitions to place in the
hands of the people to vindicate their rights, repel invasion,
and put down domestic insurrection and rebellion. Yes,
sir, there they stand in arms, environing a population of
three hundred and twenty-five thousand loyal, brave,
patriotic, and unsubdued people ; but yet powerless, and
not in a condition to vindicate their rights. Hence I
come to the Government, and I do not ask it as a sup
pliant, but I demand it as a constitutional right, that you

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 87
give us protection, give us arms and munitions ; and if
they cannot be got there in any other way, to take them
there with an invading army, and deliver the people from
the oppression to which they are now subjected. We
claim to be the State. The other divisions may have
seceded and gone off ; and if this Government will stand
by and permit those portions of the State to go off, and
not enforce the laws and protect the loyal citizens there,
we cannot help it ; but we still claim to be the State, and
if two-tliirds have fallen off, or have been sunk by an
earthquake, it does not change our relation to this
Government. If the Government will let them go and
not give us protection, the fault is not ours; but if you
give us protection we intend to stand as a State, as a part
of this Confederacy, holding to the Stars and Stripes, the
flag of our country. We demand it according to law ; we
demand it upon the guarantees of the Constitution. You
are bound to guarantee to us a republican form of govern
ment, and we ask it as a Constitutional right. We do
not ask you to interfere as a party, as your feelings or
prejudices may be one way or another in reference to the
parties of the country ; but we ask you to interfere as a
Government, according to the Constitution. Of course we
want your sympathy, and your regard, and your respect;
but we ask your interference on Constitutional grounds.
The amendments to the Constitution, which constitute
the Bill of Rights, declare that " a well-regulated militia
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear arras shall not be infringed."
Our people are denied this right secured to them in their
own Constitution and the Constitution of the United
States fyet we hear no complaints here of violations of the
Constitution in this respect. We ask the Government to
interpose to secure us this Constitutional right. We want
thq passes in our mountains opened, we want deliverance
||H& protection for a down-trodden and oppressed people
who are struggling for their independence without arms.
If we had had ten thousand stand of arms and ammunition,
when the contest commenced, we should have asked no further
assistance. We have not got them. We are a rural people ;
we have villages and small towns — no large cities. Our
population is homogeneous, industrious, frugal, brave,
independent ; but now harmless, aud powerless, and op.

88 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
pressed by usurpers. You may be too late in coming to
our relief; or you may not come at all, though I do not
doubt that you will come ; they may trample us under
foot ; they may convert our plains into graveyards, and the
caves of our mountains into sepulchres; but they will
never take us out of this Union, or make us a land cf
slaves — no, never ! We intend to stand as firm as adamant,
and as unyielding as our own majestic mountains that
surround us. Yes, we will be as fixed and as immovable
as are they upon their bases. We will stand as long as
we can ; and if we are overpowered and liberty shall be
driven from the land, we intend before she departs to take
the flag of our country, with a stalwart arm, a patriotic
heart, and an honest tread, and place it upon the summit
of the loftiest and most majestic mountain. We intend
to plant it there, and leave it, to indicate to the inquirer
who may come, in after times, the spot where the Goddess
of Liberty lingered and wept for the last time, before she
took her flight from a people once prosperous, free, and
happy. We ask the Government to come to our aid. We love
the Constitution as made by our fathers. We have con
fidence in the integrity and capacity of the people to govern
themselves. We have lived entertaining these opinions ;
we intend to die entertaining them. The battle has com
menced. The President has placed it upon the true ground.
It is an issue on the one hand for the people's Govern
ment, and its overthrow on the other. We have com
menced the battle of freedom. It is freedom's cause. We
are resisting usurpation and oppression. We will triumph ;
we must triumph. Right is with us. A great and funda
mental principle of right, that lies at the foundatMJfcof all
things, is with us. We may meet with impediments, and
may meet with disasters, and here and there a defeat ; but
ultimately freedom's cause must triumph, for —
" Freedom's battle once begun, *Wm>
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won."
Yes, we must triumph. Though sometimes I cannot see
my way clear in matters of this kind, as in matters of re
ligion, when my facts give out, when my reason fails me, I
draw largely upon my faith. My faith is strong, based on

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 89
the eternal principles of right, that a thing so monstrously
wrong as this rebellion cannot triumph. Can we submit to
it ? Is the Senate, are the American people, prepared to
give up the graves of Washington and Jackson, to be en
circled and governed and controlled by a combination of
traitors and rebels ? I say, let the battle go on — it is free
dom's cause — until the Stars and Stripes (God bless them!)
shall again be unfurled upon every cross-road, and from
every house-top throughout the Confederacy, North and
South. Let the Union be reinstated ; let the law be en
forced ; let the Constitution be supreme.
If the Congress of the United States were to give up the
tombs of Washington and Jackson, we should have rising
up in our midst another Peter the Hermit, in a much more
righteous cause — for ours is true, while his was a delusion —
who would appeal to the American people, and point to
the tombs of Washington and Jackson, in the possession
of those who are worse than the infidel and the Turk who
held the Holy Sepulchre. I believe the American people
would start of their own accord, when appealed to, to re
deem the graves of Washington and Jackson and Jefferson,
and all the other patriots who are lying within the limits
of the Southern Confederacy. I do not believe they would
stop the march until again the flag of this Union would be
placed over the graves of those distinguished men. There
will be an uprising. Do not talk about Republicans now;
do not talk about Democrats now ; do not talk about Whigs
or Americans now ; talk about your country and the Con
stitution and the Union. Save that ; preserve the integ
rity of the Government ; once more place it erect among
the nations of the earth ; and then if we want to divide
about questions that may arise in our midst, we have a
Government to divide in.
I know it has been said that the object of this war is to
make war on Southern institutions. I have been in free
es and I have been in slave States ; and I thank God
so far as I have seen, there has been one universal
Limer of any such purpose. It is a war upon no seo-
tion ; it is a'war upon no peculiar institution ; but it is a
war for the integrity of the Government, for the Constitu
tion and the supremacy of the laws. That is what the na
tion understands by it.
The people whom I represent appeal to the Government

90 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
and to the nation to give us the Constitutional protection
that we need. I am proud to say that I have met with
every manifestation of that kind in the Senate, with only a
few dissenting voices. I am proud to say, too, that I be
lieve Old Kentucky (God bless her !) will ultimately rise and
shake off the stupor which has been resting upon her ; and
instead of denying us the privilege of passing through her
borders, and taking arms and munitions of war to enable a
down-trodden people to defend themselves, will not only
give us that privilege, but will join us and help us in the
work. The people of Kentucky love the Union ; they
love the Constitution ; they have no fault to find with it ;
but in that State they have a duplicate to the Governor of
ours. When we look all around, we see how the Gover
nors of the different States have been involved in this con
spiracy — the most stupendous and gigantic conspiracy that
was ever formed, and as corrupt and as foul as that at
tempted by Catiline in the days of Rome. We know it to
be so. Have we not known men to sit at their desks in
this chamber, using the Government's stationary to write
treasonable letters ; and while receiving their pay, sworn
to support the Constitution and sustain the law, engaging
in midnight conclaves to devise ways and means by which
the Government and the Constitution should be over
thrown ? The charge was made and published in the
papers. Many things we know that we cannot put our
fingers upon ; but we know from the regular steps that
were taken in this work of breaking up the Government,
or trying to break it up, that there was system, concert of
action. It is a scheme more corrupt than the assassination
planned and conducted by Catiline in reference to the
Roman Senate. The time has arrived when we should
show to the nations of the earth that we are a nation capable
of preserving our existence, and give them evidence that
we will do it.
I have already detained the Senate much longer th
intended when I rose, and I shall conclude in a few
more. Although the Government has met with a
reverse within a short distance of this city, no one should
be discouraged and no heart should be dismayed. It ought
only to prove the necessity of bringing forth and exerting
still more vigorously the power of the Government in
maintenance of the Constitution and the laws. Let the

a HEBFe

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 91
energies of the Government be redoubled, and let it go on
with this war — not a war upon sections, not a war upon
peculiar institutions anywhere ; but let the Constitution
and the Union be its frontispiece, and the supremacy and
enforcement of the laws its watchword. Then it can, it
will, go on triumphantly. We must succeed. This Gov
ernment must not, cannot fall. Though your flag may
have trailed in the dust; though a retrograde movement
may have been made ; though the banner of our country
may have been sullied, let it still be borne onward ; and if,
for the prosecution of this war in behalf of the Govern
ment and the Constitution, it is necessary to cleanse and
purify the banner, I say, let it be baptized in fire from the
sun and bathed in a nation's blood I The nation must be
redeemed ; it must be triumphant. The Constitution — >
which is based upon principles immutable, and upon which
rest the rights of man and the hopes and expectations of
- those who love freedom throughout the civilized worlds-
must be maintained.
THE WAE IN TENNESSEE -JOHNSON'S FEB-
SONAL EXPERIENCES.
The whole utterances of Senator Johnson were not
mere- ad captandum speeches, not mere "buncombe."
His State, had at an early stage of the rebellion, been
rushed out of. the Union, almost without form of law,
and certainly without the will of the people having been
consulted. Mob violence reigned supreme. The lives of
loyal men were sacrificed, their property was confiscated,
and their families were hunted from their homes like wild
beasts. In Middle and West Tennessee, loyalty gave
way at the first outbreak of rebellious feeling, and treason
flourished unchecked. In East Tennessee, that Switzer-
land*of America, the case was different. Andrew John
son, and thousands of sturdy patriots like him, had their
homes amid the mountains of that region, and they pre
served their love of the old flag untainted by the seces
sion here-3/. Whenever the question of the Union was

92 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
at issue, East Tennessee, under the lead of men liko
Johnson, voted almost unanimously for the Union and
the old flag. When the rebels occupied that section, and
began hanging and shooting the Unionists, they still
clung to their patriotic principles, and either hid in caves
and dens, longing for the advent of the Union troops, or
else escaped into the Federal lines and joined the ranks
of the Union army. No such romantic histories have
been known in modern times as the adventures of the
gallant East Tennesseeans who resisted the brutalities of
the rebels, and finally saw the old flag once more wave
ove.r the crags of their mountain-homes. Early in Feb
ruary, 1862, the army under Major-General Grant ad
vanced into Tennessee, and won the great victories of
Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. The rebels were thus
forced to evacuate Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville
was rendered untenable. The rebel government of Ten
nessee was therefore removed to Memphis. On Febru
ary 23d, 1862, the rebel troops evacuated Nashville, and
on the 25th the city was occupied by the Federal advance.
A large portion of the State having now been re-eaptured,
President Lincoln nominated Andrew Johnson as Mili
tary Governor of Tennessee, with the rank of Brigadier-
General of Volunteers. ,
ANDREW JOHNSON AS MILITARY GOVERNOR
OF TENNESSEE.
On the 5th of March, 1862, the Senate confirmed the
nomination. On the 12th of that month, Governor John
son reached Nashville, and the next evening he responded
to a serenade, in an address, which he afterwards'pub-
lished as "An Appeal to the People of Tennessee." In
the course of this address he sketched the history of the
Secession movement, and showed how the government
of the commonwealth had been wrecked, for the time, by

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 93
its leaders. He said that the Government of the United
States could do no less than guarantee Tennessee a Re
publican form of government, and that his work was to
accomplish that purpose. He promised that the rights
of the people should be respected, and their wrongs re
dressed ; that the loyal should be honored, and the erring
and misguided should be welcomed on their return ;
intelligent and conscious treason should be punished, but
no merely vindictive or retaliatory policy should be
adopted. This line of policy was carried out by Gov.
Johnson, with excellent effect, and from a condition of
anarchy, Tennessee again put on an aspect of quiet and
comparative prosperity. The Union men held Conven
tions, which had the effect of organizing and strengthen
ing sound sentiments. Of course, while the State con
tinued to be the arena of vast military movements,
thorough re-organization could not be looked for, but
Governor Johnson did all that genius, courage and un
wavering patriotism could accomplish. From a diary
kept during the early portion of Governor Johnson's
administration, we extract the following interesting facts :
April 28, 1862. — Governor Johnson was called upon to
day by one William Davis, formerly a noted secessionist,
who desired permission to ship one hundred and fifty bales
of cotton from Arkansas through the federal lines to Cairo.
" Have you taken the oath ?" " Yes, I have taken the
oath, and given up the whole secession concern." Per
mission to ship was granted by the Governor. On inqui
ring of Davis, " Are the owners burning their cotton where
you cojpe from ?" " No, they are not such fools." On this
day we were shown, in the State Department, some inter
cepted secesh letters from East Tennessee — one of which
advised the selection of Tennessee regiments to do the
hanging of loyalists, as the employment of Mississippians
" might arouse prejudices." Another letter; dated Louis
ville, June 3, 1861, was from George N. Sanders to General
S. R. Anderson, proposing the sale of certain pieces of

94 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
ordnance to the rebels. Another letter, dated Rogersville,
Ky., July 1, 1861, appeals to General Anderson to "send
arms, for we are surrounded and almost overrun with Union
men." This was encouraging news to Governor Johnsou
and friends at this critical juncture.
April 30. — Ex-Governor Wm. B. Campbell, Hon. Wm.
B. Stokes, Hon. Bailie Peyton, Col. Wm. H. Polk and
other prominent Union citizens, are in town to night, con
sulting with Governor Johnson in relation to the best means
of restoring Tennessee to the Union. The Governor is in
favor of exercising the most rigorous measures against
ultra-secessionists, the principal point of which is their per
petual banishment from the State, without the privileges of
taking the oath of allegiance. Arrangements were made
for a great Union mass convention, to be held in the Capi
tol in a week or two.
As an evidence that the secesh do not mean to relinquish
their hold upon their property here without a struggle, an
incident that occurred will furnish proof: — Mrs. Washing
ton Barrow, wife of a very rich aud prominent secessionist,
now undergoing sentence of banishment, appealed to Gov
ernor Johnson to know by what right certain claims of hers
on the river front were infringed upon ? "By the right of
conquerors," quietly replied the Governor. The lady did
not press the subject, as there was danger of her entire
property being confiscated.
May 1. — A number of secesh sympathizing merchants
are here settling accounts with secesh, and giving them en
couragement. Governor Johnson thinks " there are enough
secesh South without importing others from the North."
In course of conversation to-day, in the Governor's apart
ments, a Unionist related the following anecdote of Alex
ander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy.
Stephens was asked by a Unionist — " Can you answer your
own Union speech ?" " No." " Why did you dfjjert us,
then ?" Stephens replied — " To prevent the Toombs men
from plunging their daggers into the hearts of the Stephens
men, and to prevent the Stephens men from plunging theirs
into the hearts of the Toombs men." About the same
time it was stated that certain prominent secesh had taken
the oath prescribed by Governor Johnson. One of the
doubtful kind approached Colonel  , who had recently
subocribed to the oath, and said, — " Well, Colonel, I hear

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 95
you've jined. Is it so?" "Yes." "Well, I guess I'll
jine, too," and took the oath amid some merriment, the
Governor himself relaxing the usual rigidity of his features
at the quaint remark.
May 12. — To day was a great day for Nashville, and for
Governor Johnson as the leader and champion of the
U nion phalanx in Tennessee. A very large mass Conven
tion was held in the House of Representatives, at which
ex-Governor Campbell presided. After speeches by several
prominent Union men, Governor Johnson was loudly called
for. The moment he made his appearance there was one
universal shout of welcome. All present seemed to con
gratulate themselves on having a leader of so determined
a mein in this crisis as the man who now stood before them.
The delegates from the country districts seemed electrified
by his presence, and, as one remarked, who was forced by
the presence of the multitude to crowd upon our elbow as
we were taking a few notes of the proceeding, " Andy
Johnson's got the people with him, that's a fact." After
the tumult of applause had subsided, Governor Johnson
proceeded to address the audience. His remarks occupied
three hours' time, and covered a large portion of the field
of his present operations, with magnanimous references to
incidents of the past, hope in the present, and confidence
in the future. He said he now felt it the proudest moment
of his life to stand here, under the Stars and Stripes, and
on the platform of the Union with those who had differed
with him politically. Taking the hand of the President
of the meeting, Governor Campbell, and shaking it warmly,
he repeated his heartfelt congratulations upon the auspi
cious event, and upon the prospect of a speedy restoration
of Tennessee to the Union. He continued : — If the Union
goes down, we go down with it. There is no other fate
for us. Our salvation is the Union, and nothing but the
Union. The only inquiry must be, are you for the Union,
and wlHing to swear that the last drop of your blood shall
be poured out in its defence ? (Applause long continued.)
He would say to others that he would toil through moun
tains, through valleys, through plains, at night and by day,
and all his exertions should be toward the restoration of
Tennessee to her former relations with the Federal Gov
ernment. The effect of the following passage in his speech was
6

96 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
profound and thrilling : — " Treason must be punished, or
rather, treason must be crushed out and traitors must be
punished. Intelligent, conscious traitors must be punished.
Not the great mass who have been forced under conscrip
tion into the Southern armies. We say to them, return to
your allegiance and no punishment shall be inflicted. But
to those who brought this sea of blood upon our land, who
arrayed brother against brother, we say to the conscious,
intelligent traitor, you will be punished." And some of
his auditors leaped to their seats in the phrenzy of their
agitation as he uttered the closing words of the fol
lowing : —
What confidence should Tennesseans have in Jeff. Davis?
How long is it since he attempted to tarnish the fair fanie
of Tennessee ? In secret session the people of Tennessee
were lashed to the car of his hybrid, despotic government.
Tennesseans are now in the dungeons of Alabama, bouna
in irons and fed on rotten meat and diseased bones. No
sound comes to cheer them ; no sound to relieve them of
their sa6>and weary confinement, save the clanking of the
chains that confine them. What sin, what crime, what
felony have they committed ? None ! None 1 In the
name of God, none, except that they love the flag of their
country. (Great apjjlause.) There is one question, con
tinued Governor Johnson, placing much stress upon his
observations, which underlies all others at this juncture — I
say what I know, 1 know what I say and feel — that is, the
struggle to know whether man is capable of self-govern
ment, whether man can govern himself. He believed that
the question of slavery was made the pretext for breaking
up the government, in order to establish a monarchy. He
referred to South Carolina as having inaugurated "this
infamous, diabolical, damnable rebellion," and deducted
from the fact that the tories in that State, during the
Revolutionary war, had proposed arrangements for a
restoration to vassalage under that power, that tray were
ready for a return to a monarchy and the establishing of an
aristocracy that should control the masses. (Sensation.)
In support of this view Governor Johnson presented the
fact that one of the leading inducements of separation was
the hope of succor, recognition and help from Great
Britain and France. Separation ! he exclaimed — separate
from the United States, and what does South Carolina, or
any other of the seceded original States do but fall back to its

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 97
original colonial condition ? — to the condition of vassalage
to Queen Victoria ? Shall we overlook these things in the
great clamor for Southern rights ? Jeff. Davis, Toombs,
Iverson, Benjamin and Wigfall, he pronounced conspirators
worse than those of Rome. Will you, he asked of the
men of Tennessee, become vassals to these men ? He ap
pealed to those who had a recollection of the sires of the
Revolution, of those deeds which taught them to revere
the memories of the past ; to the times when the blood
spouted from the heels of those who, barefooted, made lone
and weary marches, through snow and over frozen rivers,
to achieve their independence from foreign domination, to
answer. (Applause.) Are you willing, he asked, to quail
before treason and traitors, and surrender the best govern
ment the world ever saw? (Cries of "Never, never.")
Although the revolution has run rampant, it has not over
come a people who know that there is a redeeming spirit,
a returning sense of justice abiding in the hearts of the
great mass of the people. He compared the present dark
ness and depression of the Union men to the lava that,
issuing from the crater of Vesuvius, had receded only to
return in a volume of liquid fire and sweep over the laud.
There is, he said ,a redeeming spirit coming over the land.
In the forests — and there are many here who can under
stand the simile — the -murmurs of the coming storm can be
heard before the storm breaks forth in its fury. He heard
the murmurs of that coming storm now. It was returning
to crush out treason and rebellion.
Referring to the cry for Southern. rights, he exclaimed :
Southern rights I Why, a man in South Carolina is
not eligible to a seat in the Legislature unless he owns
ten negroes and is possessed of £500 freehold property.
Where's that man, he asked, who wants his rights in the
Territories ? Why don't he go to South Carolina ? Would
he be allowed to become a member of the Legislature ?
No. I doubt whether he would be allowed to darken the
doors of the capitol. Governor Johnson said if he should
go there himself he would not be eligible to a seat in the
lower house of the Legislature. It required the ownership
often negroes for eligibility. He only owned nine, or did
once own them ; but they have since been confiscated by
the Southern Confederacy, and they have them now. They

98 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
went to his home, where his wife was sick, and his child,
eight months old, consuming with consumption. They
turned his wife and child into the streets, and converted
his house, built with his own hands, into a hospital and
barracks. His servants being confiscated, it was with
great difficulty and much suffering that his wife and little
boy were enabled to reach the house of a relative, many
miles distant. Call you this Southern rights ? If so, God
preserve me from another such infliction. (The audience
were silent as the tomb as the Governor related this portion
of his personal experience. The sensation was profound.)
Proceeding, he said he did not wish to be understood as con
veying the idea that Tennessee was out of the Union. She had
no right to go out, no more than you have to apply the torch
to a building without asking the consent of your adjoin
ing neighbor. She is not out, she is still an integral part
of the Union. When the rebellion is put down she will
stand in her relations as she stood before — one of the bright
est stars in the galaxy of Federal States. (Continued ap
plause.) The Governor concluded by paying his respects
to the female portion of the secession population in Nash
ville. He said that when a woman shall unsex herself she
must be met in the character she assumes. He regretted
that there were so few Union women in Nashville. Why
should the women oppose the Union ? We want their
assistance. He believed that by women's influence many
men have been induced to join the Confederates. (Voices
— i"Yes, hundreds," "thousands.") The Governor paid a
beautiful and eloquent tribute to woman in her natural and
appropriate sphere. Though there were but few Union
women now in Nashville, he looked forward to the time
when there will be .plenty ; to the time when scenes of
blood and carnage, the smoke and dust of battle, shall
cease ; to the time when the dove will come, and the stars
of the morning shall sing, and a Saviour shall proclaim
"Peace on earth, good will to man."
May 24. — Immediately following the Union mass meet-,
ing in Nashville, arrangements were made to get up an
other in the interior of the State, in Murfreesboro, Ruther
ford county — a region that had been the hotbed of secesh.
It came off to-day. We left Nashville, in company with
Governor Johnson and one of the Governor's aids. Not
apprehending any difficulty from guerillas, no guard ac-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 99
u>mpanied the train. We reached Murfreesboro about
noon, and by invitation repaired to the residence of Mr.
Jordan, a Union citizen, where a bountiful dinner was pre
pared. We then repaired to the court-house, where, placing
a couple of boards on the heads of barrels, a platform
was prepared outside the building, and after addresses from
the presiding officer, Hon. Wm. Spence, and Hon. Ed
mund Cooper, of Shelbyville, Governor Johnson was intro
duced. The audience was a queer mixture of blue coats
and butternuts. The latter stood listlessly inside the rail
ing of the court-house yard, and even the spirited and
eloquent remarks of Mr. Cooper could not arouse them
from their incomprehensible state of listlessness. But as
Governor Johnson proceeded they began to exhibit more
interest and attention. He seemed to know where and
how to touch the hearts of the Tennesseeans and make them
vibrate with patriotic emotions. In emphatic words he
urged the deluded and erring Union men, who had by force
or choice joined the rebel armies, to return to their alle
giance, and to all, except to the " intelligent and conscious
traitor," would amnesty be granted. Over the whole 'field
of local — and a great proportion of national — politics did
this inflexible and indefatigable exponent and defender of
the Constitution and the Union proceed, and for three
hours and more enlist the attention of his auditors. It
was a sight to observe the sway he seemed to have over
them as exhibited in their physiognomies and actions.
Now they would lend silent and immovable attention ;
again, as a striking fact or forcible and pertinent illustra
tion would present itself, they would burst into a laugh
aud applaud with approving cries of " Good for Andy,"
" That's the talk," etc. And when he particularly alluded
to his own sufferings and to those of others, and to the
horrors that encompassed a continuance of the rebellion,
tears were shed by more than one stout and stalwart Ten-
nesseean. June 2. — The Union meetings inaugurated in Nashville
are being followed up. One was held to-day in Columbia.
It was addressed by Governor Johnson and Neil S. Brown,
the first appearance of the latter on the Union platform
this season. An apprehended accident, whether premedi
tated or otherwise, came near putting a stop to Governor
Johnson's appearance as a speaker. Taking a carriage,

100 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
with one of his aids, at the railroad depot for the hotel,
with a small escort of soldiery, the horses, from some cause
or other, took fright as the carriage was passing up a hill
at the edge of a steep embankment, and suddenly turned
nearly around. Governor Johnson's quick eye discovered
the movement, and in a moment he opened the carriage
door and landed upon terra firma, followed by the other
occupants of the vehicle. Had the carriage overturned at
the spot, and the danger was imminent, there is no know
ing what damage might have ensued. As it was, the Gov
ernor concluded not- to try a similar experiment ; for there
was no calculating what mischievous or dastardly tricks
the secessionists of the vicinity might undertake in order
to wreak their vengeance upon him, and he concluded to
walk the remainder of the distance, about a mile and a half.
The meeting was held in a market space, under a build
ing used for some local official purpose. Mounted upon
a butcher's block — the stump of a huge oak tree — Gov
ernor Johnson delivered another of his impassioned ad
dresses to the soldiers and citizens present. His appeal
was earnest in behalf of the Union, and he implored his
fellow citizens in that part of Tennessee to unite with him
in restoring their glorious old State back to the endearing
arms of the Federal Union. Hon. Neil S. Brown also
spoke in behalf of a Union restored, declaring that the
rebellion was played out. Much disappointment was felt
at the non-appearance at the meeting of Colonel Wm. H.
Polk, brother of the late President Polk, who was instru
mental in getting it up.
June 7. — Following the meeting at Columbia came an
other at Shelbyville to-day, by far the most significant
since the mass convention in Nashville last month. The
meeting was held in the fair grounds, and from three to
four thousand persons, including many ladies, were pres
ent. Speeches were made by Governor Johnson, Mr.
Wisener (President), and Colonel Scudder, once a secesh,
now a strong Unionist. It was an enthusiastic and demon
strative gathering. Colonel Scudder was an interesting
feature of this occasion. The colonel said he entertained
southern views and had gone for separation. He believed
it now to be the duty of every citizen to submit to the
Government. He regarded the position now as that of
two fellows engaged in a free fight. They pitched in and

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 101
one got a thrashing. That was the South, and it should
acknowledge the fact. Colonel S. was inspector-general
under the secesh Governor Isham G. Harris. He was in
the Mexican war, and lost an eye in the battle of "Monte
rey, under the then Colonel W. B. Campbell, afterwards
Governor of Tennessee.
June 18.— -The clergymen of this city, with the excep
tion of the Catholic (and even the Catholic Bishop Whee-
lan, thinks the South never can be brought back into the
Union), are almost to a man secessionists. They, unfortu
nately for themselves, are not quietly so ; but preach trea
son every Sabbath from their pulpits. Having been re
quired by Governor Johnson to step up to the office of
the Secretary of State and subscribe to the oath of allegi
ance, they obeyed the summons so far as attending the
office was concerned, but no further. The interview was
interesting, and bears being further described, even to
repetition. As Governor Johnson entered the room, he shook hands
familiarly with two or three of the reverend congregation.
Others did not seem inclined to shake hands with him, nor
he with them. Although of a religious turn of mind, and
a respecter of the doctrines of an enlarged spirit of Chris
tianity, it was the first time Governor Johnson had had
the opportunity of mingling in so influential a class-meet
ing — one representing such diverse sectarian tenets. Per
fectly composed, he entered into the midst of them, and
said, " Well, gentlemen, what is your desire ?"
Rev. Mr. Sehon — I speak but for myself, Governor ; I
do not know what the other gentlemen wish. My request
is that I may have a few days to consider the subject of
signing the paper. I wish to gather my family together,
and talk over the subject.
Gov. Johnson — How long a time will you require ?
Rev. Mr. Sehon — My wife is at some distance, and my
family having recently labored under a severe domestic
affliction, I would, if you have no objection, Governor, have
fourteen days allowed me for the purpose of gathering my
family together.
Rev. Mr. Ford — That is not to be understood to be the
request of all of us.
Rev. Mr. Sehon — Oh, no, Governor. We have been
conversing on the subject, and I did not know but that it

102 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
would be desirable to have a mutual consultation before
we again met.
Rev. Mr. Howell — I did not so understand the brother.
Rev. Mr. Kendrick — Nor I. We can come as well
singly as together.
Rev. Mr. Saurie — I did not so understand the proposi
tion. Rev. Mr. Sehon — It was a bare suggestion, and the ob
ject might have been misapprehended by the brethren.
Gov. Johnson — It seems to me that there should be but
little hesitation among you, gentlemen, about the matter.
All that is required of you is to sign the oath of allegiance.
If you are loyal citizens you can have no reason to refuse
to do so. If you are disloyal, and working to obstruct the
operations of the government, it is my duty, as the repre
sentative of that government, to see that you are placed in
a position so that the least possible harm can result from
your proceedings. You certainly cannot reasonably refuse
to renew your allegiance to the government that is now
protecting you and your families and property.
Rev. Mr. Elliott — As a non-combatant, Governor, I con
sidered that under the stipulations of the surrender of this
city I should be no further annoyed. As a non-combatant,
I do not know that I have committed an act, since the
federals occupied the city, that would require me to take
the oath required.
Gov. Johnson — I believe, Mr. Elliott, you have two
brothers in Ohio.
Mr. Elliott — Yes, Governor, I have two noble brothers
there. I have seen them but on occasional visits for thirty-
four years. They have been good friends to me. They
did not agree with me in the course I pursued in regard to
secession. But I have lived in Tennessee so many years
that I have considered the State my home, and am willing
to follow her fortunes. Tennessee is a good State.
Gov. Johnson — I know Tennessee is a good State ; and
I believe the best way to improve her fortunes is to remove
those from her borders who prove disloyal and traitors to
her interests, as they are traitors to the government that
has fostered and protected them. I think, Mr. Elliott, a
visit to your brothers in Ohio will prove of service to you.
Rev. Mr. Elliott — I do not know whenever I have been

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 103
proven disloyal. I am no politician, and never attended
but one political meeting, and never but once perpetrated
a political joke.
Gov. Johnson — Perhaps not, sir. But by your inflamma
tory remarks and conversation, and by your disloyal be
havior in weaning the young under your charge from their
allegiance to the government established by their fathers,
you have won a name that will never be placed on the roll
of patriots. ' A visit to the North, I repeat, may be of bene
fit to you. (Sensation.)
Rev. Mr. Kendrick (after reading the oath") — I would
like a few days' time before I sign this paper, Governor.
Gov. Johnson — How long do you require ?
Rev. Mr. Kendrick — Just as you please, Governor. One,
two or three days, or a week.
Gov. Johnson — A week from to-day.
Rev. Mr. Kendrick — Yes, Governor, say a week.
The other clergymen were inquired of in regard to the
time they required to make up their minds, and it was gen
erally agreed that they, within a week, would be prepared
to either renew their allegiance or make preparations for
their departure. This was the understanding with all the
clergymen, with the exception of the Rev. Mr. Elliott, with
whom a time for a private interview was assigned by Gov
ernor Johnson.
The physicians — Drs. B. W. Hall, and A. H. Ford — re
mained after the clergymen departed. Dr. Hall was re
ported as having said in a public speech; on the night of the
fall'of Fbrt Donaldson, that "the Penitentiary should be
cleared of its inmates and their places occupied by Union
citizens." He was also accused of introducing a resolution
in a public meeting embracing sentiments trespassing heav
ily upon the rights of Union citizens.
Gov. Johnson talked to him with some severity, which
excited some resentful emotions in the breast of the doctor.
He said : —
" Governor Johnson — I know you have a grudge against
me, and you are now gratifying your revenge."
Governor Johnson — I have no reason to gratify any re
sentment I may entertain towards you, sir.
Dr. Hall — Why have you no reason ?
Governor Johnson — Because I consider you too c|m-
temptible to excite an emotion of resentment in any one.

104 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Dr. Hall at this moment jumped suddenly upon his feet,
and we did not know what would happen next. The doc
tor was angry ; but the determined demeanor of Governor
Johnson disarmed him if he did entertain hostile intentions.
The Governor then turned quietly on his heel and returned
to his private room.
June 28. — To-day the clergymen signified to Governor
Johnson their determination not to take the oath, and were
sent to the Penitentiary prior to their removal to General
Halleck to be exchanged for Union prisoners. The Catholic
church will therefore be the only one opened for services to
morrow (Sunday).
October 12. — Quite a sensation has been produced by
the arrival in Nashville of Governor Johnson's family,
after incurring and escaping numerous perils while making
their exodus from East Tennessee. The male members of
the family were in danger of being hung on more than one
occasion. They left Bristol, in the extreme Northeastern
section of the State, on the Virginia line, by permission of
the rebel War Department, accompanied by a small escort.
Wherever it became known on the railroad route that Andy
Johnson's family were on the train, the impertinent curiosity
of some rebels was only equalled by the clamor of others
for some physical demonstration on Johnson's sons. Ar
riving at Murfreesboro, they were met by General Forrest
and his force. Forrest refused to allow them to pioceed,
and they were detained some time, until Isham G. Harris
and Andrew Ewing, noted rebels, telegraphed to Richmond
and obtained a peremptory order allowing them to proceed.
The great joy at the reunion of this long and sorrowfully
separated family may be imagined. I will not attempt to
describe it. Even the Governor's Roman sternness was
overcome, and he wept tears of thankfulness at this merci
ful deliverance of his beloved ones from the hands of their
unpitying persecutors. Mrs. Johnson is now the mistress
of the Governor's residence, a princely mansion formeily
occupied by ex-Governor and ex-United States Postmaster
General Aaron V. Brown.
It will be remembered that in September, Octoler, and
November, 1862, the rebels threatened Nashville, and for
a tonsiderable period cut off its communications with the

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 105
North. We quote the following interesting accounts of
Governor Johnson's movements, during this trying time :
September 2, 1862.— The city (Nashville) is filled with
alarm and apprehension. General Buell has evacuated
Huntsville, Stevenson, Battle Creek, Dechard, all North
Alabama and Southern Tennessee, and is on his way to
Nashville, not, it is said, because any enemy pressed him
in the front, but because the enemy (Bragg) had flanked
him, moved north, and is now north of his position. Gov
ernor Johnson deplores this wholesale desertion of the
country, and does not concur with General Buell as to its
propriety. It is evident the two do not agree.
September 5. — The enemy has recaptured Murfreesboro.
General Buell has arrived in Nashville, General Rousseau
in command.
September 6. — The city is in a state of great consterna
tion on account of the current report that General Buell
had determined upon the evacuation of Nashville, when
the rumor reached Governor Johnson, he exclaimed,
".What, evacuate Nashville, and abandon our Union
friends to the mercy of these infernal hounds ? Why,
there is not a secessionist in town who would not laugh to
see every Union man shot down in cold blood by rebel
soldiers if they come here." He protests against an evac
uation or a surrender without a fight. He would destroy
the city rather than leave it to the enemy. General
Thomas arrives at a critical period and takes command.
He sustaids Governor Johnson, and Nashville is neither
evacuated nor destroyed. Thus for a second time has
Governor Johnson saved the city by his matchless firmness
and indomitable decision of character. Not only has he
again saved the city, but the lives of hundreds of Union
men and millions of government property. Union refugees
in most sickening plight are arriving from the South.
They report the most horrible outrages by guerillas.
September 11. — Governor Johnson's policy regarding
the holding of Nashville prevails. General Thomas has
received instructions from the highest authority to hold
the city at all hazards. The city is being rapidly fortified.
Secessionists are bolder than ever. The negroes say the"
masters openly express their belief in the early occupatj
of the place by the rebels. One darkey asked to-d

their
4

106 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
" Massa  , am de secesh done gone for good ?" In
explanation he said, his master had told him to get ready
for a jollification, for their turn was coming again soon.
September 30. — Communication with the outer world is
cut off. We are surrounded by the enemy. A siege has
commenced. Things look gloomy. The work of forti
fying goes on briskly, and if the enemy give us two weeks
more time we can defy them. Captain Morton, Engineer,
United States army, has two thousand contrabands at
work on St. Cloud hill erecting fortifications. That splen
did grove has been cut down. The Asylum for the Blind,
erected at the cost of forty thousand dollars, has been
blown up, on a " new principle," as Captain Morton ex
pressed it. Every building gives way to make play for
the guns of Fort Negley.
October 7. — General James S. Negley is now in com
mand. To-day he ordered an attack upon the rebel forces
under General S. R. Anderson at Lavergne, a few miles
distant. It was a surprise, and quite successful. Among
the captures was Colonel (Harry Maury. [Late in com
mand at Mobile.] The enemy reoccupied the place shortly
after our leaving it.
October 8. — No communications for a month. Parties
attempt to leave in flatboats and canoes, but are captured
by guerillas before they get fairly out of the city. Rations
getting scarce. People getting uneasy. Hotels closed for
want of supplies. Correspondence captured by guerillas.
No use writing. Governor Johnson takes every thing coolly,
hoping for the best.
October 21. — Days, weeks, nay months, roll around, and
there seems to be no change for the better in this important
city. Cut off from communications with the outer world,
our supplies becoming exhausted, deprived of almost all
articles of luxury, and even comfort, and subject to the ill-
disguised sneers and taunts of Union haters, our lot is a
hard one. But, notwithstanding all this, there is no falter
ing among the garrison that holds the city against the
rebel hosts reported to be menacing us. Governor John
son's wise and energetic measures, coupled with the activity
of General Negley, inspires courage and confidence among
^^ion men. We hear that Breckinridge is around us with
llv thousand men; that Anderson, mortified at his defeat

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 107
at Lavergne, declares that he can and will capture the city ;
and Forrest, incensed from the same cause, roughly swears
that he will have Nashville at all hazards, if he falls him
self at the first fire. But those who are in the confidence
of Governor Johnson know that the enemy, if they should
capture the city, will achieve an empty triumph, amid black
ened and crumbling ruins. The coolness and calmness of the
Governor amid these tryingscenes are beyond allpraise. He
does all he can to preserve order; but, notwithstanding this,
midnight assassinations are frequent. There were six mur
ders one night recently. The other day a party belonging
to an Illinois regiment broke down the door of a room in
which were a secessionist and his mistress. The secession
ist shot and killed two of the Illinoians. The exasperation
of their comrades cannot be portrayed. A rope was pro
cured, and the nearest lamp post would have witnessed the
unfortunate man's end but for the interference of Colonel
Stanley and a strong detachment of soldiers. Amid the
wildest excitement he was taken before Governor Johnson's
Provost Marshal, Colonel Gillem, at the Capitol, and se
cured against the results of mob violence. Although the
act was calculated to lessen Governor Johnson's popularity
with the troops, he unhesitatingly endorsed the conduct of
Colonel Gillem, declaring that there was a legal and proper
way to punish the offender, and so long as he had the
power he would see it enforced. These facts are mentioned
to show Governor Johnson's sense of justice and his deter
mination to exercise it under the most trying circumstances.
November 4. — The enemy have made several attempts to
drive in our pickets, without material loss on either side.
A rebel siege train has arrived at the Lunatic Asylum,
about three miles from the city, where the enemy have thrown
up intrenchments. A rebel attempt to capture the city by
a coup de main in the rear has been thwarted by the timely
action of General Negley. Great activity prevails at the
Capitol. Governor Johnson, with his private secretary,
Mr. Browning ; one of his aids, Mr. Lindley ; Provost
Marshal Gillem ; Captain Abbott, First Tennessee battery ;
Assistant Provost Marshal B. C. Trueman ; Volunteer
Aid Mr.  , together with the officers of the Governor's
bodyguard, the First Tennessee infantry, under command
of Colonel Gillem, are on duty night and day at the Gov
ernor's room, ready for any service the Governor may r%

108 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
quire. * * * All hands are engaged in cleaning fire
arms, sharpening cutlasses, etc. Four Rodman guns have
been placed in position to defend the Capitol, which is also
protected by lines of earthworks and breastworks of cotton
bales. The capitol will be defended to the last extremity.
The cool and determined demeanor of Governor Johnson
is the admiration of all.
November 5.' — The enemy made two attacks on Nash
ville to-day. One attack was made by Morgan, on the
Edgefield sidte of the river, with a view, probably, of destroy
ing the new railroad bridge. Morgan was repulsed with
considerable loss. About the same time the enemy, under
Forrest, approached the city by four routes, viz: — the
Franklin, Murfreesboro, Lebanon and Nolansville pikes.
They were in great strength, and seemed bent on capturing
the city. General Negley and Governor Johnson deter
mined they should not. Foit Negley prepared to welcome
them, with the Tenth Illinois as a garrison. Forts Brown
ing and Lindsley, and the two enfilading works, known as
Forts Trueman and Glenn, were garrisoned by the gallant
Nineteenth Illinois and detachments of other regiments.
Fort Andrew Johnson, (the Capitol) was garrisoned by the
First Tennessee, Colonel Gillem, with a reserve of artillery
under command of Captain Abbott, of the First Tennessee
battery. Governor Johnson and staff, including our cor
respondent, took position in the cupola of the Capitol, and
had a splendid view of the conflict going on about two miles
distant. At one time, when the firing was most furious,
and the smoke partly concealed a view of the combat, it
seemed that the Sixty-ninth Ohio, Colonel Casselly, and
the Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania, Colonel Sewell, who were
in the advance, had been defeated, and were under full re
treat for the shelter of the fortifications. This was an ex
citing moment for the spectators in the cupola of the Cap
itol, although there was not a blanched cheek among the
group that surrounded Governor Johnson. It was here the
Governor made the remark in that forcible manner he is
accustomed to when he means a thing — " I am no military
man ; but any one who talks of surrendering I will shoot."
What was apprehended to be a repulse of our troops proved
to be simply a strategic movement of General Negley's ;
fpr in a few minutes the entire Union force rallied, and with
colors flying, dashed tempestuously, horse, foot and artillery,

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 109
amid the thunder of the big guns of the forts, upon the be
fore exultant foe. The enemy appeared to be thunder
struck. They came to a standstill, fired a few shots, and
then turned and wildly fled. The rout was complete.
Thus was raised the siege of Nashville, and the city for a
third time was saved by the inflexible firmness of Governor
Johnson, aided by the bayonets of the flower of American
soldiery. November 14. — General Rosecrans arrived to-day, with
heavy reinforcements, as commander of the army of the
Cumberland. He issued a congratulatory order to Gene
ral Negley for his gallant defence of Nashville, and held a
consultation with Governor Johnson. Communications
are now once more re-opened, and after an embargo of
some two months (from September 15 to November 14)
Nashville again becomes a city within the confines of civili
zation. During these exciting scenes — during the dread
ful dulness of interrupted communications, failing supplies,
and a lack of any kind of amusements, it would not be
strange if some tempers should seek solace in conviviality.
But, from first to last, Governor Johnson was a model of
abstemiousness. He never played cards for amusement
or gain. He never indulged in drink on any single occa
sion to a greater extent than possibly a clergyman would
at a sacrament ; and, as for the smaller vices, he was free
from them all. His whole aims and objects, his entire
aspirations, seemed to centre in the re-establishment of the
authority of the Federal Government over his State, her
speedy return to the Union, protection of loyal citizens in
all parts of the State, and punishment of " conscious and
intelligent traitors " wherever found.
The world knows the result of the siege of Nashville,
and the disastrous defeat of the rebels has now passed
into history.
After the retreat of General Bragg from Murfreesboro,
in July, 1863, West and Middle Tennessee were entirely
under Federal control. Burnside then -advanced into
East Tennessee and drove the rebels out. A convention
was held at Nashville, in September, to consider the re
storation of Tennessee to the Union. Governor Johnson

110 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
thus expressed his views on that question : Tennessee
is not out of the Union, never has been, and never will be
out. The bonds of the Constitution and the Federal
power will always prevent that. This Government is
perpetual ; provision is made for reforming the Govern
ment and amending the Constitution, and admitting
States into the Union ; not for letting them out of it.
* * * The United States sends an agent or a mili
tary garrison, whichever you please, to aid you in re
storing your Government. Whenever you desire, in good
faith, to restore civil authority, you can do so, and a pro
clamation for an election will be issued as speedily as it
is practicable to hold one. * * * This is no nice
metaphysical question. It is a plain common-sense mat
ter, and there is nothing in the way but obstinacy.
The provisional Government created by the President,
continued throughout the year, and on the 26th of Janu
ary, 1864, Governor Johnson issued his proclamation for a
State election. Up to this time about twenty-five thou
sand Union citizens entered the army, and several colored
regiments were organized.
JOHNSON'S DETERMINATION.
The character of Andrew Johnson cannot be fully
weighed unless his origin, purposes, political career and
individual courage are estimated at their true value. An
able writer has thus compared his position with that of
the fugitive traitor, Jefferson Davis : " The country will
remember the courageous impromptu speech in the United
States Senate, which Senator, now President, Johnson
rose and delivered in immediate reply to Jefferson Davis,
when the baffled rebel chief took his farewell, and sought
to demonstrate the inability of our Government to execute
its properly constituted will upon the people of all th
States. Senator Johnson then stood alone. The con

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. Ill
Bpirators had resorted to every method known to them for
the purpose of bending the inflexibility of his resolution to
stand by his country, but when they found that they had
only failed, they visited him with open derision and con
tempt. He charged them with it at the time, and has left
it upon record that he felt its temporary effect, although
only to resist and not to yield to the sting. Since that
striking scene in the Senate chamber, when the predeter
mined chief of the rebellion was boldly confronted, an
swered and denounced by the Tennessee Senator, great
changes have taken place. Well may we use the language
of the poet, in referring especially to the changed relations
of the two actors in that scene, and speak of the ' whirl
igigs of time.' Davis hs^" sfc. and we suppose still con
tinues to style himself, the i . jfcident of a Rebel Confed
eracy, which notoriously has no existence but its name ;
Johnson is to-day the President of the United States,
whose sacred authority he stepped forward to defend
against Davis and against traitors everywhere. And it
may be that, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, he will
yet be summoned to execute punishment upon the leader
in rebellion whom, but four years ago, he solemnly and
patriotically warned of the consequences of his threatened
treason. The former is a fugitive, with his countrymen
formed into a body of voluntary police to pursue and cap
ture him : the latter is the Executive of the nation, upon
whom would devolve the duty of visiting the last punish
ment denounced by the laws on so great a criminal. The
contrast between the positions of these two men, who
separated with such pregnant words on the floor of the
Senate, is too striking not to provoke more than a passing
remark. It is one of those lessons in the history of justice
which is too. impressive to be forgotten. The man who
was jeered at by the knot of recreants that crowded
around to intimidate the sturdiness of his patriotism, now
7

112 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
has it in his power to speak their doom, unless a kinder
fortune shall pilot them into the dreary paths of an igno
minious exile. He who stood fast when all around him
wavered, now beholds the braggart calumniators of his
country and himself, fleeing in every direction for their
lives, outcasts and fugitives, abandoned by the people
whom they have so fatally deluded, hating one another,
and, above all, dreading the swift sureness of that retrib
utive justice whose decrees no man or set of men can out
rage with impunity. There is certainly contained in this
history a lesson in favor of the truth and the right."
One further incident of Mr. Johnson's Tennessee career
will not be out of place.
One gentleman, a political opponent of the Governor, an
eye-witness of the occurrence, told us that a placard was
posted in Nashville, one morning, announcing in the well
known language of old Tennessee, that Andy Johnson was
to be shot " on sight." Friends of the Governor assembled
at his house to escort him to the State House. "No,"
said he, " gentlemen, if I am to be shot at, I want no man
to be in the way of the bullet." He walked alone and
with his usual deliberation through the streets to his
official apartments on Capitol Hill. Another eye-witness
related a similar story. He was announced to speak on
one of the exciting questions of the day, and loud threats
were uttered that if he dared to appear he should not
leave the hall alive. At the appointed hour, he ascended
to the platform, and advancing to the desk laid his pistol
upon it. He then addressed the audience, in terms as
near like the following as our informant could recollect :
" Fellow-citizens, it is proper when freemen assemble for
the discussion of important public interests, that everything
should be done decently and in order. I have been in
formed, that part of the business to be transacted on the
present occasion is the assassination of the individual who

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 113
now has the honor of addressing you. I beg respectfully
to propose this be the first business in order. Therefore,
if any man has come here to-night for the purpose indi
cated, I do not say to him, let him speak, but let him shoot."
Here he paused with his right hand on his pistol, and the
other holding open his coat, while with his eyes he blandly
surveyed the assembly. After a pause of half a minute, he
resumed : " Gentlemen, it appears that I have been misin
formed. I will now proceed to address you on the subject
that has called us together," which he did, with all his
accustomed boldness and vivacity, not sparing his adversa
ries, but giving them plenty of pure Tennessee. Tailor as
he was, he is no snob. Soon after he was inaugurated
Governor of Tennessee, a high official of the State, who
had been bred a blacksmith, presented him with a set of
elegant fire-irons, made with his own hands. " I will
give him a return in kind," remarked the Governor. He
bought some of the finest black broadcloth that Nashville
could furnish, procured a set of tailor's implements, got
the judges measure from his tailor, and made a complete
suit of clothes, setting every stitch himself, and presented
them to his friend. The work, we are told, was all done
in the Governor's room in the State House. The happy
wearer of the garments pronounced then a perfect fit, and
when we heard the story, in 1858, he had them still.
NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
The loyal people of the nation had watched the majestic
course of the brave and patriotic Johnson, and he was
destined to "go up higher" in their regards. When
the National Union Convention met at Baltimore in June,
1864, to nominate candidates for President and Vice-
President, to oppose Major General McClellan and Hon,
G. H. Pendleton of Ohio, who had been nominated by the
Democratic party, a platform was adopted, on the 7th of

114 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
the month, which was of so broad, liberal and compre
hensive a nature, that every patriot in the land could
accept and stand upon it. On the 8th of June, 1864, Abra
ham Lincoln was with one voice renominated for Presi
dent, and with equally astonishing unanimity, Andrew
Johnson was chosen on the first ballot, as candidate for
Vice-President. The entire country hailed these nomina
tions with spontaneous outbursts of delight. Those- who
had, through disaster and victory clung to and hoped for
the triumph of the old flag, avowed with genuine joy that
in the hands of such men as Lincoln and Johnson, the
honor of the Republic was safe, both from treason at
home and from the malignant hate of foreign enemies. -
Mr. Johnson had been known as equally a foe to domestic
traitors and to foreign despots, and his nomination was a
war note of defiance to every hater of American institutions
across the Atlantic.
On the 10th of June, 1864, Mr. Johnson, then at Nash
ville, was waited on by a host of personal and political
friends, and from the St. Cloud hotel he made a stirring
address, endorsing the Union platform, and accepting the
nomination which had spontaneously been tendered him.
LINCOLN'S OPINION OF JOHNSON.
On the day be .ore the meeting of the Baltimore Con
vention, Marcus L. Ward, of New Jersey, a delegate to
that body, and subsequently a most efficient member of
the Republican National Executive Committee, waited
upon Mr. Lincoln, and solicited an expression of his
preference as to the Vice-Presidential candidate to be
nominated by that convention. The President, while
declaring that he could not be expected to avow any
distinct preference for any of the gentlemen named in
that connection, referred frankly to the merits of each,
including Messrs Dickinson and Hamlin, and dwelt

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 115
especially upon the claims of Andrew Johnson, whom he
characterized as eminently a man for the times — capable,
honest, and of inflexible loyalty and indomitable wi'.l,
whose selection for Vice-President would afford him (Mr.
Lincoln) supreme satisfaction. Mr. Ward left the Presi
dent with the strong conviction that no man in the
country possessed his esteem and confidence more entirely
than Mr. Johnson. At a subsequent interview, after the
Presidential election, the President reiterated all he had
previously said in Mr. Johnson's praise, remarking thai
the country owed him a debt of gratitude for his un
shrinking sacrifice and heroic labors in its behalf, which
could never be paid. He still felt that he had in the new
Vice-President one whose aid would be of inestimable-.
value in the work before him. No man, he said, had a
right to judge Andrew Johnson in any respect, who had
not suffered as much and done as much as he had for the
nation's sake.
Mr. Lincoln's praise was none too high for the subjeci
of his eulogy. Every loyal man could say "Amen I"
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
The election on the 14th of November, 1864, resulted
in the election of Lincoln and Johnson by the grandest
majority ever given to any candidates since the days of
Washington. Every loyal State, save three, gave over
whelming majorities for the standard bearers of the Union
party, and the Democratic party was apparently crushed
into annihilation. SWORN IN AS VICE-PRESIDENT.
On the 4th of March, 1865, at the Capitol in Washing
ton city, Abraham Lincoln again took the oath of office
as President of the United States. On the same occasion,
Andrew Johnson took the oath as Vice-President, and

116, LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
in assuming the duties and responsibilities of the position,
delivered the following inaugural address :
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Senators — I am here to-day as the chosen Vice-Presi
dent of the United States, and as such, by constitutional
provision I am made the presiding officer of this body. I
therefore present myself here in obedience to. the high be
hests of the American people to discharge a constitutional
duty, and not presumptuously to thrust myself in a position
so exalted. May I at this moment — it may not be irrele
vant to the occasion — advert to the workings of our insti
tutions under the Constitution which our fathers framed
and Washington approved, as exhibited by the position in
which I stand before the American Senate, in the sight of
the American people ? Deem me not vain or arrogant ;
yet I should be less than man if under such circumstances
I were not proud of being an American citizen, for to-day
one who claims no high descent, one who comes from the
ranks of the people, stands, by the choice of a free con
stituency, in the second place of this Government. There
may be those to whom such things are not pleasing, but
those who have labored for the consummation of a free
Government will appreciate and cherish institutions which
exclude none, however obscure his origin, from places of
trust and distinction. The people, in short, are the source
of all power. You, Senators, you who constitute the bench
of the Supreme Court of the United States, are but the
creatures of the American people ; your exaltation is from
them ; the power of this Government consists in its near
ness and approximation to the great mass of the people.
You, Mr. Secretary Seward, Mr. Secretary Stanton, the
Secretary of the Navy, and the others who are your asso
ciates — you know that you have my respect and my confi
dence — derive not your greatness and your power alone
from President Lincoln. Humble as I am, plebeian as I
may be deemed, permit me in the presence of this brilliant
assemblage to enunciate the truth that courts and cabinets,
the President and his advisers, derive their power and their
greatness from the people. A President could not exist
here forty-eight hours if he were as far removed from the
people as the autocrat of Rubsia is separated from his sub

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 117
jects.. Here the popular heart sustains President and Cab
inet officers ;- the popular will gives them all their strength.
Such an assertion of the great principles of this Govern
ment may be considered out of place, and I will not con
sume the time of these intelligent and enlightened people
much longer ; but I could not be insensible to these great
truths when I, a plebeian, elected by the people the Vice-
President of the United States, am here to enter upon the
discharge of my duties. For those duties I claim not the
aptitude of my respected predecessor. Although I have
occupied a seat in both the House of Representatives and
the Senate, I am not learned in parliamentary law, and I
shall be dependent on the courtesy of those Senators who
have become familiar with the rules which are requisite for
the good order of the body and the dispatch of its busi
ness. I have only studied how I may best advance the
interests of my State and of my country, and not the tech-.
nical rules of order ; and if I err I shall appeal to this
dignified body of representatives of States for kindness
and indulgence.
Before I conclude this brief inaugural address in the
presence of this audience— ^and I, though a plebeian boy,
am authorized by the principles of the Government under
which I live to feel proudly conscious that I am a man, and
grave dignitaries are but men — before the Supreme Court,
the representatives of foreign governments, Senators and
the people, desire to proclaim that Tennessee, whose rep
resentative I have been, is free. She has bent the tyrant's
rod, she has broken the yoke of slavery, and to-day she
stands redeemed. She waited not for the exercise of power
by Congress ; it was her own act, and she is now as loyal,
Mr. Attorney-General, as is the State from which you
came. It is the doctrine of the Federal Constitution that
no State can go out of this Union ; and moreover Con
gress cannot reject a State from this Union. Thank God,
Tennessee has never been out of the Union ! It is true
the operations of her government were for a time inter
rupted ; there was an interregnum ; but she is still in the
Union, and I am her representative. This day she elects
her Governor and her Legislature, which will be convened
on the first Monday of April, and again her Senators and
Representatives will soon mingle with those of her sister
States ; and who shall gainsay it, for the Constitution re-

118 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
quires that to every State shall be guaranteed a republican
form of government ?
I now am prepared to take the oath of office and renew
my allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.
INDICATIONS OF JOHNSON'S POLICY.
On the third of April, 1865, Vice-President Johnson was
called upon, with other distinguished men at Washington,
to utter rejoicings at the fall of Richmond and the sub
stantial close of the rebellion. Mr. Johnson said, in
presence of a vast concourse of jubilant citizens :
As I have been introduced I will make one or two re
marks, for I feel that no one would be justified in attempt
ing to make an address on such an occasion, when the ex
citement is justly at so great a height.
We are now, my friends, winding up a rebellion — a great
effort that has been made by bad men to overthrow the
Government of the United States — a Government founded
upon free principles, and cemented by the best blood of
the Revolution. (Cheers.) You must indulge me in
making one single remark in connection with myself. At
the time that the traitors in the Senate of the United
States plotted against the Government and entered into a
conspiracy more foul, more execrable, and more odious
than that of Catiline against the Romans, I happened to
be a member of that body, and, as to loyalty, stood soli
tary and alone among the Senators from the Southern
States. I was then and there called upon to know what I could
do with such traitors, and I want to repeat my reply here.
I said, if we had an Andrew Jackson, he would hang them
as high as Haman, but as he is no more, and sleeps in his
grave in his own beloved State, where traitors and treason
have even insulted his tomb and the very earth that covers
his remains, humble as I am, when you ask me what I
would do, my reply is, I would arrest them — I would try
them — I would convict them, and I would hang them.
As humble as I am and have been, I have pursued but
one, undeviating course. All that I have — life, limb and
property — have been put at the disposal of the country in
this great struggle. I have been in camp, I have been iu

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 119
.the field, I have been everywhere where this great rebellion
was ; I have pursued it until I believe I can now see its
termination. Since the world began, there never has been
a rebellion of such gigantic proportions, so infamous in
character, so diabolical in motive, so entirely disregardful
of the laws of civilized war. It has introduced the most
savage mode of warfare every practiced upon the earth.
I will repeat here a remark, for which I have been in no
small degree censured. What is it, allow me to ask, that
has sustained the nation in this great struggle ? The cry
has been you know, that our Government was not strong
enough for a time of rebellion ; that in such a time she
would have to contend against internal weakness as well as
internal foes. We have now given the world evidence that
such is not the fact ; and when the rebellion shall have
been crushed out, and the nation shall once again have
settled down in peace, our Government will rest upon a
more enduring basis than ever before.
But, my friends, in what has the great strength of this
Government consisted. Has it been in one-man power ?
Has it been in some autocrat, or in some one man who held
absolute government ? No I I thank God I have it in my
power to proclaim the great truth, that this Government
has derived its strength from the American people. They
have issued the edict ; they have exercised the power that
has resulted in the overthrow of the rebellion, and there
is not another government upon the face of the earth that
could have withstood the shock.
We can now congratulate ourselves that we possess the
strongest, the freest and the best Government the world
ever saw.- Thank God that, we have lived through this
trial, and that, looking in your intelligent faces here to-day,
I can announce to you the great fact that Petersburg, the
outpost to the strong citadel, has been occupied by our
brave and gallant officers and our untiring, invincible sol
diers. And not content with that, they have captured the
citadel itself — the stronghold of traitors. Richmond is
ours, and is now occupied by the forces of the United
States ! Her gates have been entered, and the glorious
stars and stripes, the emblem of Union, of power, and of
supremacy, now float over the enemy's capitol 1
In the language of another, let that old flag rise higher
and- higher, until it meets the sun in his coming, and let the

120 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
parting day linger to play upon its ample folds. It is the
flag of your country, it is your flag, it is my flag, and it
bids defiance to all the nations of the earth, and the en
croachments of all the powers combined. It is not my
intention to make any imprudent remarks or allusions, but
the hour will come when those nations that exhibited to
ward us such insolence and improper interference in the
midst of our adversity, and, as they supposed, of our weak
ness, will learn that this is a Government of the people
possessing power enough to make itself felt and respected.
In the midst of our rejoicing, we must not forget to drop
a tear for those gallant fellows who have shed their blood
that their Government must triumph. We cannot forget
them when we view the many bloody battle-fields of the
war, the new-made graves, our maimed friends and rela
tives, who have left their limbs, as it were, on the enemy's
soil, and others who have been consigned to their long nar
row houses, with no winding sheet save their blankets satu
rated with their blood.
One word more, and I have done. It is this : I am in
favor of leniency ; but, in my opinion, evil-doers should be
punished. [Cries of " That's so."] Treason is the high
est crime known in the catalogue of crimes, and for him
that is guilty of it — for him that is willing to lift his im
pious hand against the authority of the nation — I would
say death is too easy a punishment. My uotion is that
treason must be made odious, and traitors must be punished
and impoverished, their social power broken, though they
must be made to feel the penalty of their crime. You, my
friends, have traitors in your very midst, and treason needs
rebuke and punishment here as well as elsewhere. It is not
the men in the field who are the greatest traitors. It is
the men who have encouraged them to imperil their lives,
while they themselves have remained at home, expending
their means and exerting all their power to overthrow the
Government. Hence I say this : " the halter to intelligent,
influential traitors." But to the honest boy, to the deluded
man who has been deceived into the rebel ranks, I would
extend leniency ; I would say, return to your allegiance,
renew your support to the Government, and become a good
citizen ; but the leaders I would hang. I hold, too, that
wealthy traitors should be made to remunerate those men
who have suffered as a consequence of their crime — Union

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 121
men who have lost their property, who have been driven
from their homes, beggars and wanderers among strangers.
It is well to talk about these things here to-day,' in ad
dressing the well-informed persons who compose this audi
ence. You can, to a very great extent, aid in moulding
public opinion, and in giving it a proper direction. Let
us commence the work. We have put down these traitors
in arras, let us put them down in law, in public judgment,
and in the morals of the world.
THE MARTYRDOM OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
In bringing the incidents of Andrew Johnson's career
up to the month of April, 1865, we have liot dwelt at
length on battles, campaigns, or any of the dread pomp
and circumstance of war. Listening Senates had hung
upon his breath, and rude crowds of backwoodsmen had
heard him with wonder and admiration. Yet he had not
wielded the sword of the warrior, nor had he, with a
stroke of the pen, raised or demolished mighty chieftains,
as had Abraham Lincoln. Under the grand and patient
management of Mr. Lincoln the war had progressed for
four years. Every shade of fortune, from mid-day bright
ness to midnight gloom had befallen the nation. At last
the Republic and the world saw the end approaching.
The Lieutenant-General commanding the armies in the
field had so wound his gigantic web around the region
occupied by the rebels, that the crushing of their power
forever was but a question of time. State after State,
city after city, line of communication after line of communi
cation had fallen into our hands. The terribly bloody and
protracted march and fight from the Rapidan to the south
side of James river had been followed, in this very month,
by the fall of Petersburg. Lee had telegraphed to Jeffer •
son Davis at the capital of rebeldom " My lines are broken ;
Richmond must be evacuated to-night ;" and the direction
had been obeyed. The city of Richmond once more saw
the stars and stripes ; Lee's army had surrendered ; Sher-

122 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
man was, after his magnificent march from Atlanta to the
Atlantie, closing in on the last great rebel army on the
east side of the Mississippi. At this hour Abraham Lin
coln, who had watched Grant's campaign from a station
as near as City Point, penetrated to Richmond and de
voted himself to the reconstruction of the Union. With
a heart full of love for the entire nation, Mr. Lincoln, who
had granted Lee's army terms of unparalleled lenity, re
turned to the city of Washington. The entire nation
bowed down before his greatness of soul and before the
splendor of his genius. On the evening of the 14th of
April, 1865, he, in company with Mrs. Lincoln and two
other friends, visited Ford's theatre, in Washington.
About ten o'clock on that night, the assassin, John Wilkes
Booth, stole into the President's box, and while he was
enjoying the play, shot him through the head. A desper
ate attempt was made at the same hour to assassinate
William H. Seward, Secretary of State, then an invalid.
Amid the consternation of nearly every soul in the city
of Washington, for the news flew like wild fire, President
Lincoln was removed to a private residence near the the
atre, where, at twenty minutes after seven o'clock, on the
morning of April 15, 1865, he expired, amid the lamenta
tions of an entire nation. We forbear to describe the pall
of gloom which instantly overspread America, from the
Gulf to the St. Lawrence, when the details of this enor>
mous tragedy became known. We wish not to follow
the gloomy flight of the assassin, Booth, and his death in
Virginia by the weapon of an Union soldier. We pass to
the consequences of this terrible crime.
By this act of horror, the assassin and'those who insti
gated the crime, hoped to plunge the nation into anarchy,
and, even if the rebellion was waning, to make one effort
to save its desperate future. They failed ! No confusion
ensued. No lawless hand was raised against the Govern-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 123
ment. The constitutional requirements were complied
with, without an hour's delay. The American people,
though reeling under the shock of the tremendous blow
dealt' them, retained their noble confidence in free insti
tutions, and calmly submitted to the operations of the
laws, which like those governing the heavenly bodies,
move majestically on, regardless of human passion.
THE CABINET ANNOUNCEMENT TO PRESI
DENT JOHNSON.
On Saturday morning, April 15th, 1865, at an early
hour, Attorney-General Speed waited upon Andrew
Johnson, Vice-President of the United States, and offi
cially informed him of the sudden and unexpected de
cease of President Lincoln, and requested that an early
hour might be appointed for the inauguration of his suc
cessor. The following is a copy of the official commu
nication referred to :
Washington City, April, 15, 1865.
Andeew Johnson, Vice-President of the United States.
Sir: Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, was shot by an assassin last evening at Ford's
theatre, in this city, and died at the hour of twenty-two
minutes after seven o'clock. About the same time at
which the President was shot, an assassin entered the
sick chamber of Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State,
and stabbed him in several places in the throat, neck and
face, severely, if not mortally, wounding him. Other
members of the Secretary's family were dangerously
wounded by the assassin, while making his escape.
By the death of President Lincoln, the office of Presi
dent has devolved, under the Constitution, upon you.
The emergency of the Government demands that you
should immediately qualify according to the requirements "
of the Constitution, and entel upon the duties of Presi
dent of the United States. If you will please make
known your pleasure, such arrangements as you deem
proper will be made. Your Obedient Servants,
Hugh MoCdlloch, Secretary of the Treasury; Edwin

124 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
M. Stanton, Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles, Se-
cretary of the Navy ; William Dennison, Post-Master-
General; J. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior;
James Speed, Attorney- General.
Mr. Johnson in reply, requested that the ceremony
might take place at his rooms, in the Kirkwood House,
a'- 10 o'clock, A. M., the same day.
Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United
States, was notified of Mr. Johnson's wish, and stated
his intention to be present and administer the oath of
office. At the appointed hour the following gentlemen assem
bled in the Vice-President's room to participate in the
ceremony :
Hon. Salmon P. Chase; Hon. Hugh McCtjlloch,
Secretary of the Treasury; Attorney- General Speed ;
F. P. Blair, Senior ; Hon. Montgomery Blair ; Sena
tor Foot, of Vermont; Senator Yates, of Illinois;
Senator Ramsey, of Minnesota; Senator Stewart, of
Nevada; Senator Hale, of New Hampshire; General
Farnsworth, of Illinois.
After the presentation of these persons, the Chief Jus
tice administered the following oath to Mr. Johnson :
" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the
office of President of the United States, and will, to the
best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Con
stitution of the United States."
After receiving the oath, Mr. Johnson remarked :
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON.
Gentlemen — I must be permitted to say that I have
been almost overwhelmed by the announcement of the
sad event which has so recently occurred. I feel incom
petent to perform duties so important and responsible as
those which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me.
As£p an indication of any policy which may be pursued

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 125
by me in the administration of the government, I have to
say, that that must be left for development as the admin
istration progresses. The message or declaration must be
made by the acts as they transpire. The only assurance
that I can now give of the future, is by reference to the
past. The course which Phave taken in the past in con
nection with this rebellion, must be regarded as a guar
antee of the future. My past public life, which has been
long and laborious, has been founded, as I in good con
science believe, upon a great principle of right, which
lies at the basis of all things. The best energies of my
life have been spent in endeavoring to establish and per
petuate the principles of free government, and I believe
that the government, in passing through its present trials,
will settle down upon principles consonant with popular
rights more permanent and enduring than heretofore. I
must be permitted to say, if I understand the feelings of
my own heart, I have long labored to ameliorate and
alleviate the condition of the great mass of the American
people. Toil, and an honest advocacy of the great prin
ciples of free government, have been my lot. The duties
have been mine — the consequences are God's. This has
been the foundation of my political creed. I feel that in
the end the government will triumph, and that these great
principles will be permanently established. In conclusion,
gentlemen, let me say that I want your encouragement
and countenance. I shall ask and rely upon you and
others in carrying the government through its present
perils. I feel, in making this request, that it will be
heartily responded to by you, and all other patriots and
lovers of the rights and interests of a free people.
At the conclusion of the above remajjks, the President
received the kind wishes of the friends Dy whom he was
surrounded. A few moments were devoted to conversa
tion. All were deeply impressed with the solemnity of
the occasion, and the sad occurrence that caused the
necessity for the speedy inauguration of the President
was gravely discussed.
The first official act of the newly-appointed President,,
was his attendance at a Cabinet meeting held at the

126 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Treasury department on the morning of his inauguration.
Secretary Seward then being in a dangerous state from
the stab of the assassin, President Johnson appointed
William Hunter, Esq., chief clerk of the State Depart
ment, Acting Secretary of State.
The importance of the crisis, at which Providence had
suddenly thrown Andrew Johnson, from the compara
tively secondary position of Vice-President, to that of
President of the United States of America, can scarcely
be realized at this period when we are so near the start
ling event which led to his elevation. We may say this,
however, with confidence, that President Johnson thor
oughly comprehended the importance of the era, and his
bearing was that of a man fully alive to all that, in the
imminent perils which hung over the nation, might sud
denly change the entire aspect of national affairs, and
which might possibly impel him to a sterner exercise of
sovereignty than that dreamed of by any President who
had ever occupied the White House. The great question
of re-construction rose up suddenly before the new Presi
dent. All his former predilections asserted their claims.
All his wrongs, from the leaders of the rebellion, cla
mored with a thousand tongues, "like Ate, for revenge."
The fiercer " radicals" were at hand to urge the bloodiest
instructions, and to claim that the lenient wishes of Mr.
Lincoln were such as would shame justice and create
future anarchy. The murderous assassins of the late
President and ifte Secretary of State, were, with one
exception, unpunished. A pause in national policy had
supervened — and in the hush, every man in the nation
listened for the oracle. The army of General Lee having
surrendered, the only great rebel force on the eastern
side of the Mississippi was that of General Joseph E.
Johnston, which, as we have before mentioned, General
W. T. Sherman was closing in upon. In this position

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 127
of affairs, President Johnson acted with a masterly
statesmanship which cannot be too much admired. Feel
ing that every word he spoke was listened to by the
entire civilized world, he yet sent forth such utterances
as indicated his general line of action, and yet did not
hastily pledge himself to any absolute course of policy,
which he might, in future, see cause to change. Every
reader will be interested in his noble and manly addresses,
delivered during this trying period, and we may also
quote the spontaneous expressions of a friend, who knew
and loved him, on hearing that by the death of Mr.
Lincoln he had been elevated to the Presidential chair.
At a meeting at Racine, Wisconsin, on the reception of
the news of the death of Abraham Lincoln, Senator
Doolittle spoke as follows :

Friends, Neighbors, and Fellow- Citizens : — Abraham
Lincoln is dead. He has fallen at the hands of an
assassin. His confidential adviser, the Secretary of State,
has also been stabbed by an assassin, and, from some
strange confusion in the telegraphic reports, we do not
know at this hour whether he is dead or alive. My soul
is overwhelmed, and would sink utterly, but that I know
God lives, and our beloved country is in his holy keeping.
To any other people than my own neighbors I could not
now open my mouth to speak at all. And even to you,
on this occasion, I will only answer such earnest inquiries
as you have pressed upon me, and claim tiiat I ought to
answer. Andflfoose questions do not cor|j|rn President
Lincoln nor Secretary Seward. You all know their good
and great qualities. Though dead, they yet live — live in
their writings, in their speeches, in their great deeds, and
in the grandest events of history, in which they have been
chief actors.
As iii the revolutionary period in which our Republic
was formed, George Washington was the great character,
and Hamilton was his confidential adviser ; so when future
generations shall read the history of the second revolu-
tionarv crisis in which our Republic is now redeemed and
8

128 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
regenerated from the curse of slavery, Abraham Lincoln
will stand out the greatest man of the age ; and William
H. Seward will be associated with him as Hamilton is
with Washington, to the latest generation.
But it is not of them that you wish to hear, nor that I
could speak to-night.
You ask me to speak of Andrew Johnson. Who is he ?
what is he ? and what will be his policy ? And you insist
that I shall give you as a neighbor and a friend, what in
formation I may have upon that most important subject.
I will answer you briefly and from the best information I
have. He is a native of North Carolina. He was an
humble mechanic, a tailor by trade, and, it is said, received
instructions in the first rudiments of education from his
devoted wife. He is a man of medium stature, compact
and strong built, of dark complexion, and deep-set black
eyes. He is of billious temperament, of strong intellect,
indomitable energy, and iron will, in whose character I
should say the strongest feature of all is that of stern
justice, mingled with a genuine hatred of all forms of
aristocracy and oppression, and a patriotism so ardent
that it amounts to a passion, almost a religion. He was
the real author of the Homestead law, although it did not
pass both Houses until after the rebellion began. On
account of his determined and constant support of that
measure of the people, and which, of itself, would bar
slavery out of all the new territories, -the aristocratic
slaveholders of the South — Mason, Slidell, Toombs, Davis,
and the like, long before the rebellion, hated him with a
perfect hatred. I have occasion to know how much he
reciprocated their feelings toward him, for when I was
occasionally, as a young Senator, engaged in controversy)
with them, ^(always took great pleasur«ifin referring me
to the necessary documents to enable me successfully to
controvert them.
But, you ask me, is he a sober man ?
Such was certainly his character during all the time he
was in the Senate of the United States. My best im
pression is that he did not drink at all at that time.
After his leaving the Senate to go to Tennessee as a
Brigadier-General, to act as military Governor, I, of
course, do not know whether he did or did not, like a
great many of the officers in the army, indulge in drinking.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 129
I am informed that when he left Tennessee to come on to
Washington to attend the inauguration, he was just
recovering from a severe illness. That he came upon
most urgent solicitation, against his own preferences.
That he was sustained and kept up more or less by
stimulants prescribed and recommended by his physician.
He was still suffering from his malady when probably he
ought to have been under the charge of his physician on
the day of his inauguration.
What occurred then has given rise to a thousand criti
cisms and apprehensions. I shall not go farther into that
than to say, I saw him several times afterward before I
left Washington, at the House of Mr. Francis P. Blair,
where he was staying by invitation, in company with
Hon. Preston King, of New York, and I found him re
covering from illness, and, so far as I could judge in all
respects, he appeared as he was in the Senate. I do not be
lieve that Andrew Johnson, who always lived a temperate
and upright life until past fifty years of age, now that the
great responsibilities of the Presidency are thrown upon
him, can or will permit himself to indulge in the use of
intoxicating drinks, and thus endanger that republic for
which he has done and suffered so much, and for which
he would willingly lay down his life. I would sooner
believe that he would forswear all intoxicating drinks
whatsoever. But you ask me again what policy will he pursue ?
As to the reconstruction question, he will undoubtedly
pursue the same policy as Mr. Lincoln. * In his address,
when inaugurated, speaking of the States, he said, " They
are not dead, but sleeping."
He is fully committed in favor of the recognized free
States of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. As to
this affair of General Weitzel in Virginia, in allowing the
return of the rebel Legislature to Richmond, he has not
spoken, and of course I cannot assume to speak for him.
But what course will he pursue toward the traitors ?
We can only judge by his record. Early in the rebellion,
during the last days of Buchanan's administration, on the
2d of March, 1861, in a speech in reply to Lane, of
Oregon, speaking of the firing upon the Star of the West,
and the seizure of our arsenals, docks, forts, and navy-
yards, he used this memorable language : " Show me who

130 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
has been engaged in these conspiracies, who has fired
upon our flag, who has given instructions to take our
forts, and custom-houses, and arsenals, and dockyards,
and I will show you a traitor." [Applause in the
galleries. When order was restored he continued:]
" Were I President of the United States, I would do as
Thomas Jefferson did in 1806, with Aaron Burr. I
would have them arrested, and if convicted within the
meaning and scope of the constitution, by the Eternal God
I would execute them. "
He is now President. Has anything since occurred to
make him repent that solemn oath, or change his stern
resolve ?
His wife and children have been captured by rebels,
suffering all but death ; his property has been confiscated
by them; his sons imprisoned; his neighbors and friends
shot, murdered in cold blood, hung, gibbeted ; and for no
offence but that of loyalty to the Government of the
United States. I see nothing in all this calculated to
change his convictions or his purpose. On the other hand,
in his speech upon the fall of Richmond and Lee's surren
der, while most others, in the delirium of joy and exulta
tion over our success and of the approach of peace, spoke
of amnesty, he alone did not forget the stern demands
of justice — for "he is made of sterner stuff." Upon this
subject he said : " The halter to influential traitors ; to the
honest boy, the deluded man, who has been deceived into
the rebel ranks, I would extend leniency; I would say,
renew your support to the government and become a good
citizen; but the leaders I would hang."
And now, after the culmination of all the wickedness of
rebellion in the assassination of the President and Secre
tary of State*— as he lifts his hand by the dead body of the
President to repeat the solemn oath administered by the
Chief Justice, I see nothing to change his convictions.
When he uttered those words, " the duties are mine, I
will perform them, trusting in God," I think I see the
same patriotic indignation beaming from those deep black
eyes, and lighting up that iron face, which I saw four
<years ago, when he uttered in the Senate those words —
now so terrible to traitors — "By the Eternal God I would
execute them." In this respect I think the administration
of Mr. Johnson may differ from that of Mr. Lincoln. Mr.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 131
Lincoln would have dealt with the rebels as an indulgent
father deals with erring children. Mr. Johnson will deal
with them more like a stern and incorruptible judge.
Thus in a moment the sceptre of power has passed from a
hand of flesh to a hand of iron.
How strangely overruled have all things been to destroy
slavery and the aristocracy founded upon it. Its mad'
dened fanatical leaders made war upon the government to
regain political power ; that power has been utterly
destroyed. They made war to extend and strengthen
slavery ; the war has destroyed it and set free every
slave. And now, by madly wreaking vengeance upon
the head of the great, generous, magnanimous Lincoln, who,
in the overflowing goodness of his heart, was just ready
to issue a proclamation of amnesty to save them, they
have put the necks of their leaders into a halter, with no
power to save but in the clemency of one sternly, just who,
four years ago, declared in the most solemn form. that, if
President, he would execute them, and whose subsequent
career and experience have- all tended to strengthen rather
than weaken that resolution.
Knowing them both as I do, I have said to Mr. Lin
coln, be strong of heart and of good courage. Justice
demands the punishment of the great criminals.
To Mr. Johnson L would say while administering justice
remember mercy.
I have thus, my friends, very hastily, but without
reserve, given you an answer to your earnest inquiries.
Of course I speak by no authority, and merely from first
impressions, rather as a duty to you, as a neighbor and
friend, having had some greater and better opportunities
for personally knowing the man upon whom, by this
terrible calamity, the great office of President has been
thrown in these troublesome times.
We also quote from the address of the great American
historian, George Brancroft, a passage of his oration on
the occasion of the funeral of Mr. Lincoln at New York.
Mr. Bancroft said :
"The duty of the hour is incomplete, our mourning is'
insincere, if, while we express unwavering trust in the
great principles that underlie our Government, we do not

132 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
also give our support to the man to whom the people
have entrusted its administration. Andrew Johnson is
now, by the Constitution, the President of the United
States, and he stands before the world as the most con
spicuous representative of the industrial classes. Left an
orphan at four years old, poverty and toil were his steps
to honor. His youth was not passed in the halls of col
leges ; nevertheless he has received a thorough political
education in statesmanship, in the school of the people,
and by long experience of public life. A village function
ary ; member successively of each branch of the Tennes
see Legislature, hearing with a thrill of joy the words :
' The Union, it must be preserved ;' a representative in
Congress for successive years ; Governor of the great
State of Tennessee, approved as its Governor by re
election ; he was at the opening of the rebellion a Senator
from that State in Congress. Then at the Capitol, when
Senators, unrebuked by the Government, sent word by
telegram to seize forts and arsenals, he alone from that
Southern region told them what the Government did not
dare to tell them, that they were traitors, and deserved 'the
punishment for treason. Undismayed by a perpetual pur
pose of public enemies to take his life, bearing up against
the still greater trial of the persecution of his wife and
children, in due time he went back to his State, deter
mined to restore it to the Union, or die with the American
flag for his winding sheet. And now, at the call of the
United State3, he has returned to Washington as a con
queror, with Tennessee as a Free State for his trophy.
It remains for him to consummate the vindication of the
Union." The loyal press of the country came forward to the sup
port of President Johnson with wonderful unanimity, and,
while he was forced to indicate his general policy by im
promptu addresses, they cordially accepted him as a
worthy successor of the Martyr Lincoln. We have room
but for two or three of the multitudinous articles with
which the press teemed during the month of April, 1865.
The New York Tribune said, on the *22d :
Andrew Johnson grows steadily in public confidence
and esteem, in spite of the injustice done to the country

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 133
as well as to him in compelling him to make off-hand re
sponses to two or three elaborate addresses per day,
intended to enlighten him as to his duties as well as with
regard to the importance and influence of those who make
him the target of their orations. He was so recently
inducted into his great trust that he must bear these in
flictions for the moment ; but we feel confident that his
complaisance is very nearly exhausted, so that he will
very soon ask his haranguers to give him a chance to
attend to his business by minding their own. He is firm,
though courteous, and will not allow time that belongs to
the public to be bored away much longer. Mr. Johnson
has some rare qualifications for the vast responsibility so
suddenly thrust upon him. In the first place it will not
be easy to expose him to prejudice as a " Yankee." He
is a Southerner born and bred ; he never lived in a free
State till he made one free for himself; and it will be
difficult to make the poor whites of the South believe
him their natural, implacable foe. In short, he is in a
position to stand well with a majority of our people, and
we trust he will. But more ; he knows the rebellion, egg
and bird ; its incitements, its pretexts, its leaders, their ob
jects and their hopes. He knows how far the South has
been perverted or tainted by that rebellion, and wherein
it is safe to temper justice with mercy. And when he —
in a proclamation or otherwise — shall set forth the extent
to which he will grant amnesty, and wherein he must
insist that the law shall take its course, there will be a
very general disposition to acquiesce in his conditions and
limitations in the firm belief that he knows what is neces
sary in the premises, and will be as rigorous jis he must,
and no more so. . W
The New York Times thus spoke of the new President :
Andrew Johnson has been in continuous public life for
thirty years. He entered the General Assembly of Ten
nessee as .a member of the House of Representatives the
first Monday in October, 1835, from the county of Greene,
in East Tennessee. He was reelected to the succeeding
biennial Assembly, in 1837, and again in 1839. In 1841
he was transferred to the State Senate by the counties of
Washington, Greene, and Sullivan. In 1843 to a seat in
Congress from the First Representative District, compri
sing the same counties audthe new county of Johnson.

134 [LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
He served the same district, by four successive reelections,
until the new apportionment under the census of 1850, in
all ten years, when, in 1853, he was made Governor of
Tennessee, and was subsequently reelected in 1855. At
the end of his second term, in 1857, he was made United
States Senator, his term expiring on the 4th of March,
1863, since when, and until his recent election as Viee<
President of the United States, he was Military Governor
of Tennessee.
Such, in brief, has been the public service of Mr.
Johnson. His political antecedents from 1835 to 1865
have been uniformly true to the Federal Union, to rigid
public economy, independent labor, free representation,
and free homesteads. His practice rather than profession
has been that of democracy. His democracy' was in the
acknowledgment and assertion of the right and rule of
the people. From 1839 to 1861 he was identified with
the so-called Democratic party of Tennessee. He honored
the' party by his conscientious and upright services as the
Representative and Executive of the people, successively,
and was honored by it because of these and the additional
qualifications of consistent and useful, not to say able,
statesmanship. The other prominent leaders of his party
did not always love him, especially while Governor, be
cause their democracy was of a different order from his
own humble origin, frugal habits, and unpretending walk
and conversation in high office. But they early learned
to respect him because of the hold which he had upon the
people, and because of his inflexible integrity. When, in
the early troubles of 1861, they forgot this lesson, and
attempted toi rush the State out of the Union, against his
eloquent ancfindignant protests in the Senate and on the
stump, and against the direct popular protest of the people,
on a direct vote for a convention in February, of that year,,-
they were not long in discovering, if not their own great
mistake, his prescience and consistency as a power in the
State, which had abhorred nullification in, and since the
days of Jackson, and which had made the capital too hot
to hold secession, when attempted by the " fire-eaters" of
the other Southern States, at Nashville, in 1850.
A retrospect of Mr. Johnson's earlier position .n the
politics of Tennessee may not be uninteresting. The Con
stitution of the State was remodelled in 1834. Gradual

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 135
emancipation was petitioned for extensively from the
Eastern and other Mountain Districts to the State Con
vention, but rejected by the larger Slaveholding Delegates.
Mr. Johnson was not a member of the convention, but
that his sympathies were for Free Representation, and with
this movement as attested by an earnest subsequent effort
in the Legislature for the equal apportionment of the Free
WhiteVoting population of the State by Congressional Dis
tricts, under the succeeding census of 1840. He held the
principles of the three-fifths Slave representation as a con
stitutional blunder at best, and its application to the Free
Mountain Districts of East Tennessee as an iniquity. He
was not successful, however, in reforming it.
Mr. Johnson was made a member of the first Legis
lature, under the new constitution, in 1835. He was then
only twenty-seven years of age — young, energetic, and
thoroughly imbued with an independent and self-reliant
spirit. The year before, a breach had been made in the
hitherto dominant and overwhelming Jackson Democracy
of the State, as between Mr. Van Buren and Judge Hugh
L. White, for the Presidential election. Mr. Polk and
Mr. Bell were the rival leaders, as they had been rivals
for the Speakership of the U. S. House of Representa
tives on the appointment of Mr. Anclrew Stevenson as
Minister to England. Mr. Bell was elected, in 1834, to
fill this chair for the remainder of that Congress. But
the contest was exceedingly bitter, and was carried into
the next Congress, President Jackson taking part against
Bell for Speaker, and White for the next Presidency, and
openly for Polk and Van Buren. Mr. Polk was made
Speaker. But Bell and White carried the State for
Governor and Legislature in 1835, and the Presidency in
1836. Mr. Johnson entered public life as a Bell and
White man. He was a favorite of the party in the
Legislature of 1835, and their caucus candidate for
Speaker of the House in 1837, but was defeated by a
coalition between the Van Buren minority and another
White delegate from East Tennessee. When White and
Bell subsequently became closely identified with the old
Whig party, Mr. Johnson left them, and was the ac
knowledged leader of the Van Buren Governor (Polk) in
the Legislature of 1839.
We have intimated that Mr. Johnson, in his highest

136 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
positions at home and in Washington, was a man of
frugal, economical habits. In this he was consistent with
his early life, as an industrious, hard-laboring mechanic,
and the provident care of his wife and family. The former
had taught him to read and write after they were married.
He subsequently became emulous of public life. He
entered upon it with zest, and loved it for its fascinations
and faithfully-won honors. He had no professional train
ing — was ambitious of none. He was never a lawyer, as
we believe has been generally supposed. He was never
a huckstering politician — never paid money for a nomina
tion or for an election, beyond the incidental expenses of
his slump campaigns for Congress and for Governor. He
was and is devoted to the public service, for its usefulness
and its honors, and content with and systematically
economizing its moderate emoluments for the sake of his
family. And in this, it is safe to say that' parsimony has
as little to do with his sense of domestic duty, as expen
sive tastes or prodigal wastefulness.
Above all, Mr. Johnson is a true as well as a brave
man ; faithful four years ago among the faithless of his
old rivals of the Whig party, and his old colleagues of
the Democratic party of Tennessee ; true to the Union,
when it cost something to be true ; to the Government,
in its life-struggle against rebellion and insurrection ; to
free labor, and its disenthralment from the incubus of
slavery ; and to that unswerving line of duty, and devo
tion to hard study, progressive statesmanship, and ripen
ing experience, which have carried him from the humblest
to the topmost round of human ambition.
We close our extracts, which might be indefinitely ex
tended, by a quotation from the Philadelphia Evening
Bulletin, containing some interesting facts and suggestions.
The Bulletin says :
It is an awfully sudden transition by which we have
passed from the administration of President Lincoln to
that of President Johnson. In these brief hours the reins
which had fallen from the hands of the man of kindly
words and gentle spirit and matchless wisdom, were
solemnly and sadly taken up by his Constitutional suc
cessor, and to-day we are shaping our lips to their utter-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 137
ance of a new President's name. We have heard many
persons in public and private, referring, with great mis
givings, to the future, anxious to uphold the new Adminis
tration and yet fearing that it has fallen into incompetent
hands. Let all such misgivings and fears be banished at
the outset. There is no cause for anxiety or alarm on
this account. A long, clear, well-defined record of Andrew
Johnson is before the country, and we do not hesitate to
predict that what Abraham Lincoln was to the period of
his Government, Andrew Johnson will be to the period
now opening before us. The two men are as unlike as
are the two periods which it has been and is their destiny
to control, and we believe that each will have been found
equally fitted by the hand of the same All-wise Provi
dence for the duties and responsibilities devolved upon
them. Without recurring to the speeches of Mr. Johnson
which he has made during the past few years, all marked
by a high degree of statesmanlike ability, and breathing
a spirit of lofty patriotism, the brief words that he has
spoken since the melancholy event which has made him
President are enough to inspire the whole country with
courage and confidence. His remarks on being declared
President of the United States, have already been read by
thousands of our citizens. They are characterized by the
deepest feeling, and by a strong, abiding faith in the prin
ciples which have ruled his whole public careerr
" Toil and an honest advocacy of the great principles of free
government have been my lot. Duties have been mine — conse
quences are God's. This has been the foundation of my politi
cal creed, and I feel that in the end the government will triumph,
and that these great principles will be permanently established."
Simple grave words like these will go hbme to the
hearts of the American people with a weight of conviction
that no eloquence could have conveyed, and which no
sophistry will be able to dislodge.
The following telegram, just received from a distin
guished gentleman of Philadelphia, now in Washington,
goes far to strengthen the confidence in President Johnson
which we have expressed :
" Washington, April 16, 1865. — I have had, with others, a most
delightful conversation this afternoon with President Johnson.
He is a true patriot, and the country is safe in his hands. He

138 XIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
was pleased to hear of the confidence in him expressed by mem
bers of the Union League and other Philadelphians and Penn-
sylvanians. He bears his new honors with sorrowful dignity
and the calmness of a gentleman — realizing the sudden respon
sibility of the position like a sound statesman. I believe that
he will administer the laws faithfully, justly and promptly."
With regard to his future policy, President Johnson uses
this sober, but significant language :
" As to an indication of any policy which may be pursued by
me in the administration of the Government, I have to say that
that must be left for development as the administration progres
ses. " The message or declaration must be made by the acts as
they transpire. The only assurance that I can now give of the
future is reference to the past. The course which I have taken
in the past in connection with this rebellion must be regarded
as-a guarantee of the future."
That he will rule with a firm, strong hand, no one can
reasonably doubt, and that the 3ame singleness of purpose
towards the rebellion, which has been the glory of. Mr.
Lincoln's government, will mark his administration, is
equally certain. We are permitted to make the following
extract from a private letter received by one of our friends
to-day :
" I write you very hurriedly, while my friend has not
yet recovered from the shock of last night's most cruel
deeds, to say that for three or four days I have seen Pres
ident Johnson every day, and have told him what the
League expressed upon that memorable Monday morning
last, of the earnest sentiment of the loyal people of this
country as to the treatment of traitors. And he agreed
with the League. He desired me to repeat General
R  's remark that ' Treason must be stigmatized as a
crime, and not as an unsuccessful revolution,' until he had
fixed it in his memory. I believe he may be trusted in
this great emergency."
Let the people respond heartily and promptly to the
frank appeal of our new President, when he says :
" I want your encouragement and countenance. 1 shall ask
and rely upon you and others in carrying the Government
through its present perils. I feel, in makiag this request, that
it will be heartily responded to by you and all other patriots and
lovers of the rights and interests of a free people."

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 139
We present hereafter reports of the addresses delivered
by President Johnson, in response to speeches by the
representatives of delegations from many States, who
waited on him immediately on his assumption of his office.
As a speaker, Mr. Johnson talks fluently and readily,
and, while taking care not to say too much which might
commit him to certain lines of policy, is yet winning in
his address, and frank in his utterances. Probably no
public official was ever forced to make so many speeches
within a month after assuming so important an office,
and it is certain that no man could have more easily and
gracefully accomplished the duty.
THE CLERGY— TREASURY OFFICERS.
On the 17th of April, 1865, the clergy of the District
of Columbia called upon the President at the Treasury
building. He received them with great cordiality, and
made a feeling and appropriate address. The heads of
the Treasury bureaus then presented themselves, accom
panied by their clerks. Judge Lewis made a graceful
and eloquent address, to which the President responded,
closing as follows : " I have always thought theft was a
crime and should be punished as a crime ; that arson was
a great crime and should be punished as such ; that mur
der was a dreadful crime and should be punished as such,
and that traason was the greatest of all crimes and should
be punisheu as such." *
RECEPTION OF THE ILLINOIS DELEGATION.
On the 18th of April, 1865, a delegation of citizens of
Elinois paid their respects to his excellency, President
Johnson. Governor Oglesby, accompanied by Senator
Richard Yates, General Isam N. Hayne, ex-Senator 0. H.
Browning, Hon. D. L. Phillips, General J. F. Farnsworth,
Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, Hon. John Wilson, General

140 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Gamble, Col. John S. Loomis, Col. T. H. Bpwen, Gov
ernor Pickering, of Oregon, General Julius White, Hon.
J. M. Hanna, Major S. Wait, Major W. C. Carroll, Major
P. Flynn, and a large concourse of citizens, repaired to the
rooms of President Johnson, in the Treasury building.
Governor Oglesby presented the delegation and made
the subjoined address: **"
Mr. President : — I take much pleasure in presenting
to you this delegation of the citizens of Illinois, repre
senting almost every portion of the State. We are drawn
together by the mournful events of the past few days, to
give some feeble expression to the feelings we, in com
mon with the whole nation, realize as pressing us to the
earth, by appropriate and respectful ceremonies. We
thought it not inappropriate before we should separate,
even in this sad hour, to seek this interview with your
Excellency ; that, while the bleeding heart is pouring out its
mournful anguish over the death of our beloved late Presi
dent, the idol of our State and the pride of the whole coun
try, we may earnestly express to you, the living head of this
nation, our deliberate, full, and abiding confidence in you
as the one who, in these dark hours, must bear upon your
self the mighty responsibility of maintaining, defending, and
directing its affairs. In the midst of this sadness, through
the oppressive gloom that surrounds us, we look to you
and to a bright future for our country. The assassina
tion of the President of the United States deeply de
presses, and seriously aggravates the entire nation ; but
under our blessed Constitution, it does not delay, nor for
any great length of time retard its progress ; gdpes not for
an instant disorganize or threaten its destrircxion. The
record of your whole past life, familiar to all, the splendor
of your recent gigantic efforts to stay the hand of treason
and assassination, and restore the flag to the uttermost
bounds of the Republic, assure that noble State which we
represent, and we believe, the people of the United States,
that we may safely trust our destinies in your hands ; and
to this end we come in the name of the State of Illinois,
and, we confidently believe, fully and faithfully express
ing the wishes of our people, to present and pledge to
you the cordial, earnest, and unremitting purpose of our

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDI1EW JOHNSON. 141
State, to give your administration the strong support we
have heretofore given to the administration of our lamented
late President, the policy of whom we have heretofore, do
now, and shall continue to endorse.
THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.
President Johnson replied as follows :
Gentlemen : — I have listened with profound emotion to
the kind words you have addressed to me. The visit of
this large delegation to speak to me through you, sir, these
words of encouragement, I had not anticipated. In the
midst of the saddening circumstances which surround us,
and the immense responsibility thrown upon me, an ex
pression of the confidence of individuals, and still more
of an influential body like that before me, representing a
great commonwealth, cheers and strengthens my heavily
burdened mind. I am at a loss for words to respond.
In an hour like this, of deepest sorrow, were it possible
to embody in words the feelings of my bosom, I could
not command my lips to utter them. Perhaps the best
reply I could make, and the one most readily appropriate
to your kind assurances of confidence, would be to receive
them in silence. (Sensation.) The throbbings of my
heart since the sad catastrophe which has appalled us
cannot be reduced to words ; and, oppressed as I am with
the new and great responsibility which has devolved upon
me; and saddened with grief, I can with difficulty respond
to you at all. But I cannot permit such expression of
'the confidence reposed in me by the people to pass with
out acknowledgment. To an individual like myself, who
has never claimed much, but who has, it is true, received
from a generous people many marks of trust and honor
for a long time, an occasion like this and a manifestation
of public feeling so well-timed are peculiarly acceptable.
Sprung from the people myself, every pulsation of the
popular heart finds an immediate answer in my own. By
many men in public life such occasions are often consid
ered merely formal. To me they are real. Your words
of countenance and encouragement sank deep in my heart,
and were I even a coward I could not but gather from
them strength to carry out my convictions of right. Thus
feeling, I shall enter upon the discharge of my great duty

142 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
firmly, steadfastly, (applause,) if not with the signal
ability exhibited by my predecessor, which is still fresh -in
our sorrowing minds. Need I repeat that no heart/eels
more sensibly than mine this great affliction. In what I
say on this occasion I shall indulge in no petty spirit of
anger, no feeling of revenge. But we have beheld a no
table event in the history of mankind. In the midst of
the American people, where every citizen is taught to
obey law and observe the rules of Christian conduct, our
Chief Magistrate, the beloved of all hearts, has been as
sassinated ; and when we trace this crime to its cause,
when we remember the source whence the assassin drew
his inspiration, and then look at the result, we stand yet
more astounded at this most barbarous, most diabolical
assassination. Such a crime as the murder of a great and
good man, honored and revered, the beloved and the hope
of the people, springs not alone from a solitary indi
vidual of ever so desperate wickedness. We can tracp
its cause through successive steps, without my enumera
ting them here, back to that source which is the spring
of all our woes. No one can say that if the perpetrator
of this fiendish deed be arrested he should not undergo
the extremest penalty the law knows for crime, none will
say that mercy should interpose. But is he alone guilty?
Here, gentlemen, you perhaps expect me to present some
indication of my future policy. One thing I will say.
Every era teaches its lesson. The times we live in are
not without instruction. The American people must be
taught — if they do not already feel — that treason is a
crime and must be punished ; (applause ;) that the Gov*
eminent will not always bear with its enemies ; that it is
strong, not only to protect, but to punish. (Applause.)
When we turn to the criminal code and examine the cata
logue of crimes, we there find arson laid down as a crime
with its appropriate penalty ; we find there theft and rob
bery and murder given as crimes ; and there, too, we find
the last and highest of crimes— treason. (Applause.)
, With other and inferior offences our people are familiar.
1 But in our peaceful history treason has been almost un
known. The people must understand that it is the blackest
of crimes, and will be surely punished. (Applause.) I
make this allusion not to excite the already exasperated
feelings of the public, but to point out the principles of

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 143
*
public justice which should guide our action at this par
ticular juncture, and which accord with sound public
.morals. Let it be engraven on every heart that treason
is a crime, and traitors shall suffer its penalty. (Ap
plause.) While we are appalled, overwhelmed at the
"lall of one man in our midst by the hand of a traitor,
shall we allow men — I care not by what weapons — to at
tempt the life of a State with impunity ? While we strain
our minds to comprehend the enormity of this assassina
tion, shall we allow the nation to be assassinated ? (Ap
plause.) I speak in no spirit of unkindness. I leave
the events of the future to be disposed of as they arise,
regarding myself as the humble instrument of the Ameri
can people. In this, as in all things, justice and judgment
shall be determined by them. I do not harbor bitter or
revengeful feelings towards any. In general terms I
would say that public morals and public opinion should
be established upon the sure and inflexible principles of
justice. (Applause.) When the question of exercising
mercy comes before me it will be considered calmly, judi
cially — remembering that I am the Executive of the na
tion. I know men love. to have their names spoken of in
connection with acts of mercy; and how easy it is to
yield to this impulse. But we must not forget that what
may be mercy to the individual is cruelty to the State.
(Applause.) In the exercise of mercy there should be no
doubt left tliat this high prerogative is not used to relieve
a few at the expense of the many. Be assured that I
shall never forget that 1 am not to consult my own feel
ings alone, but to give an account to the whole people.
(Applause.) In regard to my future course, I will now.
make no professions, no pledges. 1 have been connected
somewhat actively with public affairs, and to the history
of my past public: acts, which is familiar to you, I refer
for those principles which have governed me heretofore,
and will guide me hereafter. In general, I will say I
have long labored for the amelioration and elevation of
the great mass of mankind". My opinions as to the nature
of popular government have long been cherished; and,
constituted as I am, it is now too late in life for me to
change them. I believe that Government was made for
man, not man for Government. (Applause.) This strug
gle of the people against the most gigantic Rebellion the

144 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
world ever saw has demonstrated that the attachment of
the people to their Government is the strongest national
defence human wisdom can devise. (Applause.) So long
as each man feels that the interests of the Government
are his interests, so long as the public heart turns in the
right direction, and the people understand and appreciate
the theory of our Government and love liberty, our Con
stitution will be transmitted unimpaired. If the time
ever comes when the people shall fail, the Government
will fail, and we shall cease to be one of the nations of
the earth. After having preserved our form of free Gov
ernment, and shown its power to maintain its existence
through the vicissitudes of nearly a century, it may be
that it was necessary for us to pass through this last or
deal of intestine strife to prove that this Government will
not perish from internal weakness, but will stand to defend
itself against all foes and punish treason. (Applause.)
In the dealings of an inscrutable Providence and by the
operation of the Constitution, I have been thrown unex
pectedly into this position. My past life, especially my
course during the present unholy Rebellion, is before you ;
I have no principles to retract, I defy any one to point to any
of my public acts at variance with the fixed principles which
have guided me through life. I have no professions to
offer. Professions and promises would be worth nothing
at this time. No one can foresee the circumstances that
will hereafter arise. Had any man gifted with prescience
four years ago uttered and written down in advance the
events of this period, they would have seemed more mar
vellous than any thing in the " Arabian Nights." I shall
not attempt to anticipate the future. As events occur,
and it becomes necessary for me to act, I shall dispose of
each as it arises, deferring any declaration or message
until it can be written paragraph by paragraph in the
light of events as they transpire.
The members of the delegation were then severally in-
t-oduced to the President by Gov. Oglesby.
RECEPTION OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION.
A s soon as the Illinois Delegation had retired, President
'Johnson received a large number of delegates of the
Christian Commission temporarily residing in Washing-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 145
ton. The Rev. Mr. Border of Albany delivered a brief
but eloquent and impressive address, saying that they
recognized him as called in the providence of God to have
rule over the nation ; that in the past public services of
the President they had their foundation of hope for the
future, and now, as they looked on the face of his illus
trious predecessor, whose sad death had moved the coun
try to tears, they believed that God had sent him as Moses
to lead the people and his successor as Joshua, to give
them a land of promise ; that in the administration of
justice, mercy would follow the success of our arms ;
their prayer was for an enduring peace and all the bless
ings of free government.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
The President replied that such were his feelings in
consequence of the late afflicting events he could not
respond in appropriate terms. Perhaps the best reply
would be silence. He, however, acknowledged his thanks
for the kind sentiments expressed. Although he might
fail, he would promise that he would undertake to perform
the grave and responsible duties devolving upon him with
all the zeal of an honest heart. He had knowledge of and
appreciated the offices of the Christian Commission. He
always had an abiding faith in the people, and looked on
the Government as based upon the principles of human
rights. The nation's mission is not yet completed. It is
in our hands. When we look at the country's condition, it
gives a complete contradiction to the assumption of our
enemies. In the midst of treason and rebellion, we find
that we will triumph at last. Although we have had a
civil war which has covered the land with gloom, and
while the entire country was rejoicing over the triumph
of the struggle, there has been an assassination the most
atrocious and diabolical the world has ever witnessed.

146 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
While the nation was jubilant, the Chief Magistrate was
stricken down like a star from its sphere. An interreg
num, a hiatus, was created in the Government. In France,
for instance, under similar circumstance, there would have
been scenes of anarchy. But not so here, where the
Government is foanded on justice and right. We have
developed the great truth that it is strong enough to pre
serve its existence while suppressing all public disorders
within our widely extended limits. Government is made
for the people, and not the people for the Government.
He was not sectarian ; he claimed a charity coextensive
with the human family. He believed, in the language of
another, that religion is an arch of promise, spanning
humanity, with its ends resting on the horizon. Religion
is seen in its acts more than its profession, and good deeds
never escape recognition.
He then repeated his sentiments regarding his future
political course, similar to those addressed to the Illinois
Delegation, saying the time had come when intelligent
men like those before him should exert their moral influ
ence in erecting a standard by which everybody should
be taught to believe that treason is the highest crime
known to the law, and that the perpetrator should be
visited with the punishment which he deserves.
The sentiments met the hearty responses of "Amen."
The gentlemen were then severally introduced to the
President, and all expressed themselves highly gratified
with the interview.
RECEPTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE
NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
On the next day, April 19th, 1865, the committee of
the Chamber of Commerce of New York, consisting of
General Walbridge, R. H. McCurdy, Alexander W. Brad
ford, W. Barton, W. M. Vermilyea, F. A. Winston, W.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 147
Borden, and W. K. Strong, waited on the President, and
through General Walbridge assured him that the same
support which the Chamber of Commerce had always ex
tended to his illustrious predecessor, will heartily be given
to him and his administration. In conclusion the committee
stated they left the cause of the Union to the President,
and commended him to the care of a kind Providence.
THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.
The President replied as follows : I thank you, gentle
men, for the expression of your encouragement. In the
exigencies which surround me I need encouragement and
support. I am not at this moment prepared to enter upon
an explanation of my future policy. I can only point to
my previous record in regard to this rebellion, to assure
you that the same energy and determination shall be
exercised for its suppression as heretofore. My adminis
tration will be based on the Constitution and the laws, and
as events arise I will endeavor to meet them to the ut
most of my ability. /
RECEPTION OF THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR.
On the 20th of April, 1865, Sir Frederick A. Bruce,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of her
Britannic Majesty to this Government, presented his cre
dentials to President Johnson. He was introduced by
Wm. Hunter, Esq., acting Secretary of State. Sir Fred
erick spoke as follows on the occasion :
Mr. President : — It is with deep and sincere concern
that I have to accompany my first official act with expres
sions of condolence. On Saturday last the ceremony that
takes place here to-day was to have been performed, but
the gracious intentions of the late lamented President were
frustrated by the events which have plunged this country
in consternation and affliction, and which will call forth in
Great Britain feelings of. horror as well as of profound
sympathy. It becomes, therefore, my' duty, sir, to present

148 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
the letter from my sovereign, of which I am the bearer, to
you as President of the United States, and it is with pleas
ure that I convey the assurances of regard and good will
which her majesty entertains toward you sir, as President
of the United States. I am further directed to express
her Majesty's friendly disposition towards the great Nation
of which you are Chief Magistrate, and her hearty good
wishes for its peace, prosperity, and welfare. Her Majesty
has nothing more at heart than to conciliate those relations
of amity and good understanding which have so long and
so happily existed between the two kindred nations of the
United States and Great Britain, and it is in this spirit
that I am directed to perform the duties of the important
and honorable post confided to me. Permit me, sir, to
say that it shall be the object of my earnest endeavors to
carry out my instructions faithfully in this respect, and to
express the hope, sir, that you will favorably consider my
attempts to merit your approbation and to give effect to
the friendly intentions of the Queen and of her Majesty's
government. I have the honor to place in your hands the
letter of credence confided to me by her Majesty.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
To which President Johnson replied :
Sir Frederick A. Bruce : — The very cordial and friendly
sentiments which you have expressed on the part of her
Britannic Majesty, give me great pleasure. Great Britain
and the United States, by the extended and various forms
of commerce between them, the contiguity of portions of
their possessions, and the similarity of their language and
laws, are drawn into constant and intimate intercourse.
At the same time they are, from the same causes, exposed
to frequent occasions of misunderstanding, only to be
averted by mutual forbearance. So eagerly are the people
of the two countries engaged, throughout almost the whole
world, in the pursuit of similar commercial enterprises, ac
companied by natural rivalries and jealousies, that at first
sight it would almost seem that the two Governments must
be enemies, or at best cold and calculating friends. So
devoted are the two nations throughout all their domain,
and even in their most remote territory and colonial posses
sions, to the principles of civil rights and constitutional lib-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 149
erty, that, on the other hand, the superficial observer might
erroneously count upon a continued concert of action and
sympathy amounting to an alliance between them. Each
is charged with the development of the progress of the
human race, and each in its sphere is subject to difficulties
and trials not participated in by the other. The interests
of civilization and of humanity require that the two should
be friends. I have always known and accounted as a fact
honorable to both countries, that the Queen of England is
a sincere and honest well-wisher to the United States. I
have been equally frank and explicit in the opinion that
the friendship of the United States toward Great Britain
is enjoined by all considerations of interest and of senti
ment affecting the character of both. You will, therefore,
be accepted as a Minister friendly and well-disposed to the
maintenance of peace and the honor of both countries.
You will find myself and all my associates acting in accor
dance with the same enlightened policy and consistent sen
timents, and so I am sure that it will not occur in your
case that either yourself or this Government will ever have
cause to regret that such an important relationship existed
at such a crisis.
RECEPTION OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS.
Soon after the reception of the British Minister, the
members of the Diplomatic Corps were presented to
'President Johnson, by the Acting Secretary of State,
William Hunter, Esq. As the Dean of that body, Baron Von
Gerolt, the Prussian Minister, addressed the President as
follows :
Mr. President : — The representatives of foreign nations
have assembled here to express to your Excellency their
feelings at the deplorable event of which they have been
witnesses ; to say how sincerely they share the national
mourning for the cruel fate of the late President, Abraham
Lincoln, and how deeply they sympathize with the govern
ment and people of the United States in their great afflic
tion. With equal sincerity we tender to you, Mr. Presi
dent, our best wishes for the welfare and prosperity of the
United States, and for your personal health and happiness.
May we be allowed, also, Mr. President, to give utterance

150 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
on this occasion to our sincerest hopes for an early re-
establishment of peace in this great country, and for the
maintenance of the friendly relations between the govern
ment of the United States and the governments which wo
represent.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
To which the President replied :
Gentlemen of the Diplomatic Body. — I heartily thank
you, on behalf of the government and people of the
United States, for the sympathy which you have so
feelingly expressed upon the mournful event to which
you refer. The good wishes also which you kindly offer
for the welfare and prosperity of the United States,
and for my personal health and happiness, are gracefully
received. Your hopes for the early restoration of peace
in this country are cordially reciprocated by me, and you
may be assured that I shall leave nothing undone towards
preserving those relations of friendship which now fortu
nately exist between the United States and all foreign
powers. We have presented to the reader the set speeches on the
occasion of the Diplomatic receptions, but we think the
subjoined sketch of the interview with Sir Frederick A.
Bruce, will be found more interesting than the formal
reports. Ou the day of the receptions a correspondent
wrote :
Sir Frederick Bruce's interview with President Johnson
to-day was as informal and as undiplomatic as President
Lincoln himself could have made it. This new minister
made his appearance with all his stars and decorations on,
presented his credentials, and formally read his speech
Mr. Johnson replied, saying that he was glad to see him,
aod to. welcome to the Capitol a representative of Great
Britain, and then added : "But, sir, I am not much used
to the Diplomatic formalities customary on such occasions.
My idea is simply that two great nations ought to conduct
their relations very much as two neighbors who sincerely

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 151
desire peace and good fellowship between themselves
would do, and that the less mere formality about it the
better." "I assure you, Mr. President," interrupted
Sir Frederick, pointing to his uniform and decorations,
"that I should feel very much more at ease without these
things than with them." The remark was so thoroughly
English, and at the same time so consonant to American
prejudice against fuss and feathers, that the President and
Minister became friends at once, and sat down for a chat.
Sir Frederick asked about Sherman. President Johnson
explained the position. " What chance is there for Mr.
Davis then 1" asked Sir Frederick. "Oh! a small particle
still : doubtless his escape across the country," said the
President. "Well," replied the Minister, in an inquiring
tone, " I should think that Mr. Davis and a few members of
his cabinet would probably find it well to start pretty soon ?"
"If they know what is for their own interest," responded
the President rather grimly, "they had better lose no
time about it. The time has come," he added, " when
traitors must be taught they are criminals. The country
has clearly made up its mind on that point, and it can find
no more earnest agent of its will than myself." There
was then a renewal of the mutual promise to talk over
any difficulties that might arise between Great Britain
and the United States like two neighbors sincerely desirous
of good terms with each other, and so the interview ended.
ADDRESS TO LOYAL SOUTHERNERS.
During the same month a deputation of loyal men from
various Southern States waited on the President. In reply
to a brief address, bb said :
" It is hardly necesss-iy for me on this occasion to say
that my sympathies and impulses in connection with this
nefarious rebellion beat in unison with yours. Those who
have passed through this bitter <»deal, and who participated
in it to a great extent, are more cfw.petent. as I think, to

152 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHJSSON.
udge and determine the true policy which should be pur
sued. (Applause.) I have but little to say on this ques
tion in response to what has been said. It enunciates and
expresses my own feelings to the fullest extent ; and in
much better language than I can at the present moment
summon to my aid. The most that I can say is that, en
tering upon the duties that have devolved upon me under
circumstances that are perilous and responsible, and being
thrown into the position I now occupy unexpectedly, in
consequence of the sad event, the heinous assassination
which has taken place — in view of all that is before me and
the circumstances that surround me — I cannot but feel that
your encouragement and kindness are peculiarly acceptable
and appropriate. I do not think you, who have been
familiar with my course — you who are from the South, deem
it necessary for me to make any professions as to the future
on this occasion, nor to express what my course will be
upon questions that may arise. If my past life is no indi
cation of what my future will be, my professions were both
worthless and empty ; and in returning you my sincere
thanks for this encouragement and sympathy, I can only re
iterate what I have said before, and, in part, what has just
been read. As far as clemency and mercy are concerned,
and the proper exercise of the pardoning power, I think I
understand the nature and character of the latter. In the
exercise of clemency and mercy, that pardoning power should
be exercised with caution. I do not give utterance to my
opinions on this point in any spirit of revenge or unkind feel
ings. Mercy and clemency have been pretty large ingre
dients in my composition, having been the Executive of a
State, and thereby placed in a position in which it was
necessary to exercise clemency and mercy. I have been
charged with going too far, being too lenient, and have be
come satisfied that mercy without justice is a crime, and
that when mercy and clemency are exercised by the Execu
tive, it should always be done in view of justice, and in that
manner alone is properly exercised that great prerogative.
The time has come, as you who have had to drink this
bitter cup are fully aware, when the American people should
be made to understand the true nature of crime — of crime
generally. Our people have a high understanding, as well
as of the necessity for its punishment ; but in the catalogue

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 153
of crimes there is one, and that the highest known to the
laws and the Constitution, of which, since the days of
Jefferson and Aaron Burr, they have become oblivious. That
is — treason. Indeed, one who has become distinguished
it treason, and in this rebellion said that " when traitors
become numerous enough treason becomes respectable and
to become a traitor was to constitute a portion of the aris
tocracy of the country." God protect the people against
such an aristocracy. Yes, the time has come when the
people should be taught to understand the length and
breadth, the depth and height of treason. An individual
occupying the highest position among us was lifted to that
position by the free offering of the American people — the
highest position on the habitable globe. This man we
have seen, revered and loved — one who, if he erred at all,
erred ever on the side of clemency and mercy. That man
we have seen treason strike, through a fitting instrument,
and we have beheld him fall like a bright star falling from
its sphere. Now, there is none but would say, if the ques
tion came up, what should be done with the individual who
assassinated the Chief Magistrate of the nation — he is but
a man — one man after all ; but if asked what should be
done with the assassin, what should be the penalty, the for
feit exacted ? I know what response dwells in every bosom.
It is, that he should pay the forfeit with his life. And hence
we see there are times when mercy and clemency without
justice, become a crime. The one should temper the other,
and bring about that proper means. And if we should say
this when the case was the simple murder of one man by
his fellow man, what should we say when asl^ed what should
be done with him, or them, or those who have raised im
pious hands to take away the life of a nation composed of
thirty millions of people ? What would be the reply to that
question ? But while in mercy we remember justice, in the
language that has been uttered, I say, justice toward the
leaders, the conscious leaders ; but I also say amnesty, con
ciliation, clemency and mercy to the thousands of our
countrymen whom you and I know have been deceived or
driven into this infernal rebellion. And so I return to
where I started from, and again repeat, 'that it is time our
people were taught to know that treason is a crime, not a
mere political difference, not a mere contest between two

154 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
parties, in which one succeeded and the other has simply
failed. They must know it is treason ; for if they had suc
ceeded, the life of the nation would have been reft from it —
the Union would have been destroyed. Surely the consti
tution sufficiently defines treason. It consists in levying
war against the United States, and in giving their enemies
aid and comfort. With this definition it requires the exer
cise of no great acumen to ascertain who are traitors. It
requires no great perception to tell who have levied war
against the United States ; nor does it require any great
stretch of reasoning to ascertain who has given aid to the
enemies of the United States ; and when the Government
of the United States does ascertain who are the conscious
and intelligent traitors, the penalty and the forfeit should
be paid. (Applause.) I know how to appreciate the con
dition of being driven from one's home. I can sympathize
with him whose all has been taken from him — with him who
has been denied the place that gave his children birth. But
let us, withal, in the restoration of true government, pro
ceed temperately and dispassionately, and hope and pray
that the time will come, as I believe,- when all can return
and remain at our homes, and treason and traitors be driven
from our land — (applause) — when again law and order
shall reign, and the banner of our country be unfurled/over
every inch of territory within the area of the United States.
(Applause). In conclusion, let me thank you most pro
foundly for this encouragement and manifestation of your
regard and respect, and assure you that I can give no
greater assurance regarding the settlement of this question,
than that I intend to discharge my duty, and in that way
which shall, in the earliest possible hour, bring back peace
to our distracted country. And I hope the time is not far
distaut when our people can all return to their homes and
firesides, and resume their various avocations.
IMPORTANT SPEECH TO THE INDIANA
DELEGATION.
At the close of the month of April, 1865, the President
spoke as follows, in response to an address from a Delega
tion from the State of Indiana :
As my honorable friend (Governor Morton) knows, I

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 155
long since took the ground that this Government was sent
upon a great mission among the nations of the earth ; that
it had a great work to perform, and that in starting it, it
was started in perpetuity. Look back for one single moment
to the Articles of Confederation, and then come down to
1787, when the Constitution was formed — what do you find ?
'That we, " the people of the United States, in order to form
a more perfect government," etc. Provision is made for
the admission of new States, to be added to the old ones
embraced within the Union. Now, turn to the Constitu
tion, we find that amendments may be made by a recom
mendation of two-thirds of the members of Congress, if
ratified by three-fourths of the States. Provision is made
for the admission of new States ; no provision is made for.
the secession of old ones. The instrument was made to be
good in perpetuity, and you can take hold of it, not to
break up the Government, but to go on perfecting it more
and more as it runs down the stream of time. We find the
Government composed of integral parts. An individual is
an integer, and a State itself is an integer, and the various
States form the Union, which is itself an integer, they all
making up the Government of the United States. Now we
come to the point of my argument, so far as concerns the
perpetuity of the Government. We have seen that the
Government is composed of parts, each essential to the
whole, and the whole essential to each part. Now, if an
individual (part of a State) declare war against the whole,
in violation of the Constitution, he, as a citizen, has viola
ted the law, and is responsible for the act ag^an individual.
There may be more than one individual, itjflfego on until
they become parts of States. Sometime tneT-ebellion may
go on increasing in number till the State machinery is over
turned and the country becomes like a man that is para
lyzed on one side. But we find in the Constitution a great
panacea provided. It provides that the United States
(that is the great integer) shall guarantee to each State
(the integers composing the whole) in this Union a repub
lican form of government. Yes, if rebellion has been ram
pant, and set aside the machinery of a State for a time,
there stands the great law to remove the paralysis and re
vitalize it, and put it on its feet again. When we come to
understand our system of Government, though it be com
plex, we see how beautifully one part moves in harmony

156 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
with another ; then we see our government is to be a per
petuity, there being no provision for pulling it down, the
Union being its vitalizing power, imparting life to the whole
of the States that move around it like planets around the
sun, receiving thence light, and heat, and motion. Upon
this idea of destroying States, my position has been hereto
fore well known, and I see no cause to change it now, and
I am glad to hear its reiteration on the present occasion.
Some are satisfied with the idea that States are to be lost
in territorial and other divisions ; are to lose their charac
ter as States. But their life breath has only been sus
pended, and it is a high constitutional obligation we have to
secure each of these States in the possession and enjoyment
of a republican form of Government. A State maybe in
the Government with a peculiar institution, and by the
operation of rebellion lose that feature ; but it was a State
when it went into rebellion, and when it comes out without
the institution, it is still a State. I hold it a solemn obli
gation in any one of these States where the rebel armies
have been beaten back or expelled, I care not how small
the ship of State, I hold it, I say, a high duty to protect
and to secure to them a republican form of government.
This is no new opinion! It is expressed in conformity with
my understanding of the genius and theory of our Govern
ment. Then in adjusting and putting the Government upon
its legs again, I think the progress of this work must pass
into the hands of its friends. If a State is to be nursed
until it again gets strength, it must be nursed by its friends,
not smothere^hy its enemies. Now, permit me to remark,
that while I luK opposed dissolution and disintegration on
the one handyoii the other I am equally opposed to consoli
dation, or the centralization of powder in the hands of a few.
PENNSYLVANIA AND THE PRESIDENT.
A delegation of citizens of Pennsylvania called upon the
President, to present to him abetter from the Governor of
that Commonwealth. Among those present were Colonel
F. Jordan, military agent of Pennsylvania at Washington
city, and his assistant, Colonel Gilliland, Samuel Wagner,
Esq, of York county, and others. Colonel J. W. Forney
read the letter of Governor Curtin to the President:

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 157
Executive Chamber, Harrisburg, Pa., AprilZh, 1865.
Sir : I have just returned from reverently attending the
remains of our martyred President on their passage through
this Commonwealth, and I avail myself of the first moment
to assure you that, as Pennsylvania has throughout steadily
and effectively sustained the Government in its efforts to
crush the existing rebellion, so she and her authorities may
be relied on to stand heartily by your Adminstration, and
that, with an earnestness and vigor enhanced by the just
horror which all her people entertain of the base and cow
ardly assassination to which your predecessor has fallen a
victim. I know that it is unnecessary to give you this assurance ;
but looking to the vast responsibilities that have been sud
denly cast upon you, it has seemed to me that an express
word of hearty encouragement from your friends cannot be
otherwise than agreeable to you. I should have visited
Washington to say this much to you in person, but I am
unwilling just at this moment to incur the danger of inter
fering with the just discharge of your public duties by occu
pying your time.
I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,
To the President. A. G. Curtin.

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
In reply, President Johnson expressed his fervent thanks
to Governor Curtin for the hearty manner in which he
had proffered his valuable support of the General Admin
istration. Some of his most interesting recollections were
of the old Keystone State. In the war for the mainte
nance of the Government she had surpassed herself in her
contributions to our armies and in the valor and sacrifices
of her sons, many of whom he classed among his best
friends, having met them in large numbers during his
trials in Tennessee. President Johnson trusted that his
administration of the Government would not be unworthy
of the confidence of the loyal people of Pennsylvania.

158 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.

ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA DELEGATION.
A committee of prominent gentlemen from different
parts of Pennsylvania, most of whom participated in a
large meeting, held in Harrisburg on Thursday evening,
27th April, was appointed to present the preamble and
resolutions unanimously adopted at that time to Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States. In accordance
with the instructions of that meeting, nearly all the gentle
men appointed on the committee, accompanied by the
Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, paid their respects to President
Johnson, at his rooms in the Treasury building.
Gen. Cameron introduced the members of the committee,1
individually, to the President, after which, in the follow
ing language, he presented the preamble and resolutions
which the committee was charged to convey to the Chief
Magistrate :
Mr. President. — I have only one word to say. A large
number ,of people, members of the Union and Republican
party, met at Harrisburg last Thursday, and appointed
this Committee to come and pay their respects to yon.
We have nothing to desire but the prosperity of your
administration, and have ample confidence in your ability,
a confidence derived from your past history. Your first
great task is to close up this war, and we take it for
granted you will act not only wisely but justly. I also
take it for granted that the men who brought on this war
will meet the full reward of their guilt, while we believe
the mere deluded instruments ought to be suffered to go
along their wonted way and do the best they can. We
cannot doubt that the men who made the war — who have
killed in battle thousands of our sons and brothers, and
who have suffered other thousands to die from starvation
in loathsome prisons— will be permitted to live in the
country which they have disgraced and denounced ; and
we hope that you will find some way to take care of them
and to save and reunite the country. There are none here
who have come from any desire for place for themselves
or their relations — they are substantial men, from all parts

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 159
of our great State, who have no interest so strong as to
interpose with their love of country. They hope and be
lieve you will bring the country out of its present trouble ;
and, above all things, they feel assured that, by your hand,
no arrangement for peace will be made that does not put
an end to slavery forever.
THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. — I can only reply in
general terms ; and perhaps as good a reply as I can make
would be to refer to or repeat what I have already said to
other delegations who have come for the purpose of en
couraging and inspiring me with confidence on entering
upon the discharge of duties so responsible, so perilous.
All that I could now say would be but a reiteration of
sentiments already indicated. The words you have spoken
are most fully and cordially accepted and responded to by
me. I, too, think the time has arrived when the people
of this nation should understand that treason is a crime.
When we turn to the catalogue of crime, we find that most
of those contained in it are understood ; but the crime of
treason has neither been generally understood nor generally
appreciated as I think it should be ; and there has been an
effort, since this rebellion commenced, to make the impres
sion that it was a mere political struggle, or, as I see it
thrown out in some of the papers, a struggle for ascen
dancy of certain principles, from the dawn of the govern
ment, to the present time, and now settled by the final
triumph of the Federal arms. If this is to be a deter
mined, settled idea and opinion, the government is at an
end, for no question can arise but they will make it a party
issue ; and then, to whatever length they carry it, the party
defeated, will be only a party defeated, and no crime at
taches thereto. But, I say, treason is a crime — the highest
crime known to the law — and the people ought to under
stand it, and be taught to know, that unless it be so con
sidered, there can be no government. I do not say this to
indicate a revengeful or improper spirit. It is simply the
enunciation of deliberate consideration and temperate judg
ment. There are men who ought to suffer the penalties of their
treason ; but there are also some who have been engaged
10

160 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
in this rebellion who, while technically speaking, they are
guilty of treason, yet who morally are not — thousands
who have been drawn into it, involved by various influ
ences, by conscription, by dread, by force of public opinion
in the localities in which they lived — these are not so re
sponsible as are those who led, deceived, and forced them.
To the unconscious, deceived, conscripted — in short, to
the great mass of the misled — I would say mercy, clem
ency, reconciliation, and the restoration of their Govern
ment. To those who have deceived — to the conscious,
influential traitor, who attempted to destroy the life of a
nation — I would say, on you be inflicted the severest pen
alties of your crime. (Applause.)
I fully understand how easy it is to get up an impres
sion in regard to the exercise of mercy ; and if I know
myself and my own heart, there is in it as great a dis
position to mercy as can be manifested on the part of any
other individual; but mercy without justice is a crime.
In the exercise of mercy, there should be deliberate con
sideration and a profound understanding of the case; and
I am not prepared to say but what it should often be
transferred to a higher court, a court where mercy and
justice can best be united.
In responding to the remarks of your chairman in refer
ence to free government and the discharge of my duties,
I can onty say again, that my past public life must be
taken as the guide to what my future will be. My course
has been unmistakable and well defined. I know it is
easy to cry out demagogue, but let that be as it may. If
I have spent the toil of youth and the vigor of my life for
the elevation of the great masses of the people, why it was
a work of my own choosing, and I will bear the loss ; and
if it is demagogism to please the people, if it is dema-
gogism to strive for their welfare and amelioration, then
I am a demagogue. I was always proud when my duties
were so discharged that the people were pleased.
A great monopoly (and the remarks of your chairman
bring me to it) existed — that of slavery, and upon it rested
an aristocracy. It is the work of freemen to put down
monopolies. You have seen the attempt made by the
monopoly of slavery to put down the free Government ;
but the making of the attempt, thereby to control and
destroy the Government, you have seen the Government

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 161
put down the monopoly and destroy the institution.
(Applause.) Institutions of any kind must be subordi
nate to the Government or the Government cannot stand.
1 do not care whether it be North or South. A Govern
ment based upon popular judgment must be paramount
to all institutions that spring up under that Government;
and if, when they attempt to control the Government, the
Government don't put them down, they will put it down.
Hence, the main portion of my efforts have been devoted
to the opposition of them. Hence, I have ever opposed
aristocracy — opposed it in any shape. But there is a
kind of suffrage that has always, that always will,
command my respect and approbation — the aristocracy
of talent, the aristocracy of virtue, the aristocracy of
merit, or an aristocracy resting upon worth, the aristoc
racy of labor, resting upon honest industry, developing
the industrial resources of the country, this commands my
respect and admiration, my support in life. In regard to
my future course in connection with this rebellion, nothing
that I can say would be worth listening to, if my past is
not sufficient guarantee. I can only add that I have
never knowingly deceived the people, and never have be
trayed a friend, (applause), and God willing, never will.
(Applause.) Accept my profound and sincere thanks
for the encouragement you have given- me, and believe
me when I say that your encouragement and countenance,
your confidence, are a great aid and a great spur to the
performance of my duties. Once more I thank you for
this manifestation of your regard and respect.
COURAGE OF THE PRESIDENT.
In the foregoing pages we have described the personal
fearlessness of Andrew Johnson while Military Governor
of Tennessee. This personal courage was put to a far
more critical test after his accession to the Presidency of
the United States. The assassination of Mr. Lincqin,
• the attempted murder of Secretary Seward and several
members of his family, the supposed purpose to kill Sec
retary Stanton, Lieutenant-General Grant, and other
prominent men in Washington, had filled the nation with

162 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
horror. The air was full of rumors of plots of treason and
murder. No man in Washington City believed himself safe.
Yet, during weeks of anxiety, President Johnson walked
out and rode about as calmly as if he was a patriarch
among his family. His immediate friends expostulated
with him on what they considered his carelessness, but he
regarded their solicitude as over-anxiety, and did not sur
round himself with janissaries or any sort of armed
guards, though his temporary residence, (Mrs. Lincoln
not having yet vacated the Executive Mansion,) was, by
order of the Secretary of War, surrounded by a guard of
soldiers. A gentleman meeting Mr. Johnson in the par
lor of the Kirkwood House just after his accession to the
Presidency, asked : " Mr. President, is it wise for you
thus to jeopard yourself ?" He replied : "Yes. I have
already been shot at twice, you remember, without injury.
Threatened men live long."
THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR— THE PRESI
DENT'S POLICY.
During the latter half of the month of April and the
first half of May, 1865, it must not be supposed that
President Johnson was only occupied in receiving delega
tions of citizens and diplomatists and in making speeches.
A thousand official cares occupied his hours in addition,
and had his frame not have been of ihe sturdiest build, he
must have broken down under the tremendous pressure
brought upon him in these early days of his occupancy
of the Presidential chair. The surrender of Lee's army
and the possession by the Federal forces, of nearly the
whole. State of Virginia, brought with it a thousand grave
questions of public policy, most of which are, even as we
write, undecided. The negotiations of Major General W.
T. Sherman with General Joseph E. Johnston, in North
Carolina, and the serious error of General Sherman in al-

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOH1SSON. 163
lowing inadmissible terms to the rebel Johnston also be
came a subject of the gravest consideration by the Presi
dent and Cabinet, and Mr. Johnson at once sent Lieuten
ant General Grant to North Carolina, with full power to
countermand General Sherman's agreement with the rebel
commander, and to accept the surrender of his forces on
the same terms as those accorded to General Lee.
The dispersion of Joseph E. Johnston's army, together
with the scattered bands surrendered along with it, left no
rebel force of consequence east of the Mississippi river,
and the question of reconstruction at once overrode mili
tary policy and became the great subject of the hour.
Notwithstanding the pressure upon him on this question,
President Johnson preserved a wise reticence on the points
growing out of this vitally important matter. Another
grave matter occupied the attention of the President.
The pursuit of the assassins of the late President had to
be kept up, even after John Wilkes Booth had been
tracked to his hiding place and shot dead. This matter
alone was enough to keep his .thoughts occupied during
every waking hour. We may add to the topics which
must have been ceaselessly present to the mind of the
President, the public debt, increasing as it was with each
day ; the diminution of the army and navy ; and the at
titude which the United States ought to occupy towards
those foreign nations who have been eager to aid the
rebels or who are attempting to plant their power on the
continent of America in defiance of that cardinal Ameri
can principle, the Monroe doctrine. We give below such
official utterances of the President and his Ministers as
indicate the line he intends to pursue on the foregoing and
cognate questions :
APPOINTMENT OF A DAY OF HUMILIATION.
Whereas, By my direction, the Acting Secretary of
State, in a notice to the public on the 17th of April,

164 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
requested the various religious denominations to assem
ble on the 19th of April, on the occasion of the obse
quies of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United
States, and to observe the same with appropriate ceremo
nies ; and
Whereas, Our Country has become one great house of
mourning, where the head of the family has been taken
away ; and believing that a special period should be as
signed for again humbling ourselves before Almighty
God, in order that the bereavement may be sanctified
to the nation ; now, therefore, in order to mitigate that
grief on earth which can only be assuaged by communion
with the Father in Heaven, and in compliance with the
wishes of Senators and Representatives in Congress com
municated to me by a resolution adopted at the National
Capital, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 25th of May,
next, to be observed wherever in the United States the
flag of the country may be respected, as a day of humilia
tion and mourning, and I recommend my fellow-citizens
then to assemble in their respective places of worship,
there to unite in solemn service to Almighty God, in
memory of the good man who has been removed, so that
all shall be occupied at the same time in the contempla
tion of his virtues, and sorrow for his sudden and violent
end. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, the 25th day of April,
in the year of our Lord, 1865, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the eighty-ninth.
Andrew Johnson.
By the President :
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.
Subsequently the President, for reasons which will ap
pear therein, issued the subjoined supplementary Procla
mation, bearing on the same matter :
Whereas, By my proclamation of the 25th instant, Thurs
day, the 25th day of May, was recommended as a day of
special humiliation and prayer in consequence of the assas
sination of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United

LIFE AND SERVICES <JD ainjjREW JOHNSON. 165
States, but whereas my attention has been called to the fact
that the day aforesaid is sacred to large numbers of Chris
tians as one of rejoicing for the ascension of the Saviour :
now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, Presi
dent of the United States, do hereby suggest that the re
ligious services recommended as aforesaid should be post
poned until Thursday, the first day of June next.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this 29th day of April,
in the year of our Lord 1865, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the eighty-ninth.
Andrew Johnson.
By the President :
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.
REDUCTION OF MILITARY EXPENSES.
By direction of the President, the following order was
issued by the War Department :
War Department, Adjutant-General's Office,
Washington, D. C, April 28, 1865.
General Orders, No. 77. — For reducing the expenses
of the military establishment.
Ordered : First. — That the chiefs of the respective
bureaus of this Department proceed immediately to re
duce the expenses of their respective departments to what
is absolutely necessary, in view of the immediate reduc
tion of the forces in the field and in garrison, and the
speedy termination of hostilities, and that they severally
make out statements of the reductions they deem practi
cable. Second. — That the Quartermaster-General discharge
all ocean transports not required to bring home troops in
remote departments. All river and inland transportation
will be discharged except that required for the necessary
supplies to troops in the field. Purchases of horses, mules,
wagons, and other land transportation will be stopped ;
also purchases of forage except what is required for im
mediate consumption. All purchases for railroad con
struction and transportation will also be stopped.
Third. — That the Commissary-General of Subsistence
discontinue the purchase of supplies in his Department,

166 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
except of such as may, with what is on band, be required
for forces in the field to the first of June next.
Fourth.— That the Chief of Ordnance stop all purchases
of arms and ammunition and material therefor, and reduces
the manufacture of arms and ordnance stores in the
Government arsenals as rapidly as can be done without
injury to the service.
Fifth.— That the Chief of Engineers stop work on all
field fortifications and other works except those for which
specific appropriations have been made by Congress for
completion or that may be required for the proper protec
tion of works in progress.
Sixth. — That all soldiers in the hospitals who require
no further medical treatment, be honorably discharged
from service with immediate payment. All officers and
enlisted men who have been prisoners of war and are on
furlough or in parole camps, and all recruits in rendez
vous, except those for the Regular Army, will likewise be
honorably discharged.
Officers, whose duty it is, under the regulations of the
service, to make out rolls and other final papers counected
with the discharge and payment of soldiers, are directed
to make them out without delay, so that this order may
be carried into effect immediately.
Seventh. — The Adjutant-General of the army will cause
immediate returns to be made by all commanders in the
field, garrisons, detachments and posts, of their respective
forces, with a view to their immediate reduction. •
Eighth. — The Quartermaster's, Subsistence, Engineer
and Provost-Marshal-General's Departments will reduce
the number oi clerks and employees to that absolutely
required for closing the business of their respective depart
ments ; and will, without delay, report to the Secretary of
War the number required of each class or grade. The
Surgeon-General will make similar reductions of surgeons,
nurses aDd attendants in his bureau.
Ninth. — The chiefs of the respective bureaus will im
mediately cause proper returns to be mada^out of the
public property in their charge, and statements of the
property in each that may be sold upon advertisement
and publication without prejudice to the service.
Tenth — The Commissary of Prisoners will have rolls

LJFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 167
made out of the name, residence, time and place of capture,
and occupation of all prisoners of war who will take the
oath of allegiance to the United States, to the end that
such as are disposed to become good and loyal citizens of
the United States, and who are proper objects of Executive
clemency, may be released upon the terms that the Presi
dent shall deem fit and consistent with public safety.
By order of the Secretary of War.
W. A Nichols.
Official :
Thomas W. Vincent, Assistant Adjutant- General.
COMMERCE IN INSURRECTIONARY STATES.
Executive Chamber, Washington,
Saturday April 29, 1865.
Executive Order. — Being desirous to relieve all loyal
citizens and well-disposed persons residing in the insur
rectionary States from unnecessary commercial restrictions,
and to encourage them to return to peaceful pursuits, it is
hereby ordered :
First. — That all restrictions upon internal, domestic and
coastwise commercial intercourse be discontinued in such
parts of the States of Tennesse, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
and so much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi
River, as shall be embraced within the lines of the National
military occupation, excepting only such restrictions as
are imposed by the acts of Congress, and regulations in
pursuance thereof prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury and approved by the President ; and excepting
also from the effect of this order the following articles,
contraband of war, to wit : Arms^ammunition, and all
articles from which ammunition is manufactured, gray
uniforms and cloth, locomotives, cars, railroad iron, and
machinery for operating railroads, telegraph wires, insula
tors, and instruments for operating telegraph lines. '
Second. — All existing military and naval orders in any
manner restricting internal, domestic and coastwise com
mercial intercourse and trade with or in the localities
above named, be and the same are hereby revoked, and
that no military or naval officer in any manner interrupt
or interfere with the same, or with any boats or other

168 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
vessels engaged therein under proper authority pursuant
to the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury.
Andrew Johnson.

THE MILITARY COMMISSION FOR THE TRIAL
OF THE ACCOMPLICES OF BOOTH.
This court met on Tuesday, May 9th, 1865, in a room
fitted up for the purpose, in the old penitentiary building,
adjoining the arsenal grounds at Washington city.
The following order was read : Executive Chamber,
Washington City, May 1, 1865.
Whereas the Attorney-General of the United States
hath given his opinion :
" That the persons implicated in the murder of the late
President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassi
nation of the Honorable William H. Sewaud, Secretary
of State, and in an alleged conspiracy to assassinate other
officers of the Federal Government at Washington city,
and their aiders and abettors, are subject to the jurisdic
tion of, and legally triable before, a military commis
sion :"
It is ordered: 1st, That the Assistant- Adjutant-General
detail nine competent military officers to serve as a com
mission for the trial of said parties, and that the Judge
Advocate-General proceed to prefer charges against said
parties for the alleged offences, and bring them to trial
before said military commission ; that said trial or trials
be conducted by the said Judge Advocate-General, and,
as recorder thereof, in person, aided by such assistant or
special judge advocates as he may designate, and that
said trials be conducted with all diligence consistent with
the ends of justice : the said commission to sit without
regard to hours.
2d. That Brevet-Major-General Hartranft be assigned
to duty as special provost-marshal-general for the purposes
of said trial- and attendance upon said commission and
the execution of its mandates.
3d. That the said commission establish such order or rules

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 169
of proceeding as may avoid unnecessary delay and con
duce to the ends of public justice.
Andrew Johnson.
Adjutant-General's Office.
Washington, D. C, May 6, 1865.
Official copy. W. A. Nichols, Assistant-Adjutant-General.
THE FLIGHT OF JEFFERSON DAVIS — CON
NECTION OF HIMSELF AND OTHER REBELS
WITH THE ASSASSINATION.
When the rebel General Lee telegraphed to Jefferson
Davis, at Richmond, " My lines are broken, Richmond
must be evacuated to-night," instant preparations
for flight were taken by the leaders of the Rebellion.
Such plunder as could be secured were taken southward
with the fugitives, and the city was set on fire. Davis,
Breckinridge, Benjamin, and other prominent leaders,
kept together, under a heavy cavalry escort, and made
their way towards the Mississippi. While this hegira
was in progress, it appears that the Bureau of Military
Justice at Washington became acquainted with facts im
plicating Davis and other leading rebels in the murder of
Mr. Lincoln. The subjoined proclamation was thereupon
issued :
Whereas, It appears from evidence in the Bureau of
Military Justice that the atrocious murder of the late
President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassi
nation of the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State,
were incited, concerted, and procured by and between
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond, Va., and Jacob
Thompson, Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N.
Sanders, W. C. Cleary, and other rebels and traitors
against the Government of the United States, harbored
in Canada ; now, therefore, to the end that justice may be
done, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
do offer and promise for the arrest of said persons, or
either of them within the limits of the United States, so
that they can be brought to trial, the following rewards :

170 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
One hundred thousand dollars for the arrest of Jefferson
Davis, twenty-five thousand dollars for the arrest of
Clement C. Clay ; twenty-five thousand dollars for the
arrest of Jacob Thompson, late of Mississippi ; twenty-
five thousand dollars for the arrest of George N. Sanders ;
twenty-five thousand dollars for the arrest of Beverly
Tucker, and ten thousand dollars for the arrest of William
C. Cleary, late Clerk of Clement C. Clay.
The Provost-Marshal-General of the United States is
directed to cause a description of said persons, with
notice of the above rewards, to be published.
In testimonny whereof I have hereunto set my hand,
i- 1 and caused the seal of the United States to be
L ' '-> affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, the second day of May,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty five, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the eighty-ninth.
Andrew Johnson.
By the President: W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.
RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL AUTHO
RITY IN VIRGINIA.
On the 9th of May, 1865, the President issued the fol
lowing proclamation :
Executive Chamber, Washington City, May 9, 1865.
Executive order to reestablish the authority of the United
States, and execute the laws within the geographical
limits known as the State of Virginia.
Ordered :
First. — That all acts and proceedings of the political,
military, and civil organizations which have been in a state
of insurrection and rebellion, within the State of Virginia,
against the authority and laws of the United States, aud of
which Jefferson Davis, John Letcher, and William Smith
were late the respective chiefs, are declared null and void.
All persons who shall exercise, claim, pretend, or attempt
to exercise any political, military, or civil power, authority,
jurisdiction, or right, by, through, or under Jefferson Davis,
late of the city of Richmond, and his confederates, or under
John Letcher or William Smith and their confederates, or
under any pretended political, military, or civil commission .

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 171
or authority issued by them or either of them since the 17th
day of April, 1861, shall be deemed and taken as in rebel
lion against the United States, and shall be dealt with ac
cordingly. Second. — That the Secretary of State proceed to put in
force all laws of the United States, the administration
whereof belongs to the Department of State, applicable to
the geographical limits aforesaid.
Third. — That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed,
without delay, to nominate for appointment, assessors of
taxes and collectors of customs and internal revenue, and
such other officers of the Treasury Department as are
authorized by law, and shall put in execution the revenue
laws of the United States within the geographical limits
aforesaid. In making appointments, the preference shall
be given to qualified loyal persons residing within the dis
tricts where their respective duties are to be performed.
But if suitable persons shall not be found residents of the
district, then persons residing in other States or districts
shall be appointed.
Fourth. — That the Postmaster-General shall proceed to
establish post-offices and post routes, and put into execu
tion the postal laws of the United States, within the said
State, giving to loyal residents the preference of appoint
ment ; but if suitable persons are not found, then to ap
point agents, etc., from other States.
Fifth. — That the District Judge of said district proceed
to hold courts within said State, in accordance with the
provisions of the acts of Congress. The Attorney-Gen
eral will instruct the proper officers to libel, and bring to
judgment, confiscation, and sale, property subject to con
fiscation, and enforce the administration of justice within
said State, in all matters, civil and criminal, within the
cognizance and jurisdiction of the Federal courts.
Sixth. — That the Secretary of War assign such Assistant-
Provost-Marshal-General, and such Provost-Marshals in
each district of said State as he may deem necessary.
Seventh. — The Secretary of the Navy will take posses
sion of all public property belonging to the Navy Depart
ment within said geographical limits, and put in operation

172 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having ap
plication to the said State.
Eighth. — The Secretary of the Interior will also put in
force the laws relating to the Department of the Interior.
Ninth. — That to carry into the effect the guarantee of the
Federal Constitution of a republican form of State Govern
ment, and afford the advantage and security of domestic
laws, as well as to complete the reestablishment of the
authority of the laws of the United States, and the full and
complete restoration of peace within the limits aforesaid,
Francis H. Pierpont, Governor of the State of Virginia,
will be aided by the Federal Government, so far as may be
necessary, in the lawful measures which he may take for the
extension and administration of the State government
throughout the geographical limits of said State.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
rm „ -, caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
SEAL. . T
L J Andrew Johnson.
By the President :
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.
VIRTUAL CLOSE OF THE REBELLION-
PIRATICAL CRUISERS.
On the tenth of May, 1865, the President issued the
following Proclamation :
Whereas, The President of the United States, by his
Proclamation of the nineteenth day or April, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one, did declare certain States
therein mentioned, in insurrection against the government
of the United States ;
And whereas armed resistance to the authority of this
Government, in the said insurrectionary States, may be re
garded as virtually at an end, and the persons by whom
that resistance, as well as the operations of insurgent
cruisers, were directed, are fugitives or captives ;
And whereas it is understood that some of those cruisers
are still infesting the high seas, and others are preparing
to capture, burn, and destroy vessels of the United States ;
Now, therefore, be it known, That I, Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, hereby enjoin all naval'
military, and civil officers of the United States, diligently
to endeavor, by all lawful means, to arrest the said

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 173
cruisers, and to bring them into a port of the United
States, in order that they may be prevented from commit
ting further depredations on commerce, and that the per
sons on board of them may no longer enjoy impunity for
their crimes.
And I further proclaim and declare, that if, after a
reasonable time shall have elapsed for this Proclamation
to become known in the ports of nations claiming to have
been neutrals, the said insurgent cruisers, and the persons
on board of them, shall continue to receive hospitality in
the said ports, this Government will deem itself justified in
refusing hospitality to the public vessels of such nations
in ports of the United States, and in adopting such other
measures as may be deemed advisable toward vindicating
the national sovereignty.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the eighty-ninth.
Andrew Johnson.
By the President :
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.
RULES AND REGULATIONS CONCERNING
COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH INSUR
RECTIONARY STATES.
EXECUTIVE ORDER.
Executive Chamber, Washington, April 29, 1865.
Being desirous to relieve all loyal citizens and well-dis
posed persons residing in insurrectionary States from un
necessary commercial restrictions, and to encourage them
to return to peaceful pursuits, it is hereby ordered :
I. — That all restrictions upon internal, domestic, and
coastwise commercial intercourse be discontinued in such
parts of the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
and so much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi
river, as shall be embraced within the lines of national mili
tary occupation, excepting only such restrictions as are im
posed by acts of Congress and regulations in pursuance

174 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
thereof, prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and
approved by the President ; and excepting also from the
effect of this order the following articles, contraband of
war, to wit : arms, ammunition, all articles from which
ammunition is manufactured, gray uniforms and cloth, loco
motives, cars, railroad iron, and machinery for operating
railroads, telegraph wires, insulators, and instruments for
operating telegraphic lines.
II. — That all existing military and naval orders in any
manner restricting internal, domestic, and coastwise com
mercial intercourse and trade with or in the localities above
named be, and the same are hereby, revoked ; and that no mil
itary or naval officer, in any manner, interrupt or interfere
with the same, or with any boats or other vessels engaged
therein, under proper authority, pursuant to the regulations
of the Secretary of the Treasury. Andrew Johnson.
RULES AND REGULATIONS.
Treasury Department, May 9, 1865.
With a view of carrying out the purposes of the Execu
tive, as expressed in his executive order, bearing date April
29, 1865, "to relieve all loyal citizens and well-disposed
persons residing in insurrectionary States from unnecessary
commercial restrictions, and to encourage them to return
to peaceful pursuits," the following regulations are pre
scribed, and will hereafter govern commercial intercourse
in and between the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mis
sissippi, and Louisiana, east of the Mississippi river, here
tofore declared in'insurrection, and the loyal States:
I.
All commercial transactions under these regulations shall
be conducted under the supervision of officers of the cus
toms, and others acting as officers of the customs.
ii. prohibited articles.
The following articles are prohibited, and none such will
be allowed to be transported to or within any State hereto
fore declared in insurrection, except on Government account,
viz : Arms, ammunition, all articles from which ammuni
tion is manufactured, gray uniforms and cloth, locomotives,

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 175
cars, railroad iron, and machinery for operating railroads,
telegraph wires, insulators, and instruments for operating
telegraph lines.
III. AMOUNTS OF PRODUCTS ALLOWED, AND PLACES TO
WHICH SUCH MAY BE TRANSPORTED.
It having been determined and agreed upon by the
proper officers of the War and Treasury Departments, in
accordance with the requirement of section 9 of the act of
July 2, 1864, that the amount of goods required to supply
the necessities of loyal persons residing in insurrectionary
States, within the military lines of the United States forces,
shall be an amount equal to the aggregate of the applications
therefor, and that the places to which such goods may be
taken shall be, all places within such lines that may be
named in the several applications for transportation there
to ; it is therefore directed that clearance shall be granted,
upon application, by any loyal person or party, for all goods
or merchandise not prohibited, in such amounts, and to
such places which, under the revenue and collection laws of
the United States, have been created ports of entry and
delivery in the coastwise trade, as the applicant may desire
IV. CLEARANCE.
Before any vessel shall be cleared for any port within
the insurrectionary States, or from one port to another
therein, or from any such ports to a port in the loyal
States, the master of every such vessel shall present to'
the proper officer of customs, or other officer acting as
such, ^a manifest of her cargo, which manifest shall set
forth the character of the merchandise composing said
cargo, and, if showing no prohibited articles, shall be cer
titled by such officer of the customs.
V. ARRIVAL AND DISCHARGE OF CARGO IN AN INSURREC
TIONARY STATE.
On the arrival of any such vessel at the port of desti
nation, it-shall be the duty of the master thereof forthwith
to present to the proper officer of the customs the certi
fied manifest of (jer cargo ; whereupon the officer shall
cause the vessel to be discharged under his general super
vision ; and, if the cargo is found to correspond with the
11

176 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
manifest, a certificate to that effect shall be given to said
master. If there shall be found on board any prohibited articles,
such articles shall be seized and held subject to the orders
of the Secretary of the Treasury ; and the officer shall
forthwith report to the Department all the facts of the
case ; and any such vessel arriving from any foreign port,
or from any domestic port without a proper clearance, or
with contraband articles on board, shall, with the cargo,
be seized and held as subject to confiscation under the
laws of the United States.
VI. LADING WITHIN AND DEPARTURE FROM AN INSURREC
TIONARY STATE.
Vessels in ports within an insurrectionary State, not
declared by proclamation open to the commerce of the
world, shall be laden under the supervision of the proper
officer of this Department, whose duty it shall be to
require, before any articles are allowed to be shipped,
satisfactory evidence that upon all merchandise so ship
ped, the taxes and fees required by law and these regu
lations have been paid or secured to be paid, which
fact, with the amount so paid, shall be certified upon
the manifest before clearance shall be granted ; and if,
upon any article1 so shipped, the fees and internal revenue
taxes, or either, shall only have been secured to be paid,
such fact shall be noted upon the manifest, and the
proper officer at the port of destination of such vessel
shall hold the goods until all such taxes and fees shall be
paid according to law and these regulations.
VII. SUPPLY STORES.
Persons desiring to keep a supply store at any place
within an insurrectionary State, shall make application
therefor to the nearest officer of the Treasury Department,
which application shall set forth that the applicant is
loyal to the Government of the United States ; and upon
filing evidence of such loyalty, a license for such supply
store shall forthwith be granted : and the person to whom
the license is given shall be authorized to purchase goods
at any other supply store within the insurrectionary
States, or at such other point in the United States as he
may select.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 177
The party receiving such license shall pay therefor the
license fee prescribed by the Internal Revenue Law.
VIII. EXEMPTED ARTICLES.
All articles of local production and consumption, such
as fresh vegetables, fruits, butter, ice, eggs, fresh meat,
wood, coal, &c, may, without fee or restriction, be freely
transported and sold at such points within an insurrec
tionary State as the owner thereof may desire.
IX. SHI-PMENT OF PRODUCTS OF AN INSURRECTIONARY STATE.
All cotton not produced by persons with their own
labor, or with the labor of freedmen or others employed
and paid by them, must, before shipment to any port or
place in a loyal State, be sold to and resold by an officer
of the Government especially appointed for the purpose,
under' regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury and approved by the President; and, before
allowing any cotton or other product to be shipped or
granting clearance for any vessel, the proper customs
officer, or other persons acting as such, must require from
the purchasing agent or the internal revenue officer a cer
tificate that cotton proposed to be shipped has been resold
by him, or that twenty-five per cent, of the value thereof
has been paid to such purchasing agent in money, and
that the cotton is thereby free from further fee or tax.
If the cottoa proposed to be shipped is claimed and proved
to be the product of a person's own labor or of freedmen
or others employed and paid by them, the officer will re
quire that the shipping fee of three cents per pound shall
be paid or secured to be paid thereon.
If any product other than cotton is offered for ship
ment, the certificate of the internal revenue officer, that
all internal taxes due thereon have been collected and
paid, must be produced prior to such products being
shipped or cleared ; and if there is no internal revenue
officer, then such taxes shall be collected by the customs
officer, or he shall cause the same to be secured to be paid
as provided in these Regulations.
X. INLAND TRANSPORTATION.
The provisions of these regulations, necessarily modi
fied, shall be considered applicable to all shipmeats, inland

178 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
to or within insurrectionary States by any means of trans
portation whatsoever. XI. CHARGES.
Goods not prohibited may be transported to insur
rectionary States free.
The charges upon all products shipped or transported
from, an insurrectionary State, other than upon cotton,
shall be the charges prescribed by the internal revenue
laws. Upon cotton, other than that purchased and resold
by the Government, three cents per pound, which must
be credited by the officer collecting, as follows, viz : two
cents per pound as the internal tax, and one cent per
pound as the shipping fee. All cotton purchased and re
sold by the Government shall be allowed to be transported
free from all fees and taxes whatsoever.
XII. RECORDS TO BE KEPT.
Full and complete accounts and records must be kept,
by all officers acting under these regulations, of their trans
actions under them, in such manner and form as shall be
prescribed by the Commissioner of Customs.
XIII. LOYALTY A REQUISITE.
No goods shall be sold in an insurrectionary State by
or to, nor any transaction held with any person or persons
not loyal to the Government of the United States.
Proof of loyalty must be the taking and subscribing the
following oath of evidence, to be filed, that it or one
similar in purport and meaning, has been taken, viz :
" I,  , do solemnly swear, in presence of
Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support,
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,
and all laws made in pursuance thereto."
FORMER REGULATIONS REVOKED.
These regulations shall take effect and be in force on
and after the 10th day of May, 1865, and shall supersede
all other Regulations and Circulars heretofore prescribed by
the Treasury Department concerning commercial inter
course between loyal and insurrectionary States, all of
which are hereby rescinded and annulled.
Hugh McCulloch,
Secretary of the Treasury.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 179
Executive Chamber, Washington City, May 9, 1865
The foregoing rules and regulations concerning com
mercial intercourse with and in States and parts of States
declared in insurrection, prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury in conformity with acts of Congress relating
thereto, having been seen and considered by me, are
hereby approved. Andrew Johnson.
ADDRESS TO COLORED PEOPLE.
On Thursday, May 11th, 1865, President Johnson gave
an audience to a number of colored men. They were
introduced by Rev. E. Turner, the President of the
National Theological Institute for Colored Ministers, the
centre of whose operations are in the city of Washington.
Mr. Turner said, in the course of his address, that some of
them were members of the Institute and pastors of
churches, while others had been preaching to their own
people in different sections of Virginia, coming in con
tact with a colored population of, probably not less than two
or three hundred thousand souls, thus exerting a healthful
influence on their social and moral condition. He gave to
the President a copy of the resolutions passed by them
with reference to the assassination of President Lincoln,
and expressive of their gratitude for the Emancipation
Proclamation, and their loyalty to the constituted authori
ties, etc.
President Johnson, in response, remarked that it was
scarcely necessary for him to repeat what his course had
been in relation to the colored man, as everybody within
the reach of information had already been made acquainted
with it. It was known that though he was born and
raised in a slave State, and had owned Slaves, yet he had
never sold one and they have all gone free. There was a
difference in the responsibility which persons who reside
in the slave States have to take on the subject of emanci
pation from those who reside out of them. It was very

180 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
easy for men who live beyond their borders, to get up a
sympathy and talk about the condition of colored persons
when they knew nothing about it. Their great sympathy
was not reduced to practice. It was known that there
were men in the South, notwithstanding the two classes
once occupied the position of master and servant, who
felt a deep interest in their welfare, and did much to
ameliorate the condition of the Freedmen. He repeated that
it would be unnecessary for him to make a profession of
what he had done on the subject of Emancipation, for
which he met with taunts, frowns and jibes, and incurred all
kinds of dangers to property, life and limb. He claimed no
merit for this, because he was only carrying out the princi
ples he always entertained, namely, that man could not
hold property in man. And he was the first who stood
in a slave community and announced the fact that the
slaves of the State of Tennessee had as much right to be
free as those who claimed them as their property. When
the tyrant's rod is bent, and the yoke broken, the passing
from one extreme to the 'other, from bondage to freedom,
is difficult, and in this transition state, some think they
have nothing to do but fall back upon the Government for
support, in order that they may be taken care of in idle
ness and debauchery. There was an idea which those
whom he* addressed ought to inculcate, namely, that
freedom simply means liberty to work and to enjoy the
product of a man's own toil, and how much he may put
into his stomach and on his back. He meant this in its
most extensive sense. Gentlemen in Congress and people
of the North and South, talk about Brigham Young and
debauchery of various kinds existing among the Mormons,
but it was known that four millions of people within the
limits of the South have always been in open and notori
ous concubinage. The correction of these things is neces
sary in commencing a reform in the social condition, and

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 181
in this there must be a force of example. He would do
all in his power to secure their protection and ameliorate
their condition. He trusted in God the time may come
when all the colored people may be gathered together in
one country best adapted to their condition, if it should
appear that they could not get along well together with
the whites. He expressed the hope that the efforts for
their social and moral improvement would be successful,
and in this he promised his co-operation ; and in conclu
sion he thanked his audience for their manifestations of
kindness and the evidences of their friendship.
A FOREIGN CONSUL APPOINTED AT
RICHMOND.
As a proper supplement to the official announcements
of the restoration of the authority of the Federal Govern
ment of Virginia, the following may be cited : *
' OFFICIAL.
Andbew Johnson, President of the United States of America.
to all whom it may concern.
Satisfactory evidence having been exhibited to me that
Daniel Von Groning has been appointed Vice Consul
of Italy, at Richmond, I do hereby recognize him as
such, and declare him free to exercise and enjoy such
functions, powers, and privileges, as are allowed to Vice
Consuls by the law of nations, or by the laws of the
United States, and existing treaty stipulations between
the Government of Italy and the United States.
In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be
made Patent, and the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed.
Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the tenth
day of May, Anno Domini one thousand eight
[seal.J hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence
of the United States of America, the eighty-ninth.
Andrew Johnson.
By the President. W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.

182 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
RECEPTION OF THE FRENCH MINISTER.
The Marquis de Montholon was on Saturday, May 13th,
1865, introduced to the President by the Acting Secretary
of State, and delivered his credentials as Envoy Extra
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of his Majesty the
Emperor of the French. The Marquis made some re
marks upon the occasion, of which the following is a
translation :
Mr. President — I have the honor to place in your
hands the letter of the Emperor of the French, which
accredits me in the character of Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary near your Excellency. If I seek
for what may have determined his Imperial Majesty to
give me this distinguished mark of his confidence, I can
attribute it only to the recollection, of the ties which
already attach me to this country. The personal relations
which I have previously contracted in it during a long
sojourn, and the sympathies of which I am proud to have
received numerous proofs, have made me appear without
doubt better prepared than another to serve as the in
terpreter of the sentiment which animates the Imperial
Government towards the Government and the people of
the United States. In fact, glorious traditions, the im
portance whereof we maintain with pride, do not permit
that France should ever be indifferent to the destinies of
this great republic. Immense interests, which every day
develop themselves more fully, will draw together more
and more closely this noble and ancient alliance. I am
happy to bring hither on a solemn occasion the loyal and
frank expressions of the wishes whicli the Emperor, my
August Sovereign, forms for the complete restoration of
peace and concord on the continent of America. The
whole of France participates in the same thought, and
will always view with satisfaction the consolidation, the
prosperity and the greatness of the United States. Ani
mated by the sentiments of deep sympathy with the
American Union, their Imperial Majesties and France
share equally with their whole nation in the grief in
which the most atrocious of crimes has just plunged the
government and the people of the United "States.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 183
THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.
The President replied as follows : —
M. Lm Marquis de Montholon — I cannot forbear to
welcome as the diplomatic representative of France a gen
tleman who claims to be so strongly attached to the United
States by those ties incident to family connection and long
previous official residence in this country, to which you so
gracefully allude. The intimacy with the head of vour own
government, which has resulted from well known antecedents,
cannot fail to impart, perhaps, universal confidence to their
representations in respect to his purposes and policy
with reference to the United States. The people of this
country have a traditional regard for France, whicli was
originally so deeply planted, and has been so universally
and warmly cherished, that it must continue to flourish
and expand, unless it should be checked by events most
uncommon, not to be anticipated by ordinary foresight.
I trust that the result of your mission will be to strengthen
aud perpetuate the good understanding between our two
governments, and that perfect peace may be restored on
the American continent pursuant to the wishes of your
sovereign to which you'refer. I offer you my hearty thanks
for the sympathy which you express in behalf of their Im
perial Majesties for the recent tragical events in this
metropolis.
OPENING OF SOUTHERN PORTS.
OFFICIAL— DEPARTMENT OP STATE.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, by the Proclamation of the President of the
eleventh day of April last, certain ports of the United
States therein specified, which had previously been subject
to blockade, were, for objects of public safety, declared in
conformity with previous special legislation of Congress,
to be closed against foreign commerce during the national
will, to be thereafter expressed and made known by the
President; and, whereas, events and circumstances have
since occurred, which, in my judgment, render it expedient
to remove that restriction, except as to the ports of Gal
veston, La Salle, Brasos de Santiago (Point Isabel,) and
Brownsville, in the State of Texas :

184 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, do hereby declare that the
ports aforesaid, not excepted as above, shall be open to
foreign commerce from and after the first day of July,
next ; that commercial intercourse with the said ports, may,
from that time be carried on subject to the laws of the
United States and in pursuance of such regulations as may
be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. If, how
ever, any vessel from a foreign port shall enter any of the
before named excepted ports in the State of Texas, she
will continue to be held liable to the penalties prescribed
by the act of Congress approved on the thirteenth day of
July, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and the persons on
board of her to such penalties as may be incurred, pursu
ant to the laws of war, for trading or attempting to trade
with an enemy.
And I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States, do hereby declare and make known that the United
States of America do, henceforth, disallow to all persons
trading, or attempting to trade, in any ports of the United
States in violation of the laws thereof, all pretence of bel
ligerent rights and privileges, and I give notice that, from
the dato of this Proclamation, all such offenders will be
held and dealt with as pirates.
It is also ordered that all restrictions upon trade hereto
fore imposed in the territory of the United States east of
the Mississippi river, save those relating to contraband of
war, to the reservation of the rights of the United States
to property purchased in the territory of an enemy, and to
the twenty-five per cent, upon purchases of cotton, are
removed. All provisions of the internal revenue law will
be carried into effect under the proper officers.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day
of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand
P n eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Inde-
L ' -I pendence of the United States of America the
eighty-ninth.* Andrew Johnson.
By the President. W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.

'LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 185
PRESIDENT JOHNSON DECLINES A TESTI
MONIAL.
A number of the prominent citizens of New York desired
to present to President Johnson a carriage, span of horses,
with harness, blankets, etc., as a token of their high appre
ciation of his fidelity to the country, but the President has
respectfully declined receiving them, as will be seen by the
following correspondence.
THE CITIZENS TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON.
The undersigned, citizens of New York, take great
pleasure in sending to Washington, by the Camden and
Amboy Railroad cars, a coach, span of horses, harness,
blankets, etc., respectfully asking Andrew Johnson, Presi
dent of the United States, to accept the same, as a token
of their high appreciation of his fidelity to the country —
as a statesman well approved, by word and deed, in all the
various offices to which he has been called.
New York, May 17, 1865.
M. Armstrong & Sons, Ketchum, Son & Co.,
Daniel G. Ross, Shepherd Knapp,
H. A. Smythe, P. Hayden,
Lathrop, Luddington & Co., Winslow, Lanier & Co.,
S. B. Chittenden, Hoyt Brotheqj)
Hoover, Calhoun & Co., H. B. Claflin,
John R. Lawrence & Co., Hunt, Tillinghast & Co.,
A. A. Low, Sprague, Cooper & Col-
Peter Cooper, burn,
C. H. Marshall, Eugene Kelly & Co.,
Wm. W. DeForest & Co., Vermilye & Co.,
Wm. H. Fogg, Henry Clews & Co.,
Phelps, Dodge & Co., Reeve, Case & Banks,
J. S. Schultz, H. J. Baker,
Chas. A. Meigs & Sons, Daniel Drew,
Hall, Southwick & Co.,' Edwin Hoyt,
Arnold, Constable & Co., E. A. Quintard,
Wicks, Smith & Co , Arthur Leary,
Wilson G. Hunt, George H. Potts,
L. P. Morton & Co., Chas. B. Fosdick.

186 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S REPLY.
Washington City, May 22, 1865.
Messrs. A. A. Low, Esq.; Phelps, Dodge & Co.; Hoyt
Brothers; J. S. Schultz, and others :
Gentlemen: I am in receipt of your very compli
mentary note, dated New York, May 17, 1865, wherein
you request my acceptance of a coach, span of houses,
harness, etc., as a token of your high appreciation of my
public course.
While I fully appreciate the purity of your motives in
thus tendering to me such substantial evidence of your
regard and esteem, I am compelled, solely from the con
victions of duty I have ever held in reference to the ac
ceptance of presents by those occupying high official
positions, to decline the offerings of kind and loyal friends.
The retention of the parchment conveying your senti
ments, and the autographs of those who were pleased to
unite in this manifestation of regard, is a favor I would
ask; and I assure you, gentlemen, I shall regard it as one
of the highest marks of respect from any portion of my
fellow-citizens. Trusting that I shall continue to merit your confidence
and esteem in the discharge of the high and important
duties upon which I have but just entered, and with the
best wishes f|t your health, etc., individually.
I am, gentlemen, yours truly,
Andrew Johnson.
The gentlemen who procured the testimonial referred to,
on receiving President Johnson's reply, published the fol
lowing card over their several signatures :
CARD TO THE PUBLIC.
The undersigned submit the foregoing correspondence
to the public, disappointed, indeed, that their proffered
gift is declined ; but, notwithstanding their disappointment,
feeling gratified that the President of the United States is
governed by such lofty views of duty.
They willingly submit their own motives to the public
tribunal, to whose judgment they offer the foregoing cor
respondence, claiming only to unite with their fellow-citi
zens in the meed of honor that will be so generously
awarded to the President of the United States.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 187
REORGANIZATION OF THE UNION.— CONFIS
CATION OF PROPERTY.— RIGHTS OF CITI
ZENSHIP, ETC.
It is needless to advert to the anxiety which has re
cently possessed all minds in reference to the reorganiza
tion of the Union, the confiscation of property, and the
tests of citizenship since the rebellion has been crushed,
and the authority of the Union has become paramount
once more. It gives us, therefore, great pleasure to be
able to present in these pages, official copies of several
documents bearing directly on these important questions,
and indicating unerringly the line of policy President
Johnson intends steadily to pursue. The documents re
ferred to have already become historic, though beyond the
columns of the daily press they have not yet passed.
First we present the
OPINION OF ATTORNEY-GENERAL SPEED, IN
RELATION TO THE AMNESTY PROCLAMA
TIONS OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
Attorney-General's Office, May 1st, 1865.
To the President:
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 21st of April, 1865.
By the Constitution of the United States (2d art, sec.
2, cl. 1,) the President is vested with the "power to
grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United
States, except in cases of impeachment."
By the thirteenth section of the act of Congress, entitled
"An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and
rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels,
and for other purposes," approved 17th of July, 1862, ""the
President is authorized, at any time hereafter, by procla
mation, to extend to persons who may have participated
in the existing rebellion, in any State or part thereof,
pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at such
time and on such conditions, as he may deem expedient
for the public welfare."
The right and power of the Presidentto pardon, and to

188 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON
issue any Proclamation of Amnesty, are derived from the
clauses in the Constitution and the act of Congress as
quoted above.
By the Constitution and the act of Congress, the power
to pardon in individual cases, and the power of extending,
by Proclamation, amnesty to classes of individuals, are
solely in the hands of the President. It is, therefore,
needless to discuss the question whether the act of Con
gress was necessary in order to enable the President
lawfully to issue a proclamation of pardon and amnesty.
The power of exercising and extending mercy resides
in some department of every well-ordered government.
When order and peace reign, its exercise is frequent and
its influence valuable. Its influence is, of value inestima
ble at the termination of an insurrection so wide-spread as
the one which in our country is just being suppressed.
Its appropriate office is to soothe and heal, not to keep
alive or irritate the rebellious and malignant passions
that induced, precipitated, and sustained the insurrection.
This power to soothe and heal is appropriately vested in
the executive department of the Government, whose duty
it is to recognize and declare the existence of an insurrec
tion, to suppress it by force, and to proclaim its suppres
sion. In order, then, that this benign power of the Gov
ernment should accomplish the objects for which it was
given, the extent an"d limits of the power should be
clearly understood. Therefore, before proceeding to
answer the questions propounded in your letter, it would
seem to be eminently proper to state some of the obvious
principles upon which the power to grant pardons and
amnesty rests, and deduce from those principles the limi
tations of that power.
The words amnesty and pardon have a usual and well-
understood meaning. Neither is defined in any act of
Congress ; the latter is not used in the Constitution.
A pardon is a remission of guilt ; an amnesty is an act
of oblivion or forgetfulness.
They are acts of sovereign mercy and grace, flowing
from the appropriate organ of the Government.
There can be no pardon where there is no actual or
imputed guilt. The acceptance of pardon is the confes
sion of guilt, or of the existence of a state of facts from
which a judgment of guilt would follow.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 189
A pardon may be absolute and complete, or it may be
conditional and partial. The whole penalty denounced by
the law against an offender may be forgiven, or so much
of it only as may seem expedient. The power to pardon
is not exhausted by its partial use. A part of the penalty
may be forgiven now, and at a future time another part,
and so on till the whole is forgiven. This power may be
so used as to place the offender upon trial and probation
as to his good faith and purposes.
A pardon may be upon conditions, and those conditions
may be precedent or subsequent.
The conditions, however, appended to a pardon cannot
be immoral, illegal, or inconsistent with the pardon.
If a condition precedent annexed to a pardon be im
moral, as that the person in whose favor it is issued
should never speak the truth ; or illegal, as that he should
commit murder; or inconsistent with the pardon, as that
he should never eat or sleep ; the pardon would never
attach or be of avail. On the other hand, if those con
ditions were subsequent — that is, if it were declared that
the pardon should be void if the party ever spoke the
truth, or if he did not commit murder, or if he should eat
or sleep — the pardon would attach and be valid, and the
condition void and of no effect. If a condition subsequent
is broken, the offender could be tried and punished for the
original offence. The breach of the condition would make
the pardon void. Any conditions, precedent or subse-
quenUmay, therefore, be appended that are not immoral,
illegal, or inconsistent with the pardon. This great and
sovereign power of mercy can never be used as a cover
for immoral or illegal conduct.
As a pardon presupposes that an offence has been com
mitted, and ever acts upon the past, the power to grant
it never can be exerted as an immunity or license for
future misdoing.
A pardon procured by fraud, or for a fraudulent pur
pose, upon the suppression of the truth or the suggestion
of falsehood, is void. It is a deed of mercy, given with
out other fee or reward than the good faith, truth, and
repentance of the culprit. On the other hand, as an act
of grace freely given, when obtained without falsehood,
fraud, and for no fraudulent use, it should be liberally con
strued in favor of the repentant offender.

190 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
A promise to pardon is not a pardon, and may at any
time be withdrawn ; but a pardon may be offered, and the
offer kept open, and thus be continuing, so that the person
to whom it is offered may accept it at a future day. After
the pardon has been accepted it becomes a valid act, and
the person receiving it is entitled to all its benefits.
The principles hereinbefore stated' forbid, however, that
an offer of pardon be construed as a license or indulgence
to commit continuing or future offences, or as giving im
munity from the consequences of such offences.
After the offender shall have received notice of the
offer, or after a reasonable time shall have elapsed within
which he must be presumed to have received notice of
the offer, he cannot continue his ill-doing and then accept
and rely upon the offer of pardon as an indemnity against
what he did before, and also what he did after notice.
Such a construction of the pardoning power would vir
tually convert it into a power to license crime.
The high and necessary power of extending pardon and
amuesty can never be rightfully exercised so as to enable
the President to say to offenders against the law, "I now
offer you a free pardon for the past ; or at any future clay,
when you shall, from baffled hopes, or after being foiled in
dangerous and bloody enterprises, think proper to accept,
I will give you a pardon for the then past."
When men have offended against the law, their appeal
is for mercy, not for justice. In this country and under
this Government, violators of the law have offended against
a law of their own making ; out of their own mouths they
are condemned — convicted by their own judgments — and,
under a law of their own making, they cannot appear be
fore the seat of mercy and arrogantly claim the fulfilment
of a promise of pardon which they have refused and
defied. The excellence of mercy and charity in a national
trouble like ours, ought not to be undervalued. Such
feelings should be fondly cherished and studiously culti
vated. When brought into action they should be gener
ously but wisely indulged. Like all the great, necessary,
and useful powers in nature or in government, harm may
come of their improvident use, and perils which seemed
passed may be renewed, and other and new dangers be
precipitated. By a too extended, thoughtless, or unwise

$ LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 191
kindness, the man or the government may warm into life
an adder that will requite that kindness by a fatal sting
from a poisonous fang.
Keeping in view these obvious and fundamental princi
ples that fix and limit the powers of pardon and amnesty
under the Constitution and' the law, I will proceed to con
sider the questions propounded by you on the proclama
tions dated respectively the 8th day of December, 1863,
and the 26th day of March, 1864, commonly called the
amnesty proclamations.
You ask my opinion, first, as to the proper construction
and effect of those proclamations upon the citizens and
residents of rebel States who have taken the oath of
amnesty prescribed therein.
These two proclamations must be read together and
regarded as one instrument. That must, at least, be so,
from the date of the last proclamation, March 26, 1864.
No doubt many persons did, betwixt the 8th December,
1863, and 26th March, 1864, take the oath who could not
have done so had the original proclamation contained the
exceptions set forth in the second. What the rights are
of those who took the oath in that intermediate space of
time, and who could not have taken it after the 26th
March, 1864, is purely a judicial question. The facts in
such cases are accomplished, and the rights arising out of
those facts have attached and become vested. If not im
proper, it would be, at least, idle in me to express an
opinion on those cases. The judicial department of the
Government must determine the law in those cases, when
they are properly presented before the courts.
For all practical purposes, so far as the executive de
partment of the Governments concerned, both proclama
tions may therefore be regaraed as of date the 26th March,
1864. From that point of view, their proper operation
and effect are now to be considered.
It is plainly stated on the face of the second procla
mation that its objects " were to suppress the insur
rection, and to restore the authority of the United States,
and with reference to these objects alone." In the midst
of a gigantic effort on the part of traitors to dismember
our country and overthrow our Government, the Presi
dent, in the legitimate exercise of his great powers, in
voked the healing influences of charity and forgiveness,
12

192 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
His great heart but responded to the eager desire of the
American people to win back this misguided people to
their allegiance, and to peace and order, by gentleness,
rather than to compel obedience by the dread powers of
war. It must not be supposed that, in giving expression to
and making a law of this noble wish of his heart, and the
heart of the people whom he represented, it was intended
to give license and immunity to crime and treason for the
then future. His expressed object was " to suppress the
insurrection, and to restore the authority of the United
States, and that alone."
His object was made still more manifest when he said
that the persons " shall voluntarily come forward and take
the said oath, with the purpose of restoring peace and
establishing the national authority."
The reluctant, unrepentant, defying persons who, in
their hearts, desired the success of the rebellion and tho
overthrow of the Government, were hot invited to take
the oath ; and if any such should take it, they would but.
add perjury — a God-defying sin — to that of treason ; and
if that fact can be shown to a judicial tribunal, it seems to
me that they should take no benefit from the pardon and
amnesty. A mind and heart unperged of treason were
not invited by the amnesty proclamation to add thereto
the crime of perjury.
It seems to me, then, that all the citizens and residents
of the rebel States, not excepted from the amnesty, who
did, after the issuing of the proclamation, or after notice
thereof, or within a reasonable time within which it must
be supposed they had notice, refrain from further hostili
ties, and take the oath of amnesty voluntarily, with, pur
pose of restoring peace at%l establishing .the national
authority, being at the time free from arrest, confinement,
or duress, and not under bonds, are entitled to all the
benefits and rights so freely and benignly given by a
magnanimous government. When the oath has been taken
without the purpose of restoring peace and establishing
the national authority, though taken promptly, it seems
to me that the amnesty and pardon do not attach. This,
however, is a judicial question, which the courts may
decide contrary to my opinion. I ought not, perhaps, to
express any.

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 193
In giving this construction to the amnesty proclamation
I have been constantly impressed by a paragraph in the
last annual message of the President of the United States.
It reads as follows : " A year ago general pardon and
amnesty, upon specified terms, were offered to all, except
certain designated classes ; and it was, at the same time,
made known that the excepted classes were still within
contemplation of special clemency. During the year
many availed themselves of the general provision, and
many more would, only that the signs of bad faith in some
led to such precautionary measures as rendered the prac
tical process less easy and certain. During the same time,
also, special pardons have been granted to individuals of
the excepted classes, and no voluntary application has
been denied. Thus, practically, the door has been for a
full year open to all, except such as were not ip condition
to make free choice ; that is, such as were in custody or
under constraint. It is still open to all. But the time
may come — probably will come — when public duty shall
demand that it be closed, and that in lieu more rigorous
measures than heretofore shall be'adopted."
A profound respect for the opinions of that great and
good man, Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United
States, induces me to ponder long and well before I can
venture to express an opinion differing even in a shade
from his. But all who had the good fortune to know him
well must feel and know that from his very nature he was
not only tempted, but forced to strain his power of mercy.
His love for mankind was boundless ; his charity all-em
bracing, and his benevolence so sensitive that he was
sometimes as ready to pardon the unrepentant as the sin
cerely penitent offender. Clearly and pointedly does the
above paragraph show to tne world that such was his
nature. He says : " During the whole year that special
pardons have been granted to individuals of the excepted
classes, no voluntary application has been denied." The
door of mercy to his heart was, we know, ever open ; and
yet he closes the paragraph with this significant sentence :
" But the time may come — probably will come — when
public duty shall demand that it be closed, and that in
lieu more rigorous measures than heretofore shall be
adopted." It is probably fair to infer that the late President under-

194 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
stood his proclamation of amnesty as giving pardon to
all, no matter how long they had refused, and whether
they had offended after notice of the offer or not. Whether
his powers extended so far is, to say the least, a doubtful
question. I am clear and decided in my conviction that the Presi
dent had no power to make an open offer of pardon which
could be relied upon as a protection for offences committed
after notice of the offer. This opinion is deduced from
principle, and independently of the language of the pro
clamation. The language of the first proclamation is, however, con
sonant with this opinion. It is addressed to " all persons
who have participated in the existing rebellion," — words
referring to the past.
If I am right in this construction of the proclamation —
and I am satisfied in my own mind that I am — another
proclamation should be issued. Persons should not be
invited to take an oath and to comply with terms under
which they cannot obtain firm legal rights. It is espe
cially due to those who have heretofore and would now
avail themselves, in good faith, of the benefits of pardon
and amnesty, that another proclamation should be -substi
tuted, covering the now past. Persons who have been
constantly engaged in rebellion should know distinctly
what they are to do, when and how they are to do it, to
i, free themselves from punishment, in whole or in part, or
to reinstate themselves as before the rebellion. Such as
have been affected merely by their treasonable associations
should be absolutely forgiven. Appropriate conditions
should be appended to the pardon of many. The grace
and favor of the Government should now be large and
generous, and the operatidff^ind effect of its proffered
mercy should not be left uncertain.
The second question you ask is as to the rights of the
citizens and residents of the rebel States who have not
taken, or offered to take, the oath and comply with the
terms of the proclamation.
Here, again, we meet trouble and uncertainty.
The expressed objects of the proclamation are to sup
press the insurrection and to restore the authority of the
United States. Can any one be permitted to take the oath
and comply with the terms prescribed in the proclamation

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 195
in a State or a community where the civil and military
power of the insurrection has been destroyed and the
rebellion suppressed, and the authority of the United
States is established without let or hindrance ? Or does
the insurrection continue, in legal contemplation, though
not in fact, until the executive department of the Govern
ment shall, by proclamation, declare that it has been sup
pressed ? And would this proclamation . of pardon and
amnesty continue and be open after proclamation that the
rebellion has been suppressed ?
It would seem from the proclamation that the amnesty
was extended to those who were willing to aid in sup
pressing, as well as restoring ; and yet it may and doubt
less will be contended, and with much force and show of
reason, that all who have stood by and clung to the insur
rection till its organization and power, both civil and
military, were gone, have nevertheless a right to take all
the benefits of the amnesty, because they will lend a
reluctant aid in restoring an authority which they hate.
Amnesty is proffered for aid in suppressing and restoring ;
amnesty is demanded for aid in the work of restoration ;
full reward is required for less than half of the service
that is needed.
As a measure to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion,
the late proclamation has done its full and complete office.
Now, one is desired to aid in restoring order and re
organizing society in the rebellious States. Reconstruc
tion is not needed : that word conveys an erroneous idea.
The construction of this Government is as perfect as
human wisdom can make it. The trial to which its
powers and capacities have been subjected in this effort
at revolution and dismemberment, proves with what wis
dom its foundations have been laid. Ours is a task to
preserve principles and powers clearly and well defined,
and that have carried us safely through our past troubles.
Ours is not a duty to reconstruct, or to change. Society
in the rebel States has not been, and is not now, in a
normal condition, nor in harmony with the principles of
our government. That society has rebelled against them,
and made war upon the principles and powers of our
Government. In so doing, it has offended and stands a
convicted culprit. Mercy must be largely extended. Some
of the great leaders and offenders only must be made to

196 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
feel the extreme rigor of the law — not in a spirit of re
venge, but to put the seal of infamy upon their conduct.
But the mercy extended to the great mass of the mis
guided people can and should be so used as to reorganize
society upon a loyal and freedom-loving basis. It is mani
festly for their good and the good of mankind, that this
should be done. The power of pardon and mercy is ade
quate to this end. Such conditions, precedent and sub
sequent, can legally and properly be appended as will root
out the spirit of Rebellion, and bring society in. those
States into perfect accord with the wise and thoroughly
tried principles of our Government.
If this power of pardon is wisely used, peace will be
established upon a sure and permanent basis.
On these grounds, in addition to what has been before
said, I am of the opinion that another and a new offer of
amnesty, adapted to the new condition of things, should
be proclaimed.
1 do not conceive that it is in place just now, even if I
were prepared to do so, which I am not — because not
sufficiently advised of the temper of those so lately in
rebellion — for me to say what should be the terms of the
suggested proclamation.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your
obedient servant, James Speed, Attorney General.
K For the sake of reference and information to all, we
insert the two Amnesty Proclamations of President Lincoln
of December 8th, 1863, and March 26th, 1864, as follows :
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S AMNESTY PROCLAMA
TION OF DECEMBER 8th, 1863.
By the President of the United States of America.
PROCLAMATION. Washington, December 8th, 1863.
Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the United
States, it is provided that the President shall " have power
to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 197
Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State
governments of several States have, for a long time, been
subverted, and many persons have committed and are now
guilty of treason against the United States ; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason,
laws have been enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures
and confiscation of property, and liberation of slaves, all
upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring
that the President was thereby authorized at any time there
after, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have
participated in the existing rebellion, in any State or part
thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at
such times, and on such conditions as he may deem expe
dient for the public welfare ; and
Whereas, the Congressional declaration for limited
and conditional pardon accords with well-established ju
dicial exposition of the pardoning power ; and
Whereas, With reference to said rebellion the Presi
dent of the United States has issued several procla
mations, with provisions in regard to the liberation of
slaves ; and
Whereas, it is now desired by some persons heretofore
engaged in said rebellion, to resume their allegiance to the
United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State govern
ments within and for their respective States ; therefore,
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons t
who have, directly or by implication, participated in
the existing rebellion, except^is hereinafter excepted,
that a full pardon is hereby "anted to them and each ^
of them, with restoration of all rights of property, ex- "
cept as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of
third parties shall have intervened, and upon the con
dition that every such person shall take and subscribe
an oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath
inviolate ; and which oath shall be registered for per
manent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect
following, to wit.:
" I,  , do solemnly swear, in presence of Al
mighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, pro
tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and
the union of the States thereunder ; and that I will, in like
manner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of Con-

198 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
gress passed during the existing rebellion with reference
'to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified,
or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme
Court ; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faith
fully support all proclamations of the President made
during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves,
so long and so far as not modified or declared void by de
cision of the Supreme Court. So help me God."
The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing
provisions, are all who are, or shall have been, civil or
diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate
Government; all who have left judicial stations under the
United States to aid the rebellion ; all who are or shall have
been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate
Government above the rank of colonel in the army, or
of lieutenant in the navy ; all who left seats in the United
States Congress to aid the rebellion ; all who resigned
commissions in the army or navy of the United States,
and afterwards aided the rebellion ; and all who have
engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or
white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully
as prisoners of war, and which' persons may have been
found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen,
or in any other capacity.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that
whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Lou
isiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida,
South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons
not less than one-tenth in.number of the votes cast in such
State at the Presidential erection of the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken
the oath aforesaid and not having since violated it, and
being a qualified voter by the election law of the State
existing immediately before the so-called act of seces
sion, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a State
government which shall be republican, and in nowise
contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the
true government of the State, and the State shall receive
thereunder the benefits of the Constitutional provision
which declares that " The United States shall guarantee to
every State in this Union a republican form of govern
ment, and shall protect each of them against invasion,
and, on application of the legislature, or the executive

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 199
(when the Legislature cannot be convened), against do
mestic violence.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that
any provision which may be adopted by such State govern
ment in relation to the freed people of such State, which
shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, pro
vide for their education, and which may yet be consistent,
as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition
as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be
objected to by the national Executive. And it is sug
gested as not improper, that, in constructing a loyal State
government in any State, the name of the State, the
boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution, and the gen
eral code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained,
subject only to the modifications made necessary by the
conditions heretofore stated, and such others, if any, not
contravening the said conditions, and which may be
deemed expedient by those framing the new State govern
ment. To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say
that this proclamation, so far as it relates to State govern
ments, has no reference to States wherein loyal State
governments have all the while been maintained. And,
for the same reason, it may be proper further to say,
that whether members sent to Congress from any State
shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally rests ex
clusively with the respective Houses, and not to any^
extent with the Executive. And still further, that this
proclamation is intended to present the people of the
States wherein the national authority has been suspended,
and loyal State governments have been subverted, a modo
in and by which the national authority and loyal State
governments, may be re-established within said States,
or in any of them ; and, while the mode presented is the
best the Executive can suggest, with his present impres
sions, it must not be understood that no other possible
mode would be acceptable.
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the
8th day of December, A. D. one thousand eight
r -, hundred and sixty-three, and of the Indepen-
[SEAL.J dence Qf the United States of America the
eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln.
By the President :
WidtiAM H. Seward, Secretary of State.

200 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S AMNESTY PROCLAMA
TION OF MARCH 26th, 1864.
By the President of the United States of America.
PROCLAMATION. Washington, March 26th, 1864.
Whereas, it has become necessary to define the cases
in which insurgent enemies are entitled to the benefits of
the proclamation of the President of the United States,
which was made on the eighth day of December, 1 863, and
the manner in which they shall proceed to avail them
selves of those benefits.
And whereas, the objects of that proclamation were to
suppress the insurrection and to restore the authority of
the United States ;
And whereas, the amnesty therein provided by the Presi
dent was offered with reference to these objects alone ;
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
. United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the
said proclamation does not apply to the cases of persons
who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits
thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed, are in
military, naval, or civil confinement, or custody, or under
bonds, or on parole of the civil, military, or naval authori-
^HHjjes, or agents of the United States as prisoners of war,
or persons detained for offences of any kind, either before
or after conviction ; and that, on the contrary, it does
apply only to persons who, being yet at large and free
from any arrest, confinement, or duress, shall voluntarily
come forward and take the said oath, with the purpose of
restoring peace and establishing the national authority.
Prisoners excluded from the amnesty offered in the said
proclamation may apply to the President for clemency,
like all other offenders, and their applications will receive
duo consideration.
I do further declare and proclaim, that the oath pre
scribed in the aforesaid proclamation of the eighth of De
cember, 1863, may be taken and subscribed before any
commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in the service
of the United States, or any civil or military officer of a
State or Territory, not in insurrection, who, by the laws

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 201
thereof, may be qualified for administering oaths. All
officers who receive such oaths are hereby authorized
to give certificates thereon to the persons respectively by
whom they are made. And such officers are hereby required
to transmit the original records of such oaths at as early
a day as may be convenient to the Department of State,
where they will be deposited, and remain in the archives
of the Government. The Secretary of State will keep a
register thereof, and will, on application in proper cases,
issue certificates of such records in the customary form
of such certificates.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-sixth day
of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand
Tseal 1 ei£nt hundred and sixty-four, and of the In-
L -J dependence of the United States the eighty
eighth. Abraham Lincoln.
By the President :
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
AMNESTY PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT
JOHNSON OF MAY 29th, 1865.
By the President of the United States of America
PROCLAMATION. Washington, May 22th, 186&*<*
Whereas, The President of the United States, on the
8th day of December, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-
three, and on the 26th day of March, A. D. eighteen hun
dred and sixty-four, did, with the object to suppress the
existing rebellion, to induce all persons to return to their
loyalty, and to restore the authority of the United States,
issue proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to cer
tain persons who had directly or by implication partici
pated in the said rebellion ; and whereas many persons
who had so engaged in said rebellion have, since the
issuance of said proclamations, failed or neglected to take
the benefits offered thereby ; and whereas many persons
who have been justly deprived of all claim to amnesty and
pardon thereunder, by reason of their participation directly
or bj[ implication in said rebellion, and continvt&i hostility

202 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
to the Government of the United States since the date of
said proclamations, now desire to apply for and obtain
amnesty and pardon :
To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Govern
ment of the United States may be restored, and that
peace, order, and freedom may be established, I, Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and
declare that I hereby grant to all persons who have,
directly or indirectly, participated in the existing rebellion,
except as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with
restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves,
and except in cases where legal proceedings under the
laws of the United States providing for the confiscation
of property of persons engaged in rebellion, have been in
stituted ; but upon the condition, nevertheless, that every
such person shall take and subscribe the following oath
(or affirmation,) and thenceforward keep and maintain said
oath inviolate ; and which, oath shall be registered for per
manent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect
following, to wit :
" I,  , do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) in pres
ence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully
support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States and the Union of the States thereunder, and that
I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all
laws and proclamations which have been made during the
fesi sting rebellion with refereuce. to the emancipation of
srawes. So help me God."
The following classes of. persons are excepted from the
benefits of this proclamation : 1st, All who are or shall
have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers or other
wise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Con
federate Government; 2d, all who left judicial stations
under the United States to aid the rebellion ; 3d, all who
shall have been military or naval officers of said pre
tended Confederate Government above the rank of colonel
in the army, or lieutenant in the navy ; 4th, all who left
seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebel
lion ; 5th, all who resigned or tendered resignations of their
commissions in the army or navy of the United States, to
evade duty in resisting the rebellion ; 6th, all who have en
gaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 203
prisoners of war persons found in the United States ser
vice as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities ;
7th, all persons who have been or are absentees from the
United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion ; 8th,
all military and naval officers in the rebel service, who
were educated by the Government in the Military Acad
emy at West Point or the United States Naval Academy ;
9th, all persons who held the pretended offices of Gov
ernors of States in insurrection against the United States ;
10th, all persons who left their homes within the juris
diction and protection of the United States, and passed
beyond the Federal military lines into the so-called Con
federate States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion ;
11th, all persons who have been engaged in the destruc
tion of the commerce of the United States upon the high
seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United
States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the
commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers
that separate the British provinces from the United States ;
12th, all persons who at the time when they seek to ob
tain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein pre
scribed are in military, naval, or civil confinement, or
custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or naval
authorities, or agents of the United States as prisoners of
war, or persons detained for offences of any kind, either
before or after conviction; 13th, all persons who have
voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the estijf*
mated value of whose taxable property is over twenty
thousand dollars ; 14th, all persons who have taken the
oath of amnesty as prescribed in the President's proclama
tion of December 8th, A. D. 1863, or an oath of allegiance
to the Government of the United States since the date of
said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept
and maintained the same inviolate.
Provided, That special application may be made to the
President for pardon by any person belonging to the ex
cepted classes ; and such clemency will be liberally ex
tended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and
the peace and dignity of the United States.
The Secretary of State will establish rules and regula
tions for administering and recording the said amnesty
oath, so as to ensure its benefit to the people^nd guard
the Government against fraud.

e^nd

204 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand,
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-ninth
day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou-
(- i sand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the
¦¦ '-¦ Independence of the United States the eighty-
ninth. Andrew Johnson.
By the President :
William H. Seward, Secretary of State

REORGANIZATION PROCLAMATION OF PRESt
IDENT JOHNSON.
THE REORGANIZATION OF NORTH CAROLINA.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION. Washington, May 29th, 1865.
Whereas, the 4th Section of the 4th article of the Con
stitution of the United States declares that the United
States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a re
publican form of government, and shall protect each of
them against invasion and domestic violence ; and whereas
the President of the United States is, by the Constitu
tion, made Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy,
as well as Chief Civil Executive Officer of the United
"Spates, and is bound by solemn oath faithfully to execute
the office of President of the United States, and to take
care that the'Jaws be faithfully executed ; and whereas the
rebellion, which has been waged by a portion of the peo
ple of the United States against the properly constituted
authorities of the Government thereof, in the most violent
and revolting form, but whose organized and armed forces
have now been almost entirely overcome, has, in its revo
lutionary progress, deprived the people of the State of
North Carolina of all civil government ; and whereas it
becomes necessary and proper to carry out and enforce
the obligations of the United States to the people of North
Carolina, in securing them in the enjoyment of a repub
lican form of government :
Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn
duties imHKjed upon me by the Constitution of the United

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 205
States, and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people
of said State to organize a State government, whereby
justice may be established, domestic tranquillity ensured,
and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, lib
erty and property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States, do hereby appoint Wm. W.
Holden, Provisional Governor of the State of North Car
olina, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable
period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be
necessary and proper for convening a Convention, com
posed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the
people of said State who are loyal to the United States,
and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending
the constitution thereof ; and with authority to exercise,
within the limits of said State, all the powers necessary
and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of
North Carolina to restore said State to its constitutional
relations to the Federal Government, and to present such
a republican form of State government as will entitle the
State to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and
its people to protection by the United States against in
vasion, insurrection, and domestic violence : Provided that,
in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing
delegates to any State Convention as aforesaid, no person
shall be qualified as an elector, or shall be eligible as a
member of such Convention, unless he shall have pre
viously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set^1
forth in the President's proclamation of May 29th, A. D.
1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the Con
stitution and laws of the State of North Carolina in force
immediately before the 20th day of May, A. D. 1861, the
date of the so-called ordinance of secession ; and the said
Convention, when convened, or the Legislature that may
be 'thereafter assembled, will prescribe the qualification
of Electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office
under the constitution and laws of the State, a power the
people of the several States composing the Federal Union
have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Govern
ment to the present time.
And I do hereby direct —
First. That the Military Commander of the Department,
and all officers and person's in the military and naval service,

206 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
aid and assist the said Provisional Governor in carrying into
effect this proclamation, and they are enjoined to abstain
from, in any way, hindering, impeding, or discouraging the
loyal people from the organization of a State government,
as herein authorized.
Second. That the Secretary of State proceed to put in
force all laws of the United States, the administration
whereof belongs to the State Department, applicable to
the geographical limits aforesaid.
Third. That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed to
nominate, for appointment, assessors of taxes and collectors
of customs and internal revenue, and such other officers of
the Treasury Department as are authorized by law, and
put in execution the revenue laws of the United States
within the geographical limits aforesaid. In making ap
pointments, the preference shall be given to qualified loyal
persons residing within the districts where their respective
duties are to be performed. But if suitable residents of the
districts shall not be found, then persons residing in other
States or districts shall be appointed.
Fourth. That the Postmaster General proceed to es
tablish post-offices and post-routes, and put into execution
the postal laws of the United States within the said State,
giving to loyal residents the preference of appointment ;
but if suitable residents are not found, then to appoint
agents, etc., from other Stages.
Fifth. That the District Judge for the Judicial District
"in which North Carolina is inchided, proceed to hold courts
within said State, in accordance with the provisions
of the act of Congress. The Attorney General will in
struct the proper officers to libel and bring to judgment,
confiscation, and sale, property subject to confiscation, and
enforce the administration of justice within said State, in
all matters within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the
Federal courts.
Sixth. That the Secretary of the Navy take possession
of all public property belonging to the Navy Department
within said geographical limits, and put in operation
all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having ap
plication to the said State.
Seventh. That the Secretary of the Interior put in force
the laws relating to the Interior Department applicable
to the geographical limits aforesaid

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 207
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this twenty-ninth
day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou-
£l. S.J sand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the
Independence of the United States the eighty-
ninth. , Andrew Johnson.
By the President :
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
It is pleasant to turn from the consideration of grave
matters of state to the relaxations of social life, and we
therefore present, with gratification, the subjoined report
of an address delivered by Presidept Johnson at a Sunday-
school celebration in Washington city.
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON TO THE
SABBATH-SCHOOL CHILDREN OF WASHING
TON CITY.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Washington City
Sunday-school Union was celebrated on Monday, May 29,
1865, There were over five thousand children, and seven
hundred teachers and Sabbath-school officers in attendance.
The day was bright and beautiful, and as the children
assembled at the points designated, each school carrying
flags and banners, upon which were inscribed the name of
the school, texts of Scripture, with appropriate mottoes
and devices, and all neatly and tastefully attired; they
presented scenes which one could not gaze upon but with
pleasure. It is a time always looked forward to with
pleasure by the little folks. Not only the children, but
parents, teachers, pastors, and, indeed, all friends of
Sabbath-schools, feel a pleasure in participating in these
yearly celebrations.
The first and second divisions assembled at an early
hour in Lafayette Square, whence they marched past the
residence of President Johnson, corner of Fifteenth and H
13

208 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
streets. The President appeared at the door of his resi
dence, and was greeted by the children as they passed.
While marching by, they sang a patriotic hymn, " Victory
at last." The President was frequently cheered, and was the
recipient of a large number of bouquets, which were thrown
into his hat until it was so full that a basket was brought
forth to contain the floral gifts. After the children had
marched past the residence of the President, they marched
down Fifteenth street, and thence to the White House,
where, after they had assembled, the President took position
in front of the outside railing, and delivered an address to
those assembled. Just before the President commenced
to speak, a number, of little girls were placed upon the
stand beside and all around him, and he seemed much
pleased to be surrounded by the children.
The President said, if he understood the design of the
exhibition, it was intended, in part, to show how many
children are collected together in good schools. This was
their annual celebration, and they had come by what was
generally known as the Executive Mansion, in order, he
supposed, to manifest their regard for the Chief Executive
officer of the nation. And this respect was offered now
to one who knew well how to appreciate the condition of
poor or obscure children. He had always opposed the
idea of treating persons.beyond their due, and what they
justly merited, and he would lay that down as a general
proposition in his address to the little boys and girls who
had done him the honor to call upon him. He was
opposed to deifying or canonizing any thing that is mortal ;
but there should always be a just and proper respect and
appreciation of true merit, whether it belongs to the
Christian, the Statesman, or the Philanthropist. This
was the foundation of his creed, if he had any : that all
things should be done with the approval of Him who con
trols the events and destinies of the world. To these
children — he might say his little sons and daughters — he
would say he desired them to appreciate the difference
between merit and demerit, and he would address his re
marks to those who were in better, as well as to those
who were in humbler circumstances. To those who had

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 209
superior advantages, he would say, do not become foolish
and silly because your parents can afford to dress you a
little better, or to educate you better. They should feel
and know that their parents and teachers cannot of them
selves educate them. No one ever would be educated
unless he educated himself. Whether you have superior
advantages or not, you must educate yourselves. Parents,
teachers, and advantages given, are simply the means
placed in your hands, from which you must mould and
shape your own course through life. But never feel that
you are superior to your more humble companions and
comrades. Instead of trying to humble them and make
their condition lower, your pride should be to elevate
them to the standard you occupy. Sometimes one may
come in rags, and begrimed with dirt ; but beneath the
rags and the dirt a jewel may be found as bright as any
yet discovered, and the humble individual may develop
that which would prove as bright an adornment as the
jewels of any crowned head. All should understand
this, and that even those who have no means can at least
make an effort to be good and great. In this matter he
(the speaker) was an agrarian — such an agrarian as would
elevate and estimate all in proportion to their virtue and
merit. Intrinsic merit should be the base upon which all
should stand. He would pull none down, but would ele
vate all — level upwards, not level downwards. His
notion had always been that the great mass of the American
people could be elevated. If all will be elevated, we may '
become the greatest and most exalted nation on the earth.
My little daughters and sons, give me your attention
while I say, honestly and truly, that if I could inform you
of something, and put that into immediate effect, which
would tend to the elevation of you all, I would be prouder
of it than to be Presiuent forty times. [Applause.] Here
is the Executive Mansion, and yonder is the Capitol of a
great nation, and you look to those who make and execute
the laws as persons sublime and grand. But just think
for a moment. You, are the crop behind us. All those
buildings, and all of this Government, will one day pass
under your control, and become your property, and you
will have to put in force and control the principles of gov*
ernment, of religion, and humanity. And let all boys
consider — every mother's son of them — [laughter] — that

210 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
each one is born a candidate for the Presidency. [Laughter
and applause.] Why not, then, commence at once to ed
ucate yourselves for the Presidency ? And he would say
to the little girls, that while they could not be Presidents,
they are born candidates for the wives of Presidents.
[Laughter.] While each little boy may feel he is a can
didate for the Presidency, each little girl may feel she is
a candidate for a President's wife ; and each should com
mence at once to qualify himself and herself morally, in
tellectually, and socially for such high positions. While
upon this subject he would say that teachers occupy most
responsible positions. It is the teacher who fashions, to
a great degree, the mind of the child, and, consequently,
the great importance of having good teachers, especially
for the very young, in order to instil into their minds the
foundation of a good education.
With regard to religion, the speaker said the time had
come when the first inquiry should be whether pne is a
good man or a good woman. If they are good it matters
little to what sect or church they belong. There can be
no greatness without goodness ; and all should remember
with Pope, that
" Honor and fame from no condition rise ;
Act well your part — there all the honor lies."
Under institutions such as ours, he who performs his
part well, performs' all his obligations, will sooner or later
be properly estimated and rewarded by his friends, his
neighbors, and the nation.
In looking upon the children, and upon the grown per
sons, too, the speaker said he could not but think of the
heavy task and responsibility devolving upon those who_
rear children, and especially upon the mothers. The
speaker then eloquently referred to 'the ancient Roman
mothers, who ever took pride in infusing proper ideas
into the minds of those who afterwards became distin
guished in life. So, with them, each mother of to-day
should feel that her children are her greatest jewels.
They should be reared with a view to future usefulness ;
for much depends upon how they are educated in youth.
The daughters should be raised to fit them for the high
and exalted duties of wives and mothers. And much in
this world depends upon woman. Her mind properly

LIFE AND SERVICES OF' ANDREW JOHNSON. 211
prepared and cultivated, she has an almost Omnipotent
power. Drop, then, into the minds of your daughters
germs that will expand and grow, and fit them to occupy
any position to which they may be called in life.
When we look at these boys and girls — at the banners
which they carry — at the flags, with stripes and stars upon
them, which they bear aloft; when we look upon the
brave men and' gallant officers around us, and remember
¦what they have been contending for — we feel that we can
best preserve this Government if we rear up our people
properly, and make this, as we can, the most intelligent
portion of God's habitable globe. The stars and stripes
is not an unmeaning symbol when we look back through
the din of battle and see what it has cost to perpetuate
this Government ; and should we not, then, use every
effort to bring up properly these children, whose cause has
been sustained by strong arms on the field of battle ? It
was but the other day, when the stern voices of our com
manders were heard upon the field of battle, and when
men were bravely rushing to death, that the Goddess of
Liberty made a glorious fight, and in thunder tones pro
claimed victory. Victory has perched upon our standard,
and the speaker said he trusted the children's little song
of victory would be heard far up above ; and that the
angels, standing upon the battlements of heaven, would
take up the tune and make a response.
Then, my little sons and little daughters, let me say to
you, educate yourselves ; be industrious and persevering ;"
store your minds with all that is good; put all things
worthy of preservation in your brain, and your intellect
will expand and grow. And, in conclusion, I say again,
may your little song of victory be heard in heaven. God
bless you I
The President then attempted to enter the Presidential
Mansion, but was intercepted in the carriage way by the
.odies and gentlemen who had collected there, and who
insisted upon shaking him by the hand. The President,
very good-naturedly, complied, and held a sort of im
promptu levee, shaking hands with all who passed by him.
He seemed to be especially fervent in his greetings to the
many soldiers who availed themselves of the opportunity

212 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
of taking him by the hand. The President's remarks
pleased every one, great and small, and he was frequently
interrupted by cheers.
In the meantime the band struck up a patriotic air, and
the children, having been re-formed in line, they proceeded
to their respective churches to fulfil the programme of
exercises for the rest of the day.
CHARACTER AND POLICY OF ANDREW
JOHNSON.
The compiler of a work like the present is too nea,r the
period of the scene of action to form a perfectly correct
view of the motives which govern the actions of the
statesman whose life he has endeavored to set before the
reader. Passion and prejudice intervene to cloud the
vision and warp the judgment. Actions have been set
down incorrectly, partly because those who have reported
them are not fully advised as to their hidden causes, and
partly because the turbid activity of the times colors the
feelings of those who view the grand operations in which
cotemporary statesmen are engaged. Still, we think a
reasonably fair estimate may be made at this date of the
character and general- policy of President Johnson. We
can all see that he has gratified the nation, beyond expres
sion, by the wisdom, the prudence, the reticence and the
true conservatism of his course since the 14th of April,
186J>. Though one of the most fiery, determined men
who ever led a faction or dominated over a party, he has
not performed one single act which his .worst enemy can
say was unworthy of his exalted position. Though exulting
in his origin as a child of the people as distinguished from
the "aristocracy," he yet holds his sway with a grand and
courteous dignity, and a wise moderation from which
kings of ancient race might learn a lesson. Though per
secuted by the rebel leaders as scarcely a man in America

LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 213
has been, he has nobly checked personal feelings of re
venge and acted as if he were lifted above human passion
and human infirmity. The trial of the alleged assassins
of Abraham Lincoln has not called from him one fierce
word or one act savoring of revenge. The capture of
Jefferson Davis has been treated by hi.m with dignity, and
the fate of that arch-rebel will not be decided by Andrew
Johnson as if he were an autocrat and Davis a revolted
subject. The instant the current events allowed it, Presi
dent Johnson showed by official acts that he did not desire
to desolate the South any further, but that his earnest
desire was that prosperity should return to the trampled
fields of the late rebellious States, and that by disbanding
our great armies he would prove his reliance on the patri
otism and common sense of his fellow-citizens. That
relianec has never failed any President, from Washington
to Lincoln, and it will not fail President Johnson in the
critical position in which he has been placed. JETis charac
ter has been attacked, not only by the enemies! of the
Government, but by men and journalists who" ha^e*; pro
fessed to stand by the Government, and whose loyalty
cannot be brought in question. He has been considered
weak, facile, and unworthy of his splendid position. Lef
the voice of his former foreign detractors answer that
slur. In the course of an elaborate article on Mr. John
son, the London Spectator says : *
"A very original, very determined, it may be very dan
gerous, but unquestionably very powerful man, has suc
ceeded Abraham Lincoln. The public in this country has
been deceived as much by the formal utterance of Mr.
Johnson when accepting the Presidency as by the accident
which threw such ridicule over his inauguration in the
subordinate office. This is no feeble ruler, sure to be a
tool in the hands of his secretaries or the parties around
him, any more than it is a drunken rough elevated by an

214 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON.
accident and incapable of an idea, but a strong, self-reliant
man, accustomed to rule, and to rule in a revolution, with
a policy as distinct as that of the oldest European states
men, and a will which, be that policy wise or rash, will
assuredly make resistance to it a most dangerous task.
There is no single point in politics which it is so impor
tant for an Englishman to understand as the character of
the American President ; they cannot afford a second
mistake such as that committed about Mr. Lincoln, and
we have passed hours in studying the speeches and acts
of Mr. Johnson as Governor of Tennessee. The more we
have read the more strongly has the conclusion grown on
us that the new American President is one of the most
individual men on the continent — a ruler who, whatever
else he may do or leave undone, will most assuredly rule ;
who will borrow knowledge, but accept advice only when
it harmonizes with his own preconceived convictions."
Such an estimate of the character of President Johnson,
coming from a foreign source, is of great value, and we
can but endorse its main features. He will not be dan
gerous except when the honor of the country is con
cerned, and he will prove his bold self-reliance and his
strong individuality on every occasion when those quali
ties can be exercised. In short, Andrew Johnson is
President of the United States, and by the Constitution,
Commajider-in-Chief of its Army and Navy, and in simple
verity he will prove that he is entitled to wear the honors
that have fallen to his lot by the mysterious workings of
Providence and the choice of his fellow-citizens.

THE END.

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ALEXANDER DUMAS' WORKS.

Count of Monte Cristo,  1 50
The Iron Mask,  1 00
Louise La Valliere,  1 00
Memoirs of a Marquis,  1 00
Diana of Meridor,  •  1 00
The Three Guardsmen,  75
Twonty Years After,  75
Bragelonne,  75

Memoirs of a Physician,  1 00
Queen's Necklace,  1 00
Six Years Later,  1 00
Countess of Charney,  1 00
Andree de Taverney,  1 09
The Chevalier,  1 00
Forty-five Guardsmen,  75
The Iron Hand,  75

The above are each in paper oover. A finer edition of each of the
above are also published, bound in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.
The Conscript,  1 50 | Camille,  1 50
Above are each in one volume, pnper cover. Each book is also pub
lished in one volume, cloth. Price $2.00 each.

Edmond Dantes, 
George, 
Felina de Chambure, 
The Horrors of Paris,...,
Annotte, Lady of Pearls,
The Fallen Angel, 

Sketches in France,  50
Isabel of Bavaria,  75
Mohicans of Paris,  50
Man with Five Wives,  75
Twin Lieutenants,  75

4 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS.

MRS. SOUTHWORTH'S WORKS.

The Bridal Eve,  1 50
The Fatal Marriage,  1 50
Love's Labor Won,  1 50
Deserted Wife,  ,  1 50
The Gipsy's Prophecy,  1 50
The Mother-in-Law,  1 50
Haunted Homestead,  1 50
The Lost Heiress,  1 50
Lady of the Isle,  1 50
The Two Sisters,  1 50
The Three Beauties,  1 50
Vivia; Secret Power,  1 50

5050
50 50

Wile's Victory,  1
Retribution,  1
India. Pearl of Pearl River,. 1
Curse of Clifton,  1
Discarded Daughter,  1 50
The Initials,  1 50
The Jealous Husband  1 50
Self-Sacrifice,  1 50
Belle ,of Washington,  1 50
Kate Aylesford,  1 50
Courtship and Matrimony,  1 50
Family Pride,  ,  1 50
Family Secrets,....  1 50
Each book is also

The Missing Bride,  1 50
The above are each in one volume, paper cover,
published in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.
Hickory Hall,  50 | Broken Engagement,  25

CAROLINE LEE HENTZ'S WORKS.

Love after Marriage,  1 50
Eoline,  1 50
Forsaken Daughter,  1 50
The Banished Son,  1 50
Helen and Arthur,  1 50
Planter's Daughter,  1 50
Beautiful Widow,  1 50
Brother's Secret,  1 50
Each book is also

The Planter's Northern Bride,.. 1 50
Linda,  ^  1 50
Robert Graham,  1 50
Courtship and Marriage,  1 50
Ernest Linwood,  1 50
Rena; or, the Snow-bird,  1 50
Marcus Warland  1 50
The Lost Daughter,  1 50
The above are each in one volume, paper cover.
published in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.
FREDRIKA BREMER'S WORKS.
Father and Daughter,  1 50 I The Neighbors,  1 50
The Four Sisters,  1 50 I The Home,  1 50
The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each one is also pub
lished in one volume cloth, price $2.00 each.
Life in the Old World; or, Two Years in Switzerland and Italy, by Miss
Bremer, in two volumes, cloth, price,  $4.00
MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS.
Fashion and Famine,  1 50
MaryDerwent,  1 60
The Old Homestead,  1 50
The Heiress,  1 50
Each book is also

Silent Struggles; an entire new
book, just ready  1 50
The Wife's Secret,  1 50
The Rejected Wife,  1 50
The above are each in one volume, paper cover.
published in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.
CATHERINE SINCLAIR'S, AND OTHER AUTHORS.

Flirtations in Fashionable Life, 1 50
The Rival Belles,  _,  1 50
The Lost Love,  '.  1 50
The Woman in Black,  1 50
The Pride of Life,  1 50
The above are each in^ one volume, paper cover.
published in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.

The Devoted Bride,  1 50
Love and Duty,  1 50
Bohemians in London,  1 50
High Life in Washington,  1 50
The Refugee,  1 50
Each book is also

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 5
CHARLES LEVER'S WORKS.

Charles O'Malley,  75
Harry Lorrequer,  75
Jack Hinton,  75
Tom Burke of Ours,  75
Knight Of Gwynne,  75

Arthur O'Leary,  75
Con Cregan,  75
Davenport Dunn,  75
Horace Templeton,  ^.. 75
Kate O'D/jnoghue,  75

We. also publish a Military Edition of Lever's Novels, with Illuminated
covers in oolorsy price 75 cents eaoh.
A finer edition of the above are also published, eao_ one complete in
one volume, cloth, price $2.00 a volume.
Ten Thousand a Year, paper,... 1 50 I The Diary of a Medical Stu-
Ten Thousand a Year, oloth,... 2 00 1 dent,  75
DOESTICKS' WORKS.
Doesticks' Letters,  1 50 I The Elephant ciub  1 50
Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah,  1 50 I Witches of New York,  1 50
Above are each in paper cover, or eaoh one in cloth for $2.00 each.
WAR NOVELS. BY HENRY MORFORD.
The Coward,  1 50 I Days of Shoddy,  1 50
Shoulder-Straps,  1 50 I ..
Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each.
BEST COOK BOOKS PUBLISHED.
Petersons' NewCook Book, never before issued,..,  2 00
Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book,  2 00
Widdifield's New Cook Book,  :  2 00
Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million,  2 00
Miss Leslie's New Receipts for Cooking,  2 00
Mrs. Halo's New Cook Book,  2 00
Franoatelli's Celebrated Cook Book. The Modern Cook, with 62
illustrations, 600 large octavo pages,  5 00
GREEN'S WORKS ON GAMBLING.
Gambling Exposed,  1 50 | The Reformed Gambler  1 50
The Gambler's Life  1 50 I Secret Band of Brothers,  1 50
Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each.
MRS. HENRY WOOD'S BOOKS.
Lord Oakburn's Daughters,.... 1 50 I The Castle's Heir,  1 50
OswaldCray,  1 50 Shadow of Ashlydyat,  1 50
Squire Trevlyn's Heir,  1 50 I Verner's Pride,  1 50
Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each.
The Runaway Match,  50 A Life's Secret,  50
¦TheMystery  75 Better for Worse,  75
The Lost Bank Note,  75
Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each.
The Channings,  1 00 I Aurora Floyd,  75
Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 each.
The Haunted Tower  50 I The Lawyer's Secret,  • 25
Foggy Night at Offord,  25 ! William Allair,  25

6 f . B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS.

GUSTAVE AIMARDS' WORKS.

The Prairie Flower,  75
The Indian Scout,  „ 75
The Trail Hunter,...,....".  75
'The Indian Chief,  '.... 75
The Red Track,  V.  75
MRS. DANIELS'
Marrying for Money,  75
Meta's Folly ; or, Reaping the
Whirlwind  75

Pirates of the Prairies,.... ...... 75
Trapper's Daughter,..,?.,...:... 75
The Tiger Slayer,  75
The Gold Seekers,  75
The Smuggler Chief,  ;.. 75
GREAT BOOKS,
Kate Walsingham,  50
The Poor Cousin,  50

WILKIE COLLINS' BEST WORKS.
The Crossed Path,  1 50 | The Dead Secret,  1 50
The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each one Is also pub
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.

Hide and Seek,  75
After Dark,  75
The Dead Secret,  75

The Stolen Mask,  25
The Yellow Mask,  25
Sister R<3eo,  ;v- 25

50

Rival Beauties......  75
Romance of the Harem,  50

Sights A-Foot; or, Travels Beyond Railways,.,
MISS PARDOE'S WORKS.
The Jealous Wife,  50
Confessions of a Pretty Woman, 50
The Wife's Trials,  75
The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $3.00.
The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or cloth, $2.00.
A Life's Struggle. By Miss Pardoe. one volume, cloth, $2.00.
G. P. R. JAMES'S BOOKS.,
Lord Montague'* Page,  1 50 | The Cavalier,  1 50
The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each book is also pub'
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each.
The Man in Black,  75 I Arrah Neil,  75
Mary of Burgundy,  75 I Eva St. Clair,  50

GEORGE SAND'S WORKS.

Consuelo,  75
Countess of Rudolstadt  75
First and True Love,  75
The Corsair,  50 '

Indiana, two volumes, paper,. 1
or in one volume, cloth,  2
Consuelo and Rudolstadt, both
in one volume, cloth,  2

00

'GOOD BOOKS FOR EVERYBODY.

The Refugee  I 50
Life and Adventures of Don
Quixotte,  1 00
Adventures in Africa  1 00
Adventuresof Peregrine Pickle 1 00
Adventures of Tom Jones  1 00
Afternoon of Unmarried Life,.. 1 50

Lola Montez' Life,  1 50
CurrerLyle,  1 50
Wild Southern SceDes,  1 50
Humors of Falconbridge,  1 50
Secession, Coercion, and Civil
War  1 50
Life and Beauties Fanny Fern, 1 50

Lady Maud; or, the Wonder .pf Kingswood Ohase  1 50
Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each.

'jS@°«ET UP YOUR CLUBS FOB 1865!
NEW AND SPLENDID PHEMIUMS!
Notwithstanding, the enormously increased, cost of Paper, and the consequent rise in
•the price of Other Magazines '"Peterson's" will still be furnished to Single Subscribers at
Two Dollars A Yeah, Cash in Advance. Arrangements have been'made, by which, in
J865, it will be better than ever. No Magazine of similar merit will approach it in cheap
ness, hence it will be emphatically,
THE MAGAZINE FOB, THE TIMES!
The stories in "Peterson" are conceded to be the best published anywhere. Mrs* Ann
S. Stephens, Ella Hodman, Mrs. Denison, Prank Lee Benedict, the author of "Susy L's
Diary," T. S. Arthur, E. L. Chandler Moulton, Leslie Walter, Virginia'-F. Townsend,
Rosalie Grey, Clara Augusta, and the author of "The Second Life," besides all the most
popular, denial e writers of America, are regular contributors. In addition to the usual
number of shorter stories, there will be given in 1865, Four Original Copy
righted Wove let es.
In its illustrations also, "Peterson" is unrivalled. The Publisher challenges a com
parison between its SUPERB MEZZOTINTS AND OTHER STEEL ENGRAVINGS and
those in other Magazines, and one at leant is given in every number.
COLORED FASHION PLATES M ADVMGE*
It is the ONLY MAGAZINE whose Fashion Plates can be relied on.
Each number contains a Fashion Plate, engraved on steel, and colored — from Fashions
later" than any other Magazine gives ; also a dozen or more New Styles, engraved on
wood; also, a Pattern, from whicb a Dress, Mantilla, or Child's Costume can be cut,
without the aid of a rtiantua-niaker"— so that each, number, in this way, will SAVE A
Y.EAR'S SUBSCRIPTION. The Paris, London, Philadelphia and New York faBhions
ire described, at length, each month, patterns of Caps, Bonnets, Head Dresses, Ac. given.
COLORED PATTERNS IN EMBROIDERY, CROCHET, &c. The Work-Table de
partment of this Magazine IS WHOLLY UNRIVALLED. Every number contains a dozen
or more patterns in every variety of Fancy-work :' Crochet, Embroidery, Knitting, Bead-
work,' Shell-work, Hair-work, Ac, Ac, Ac. Every month, a SUPERB COLORED PAT
TERN FOR SLIPPER, PURSE or CHAIR SEAT, Ac., is given— each of which, at a
retail store, would cost Fifty cents. No other Magazine gives these Colored Patterns.
JLN ENTIRELY NEW COOK-BOOK.
The original Household receipts of " Peterson" are quite famous."1 l?or 1865, receipts
foreverykindof dish.will be given. EVERY ONE OF THESE RECEIPTS HAS BEEN
TESTED. The whole, at the end of the year, will make a COOK-BOOK in itself.
This alone will be worth the price of " Peterson." Other receipts for the Toilette, Sick
room, Ac, Ac, will be given. NEW AND FASHIONABLE MUSIC will appear in every
number. Also, Hints on all matters interesting to Ladies.
TERMS— ALWAYS IN ADVANCE.
To single subscribers, the price of "Peterson" will remain as we have said, TWO DOL
LARS A YEAR. But in order that friends and neighbors may save money, by clubbing
together, the following tempting terms are offered, viz :
Two Copies for one year, $3.00 I Eight Copies for one year, - $12.00 j
Four Copies for one year, $6.00 | Fourteen Copies for one year, - $i!u.0u
PREMIUMS FOR CLUBS OF EIGHT OR FOURTEEN.— To any person getting
up a club of Eight and remitting Twelve Dollars — or a club of Fuurteen and remitting
Twenty Dollars, we will send, as a Premium, our new copy -light steel-engraving, for
¦framing-size *7 inches by 20— "WASHINGTON PARTING FROM HIS GENERALS,"
after a drawing by F. O. Darley. This is the most superb Premium ever offered. Or,
if preferred, we will send for the Premium! a LADY'S ALBUM, illustrated, and hand
somely bound and gilt. Or if preferred to either of these, we will send, as a Premium,
an extra copy nf the Magazine for 18*5. For clubu of two or four, no premiums are given,
Always say, in remitting for a club of eight, or a club of fourteen, which of tha Pre
miums is preferred. Address, post-paid, CHAHLES J. PETERSON,
IsTo. 306 Chestnut St., Phila.
-8®- All Postmasters constituted Agents; but any person may get up a club. Speci
mens sent gratuitously if written for.

LIVES OF PRESIDENTS AND GENERALS.

ILLUSTRATED LIFE, SERVICES, MARTYRDOM, AND FUNE-
RAL OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Sixteenth President of the United States.
With a full history of his Life; Assassination; Death, and Funeral. His career as a
Lawyerand Politician; his services in Congress; with his Speeches, Proclamations,
Acts, and services as President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy, from the time of his first Inauguration as President of the United
States until- the night of Ms assassination. > Only new and complete edition, with a full
history of the assassination of the President, by distinguished eye-witnesses of it. Mr.
Lincoln's Death-bed scenes, and a full account of the Funeral Ceremonies from the time
his remains were placed in the East Room at the White House, until they were finally
consigned to their last resting place, in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, Illinois,
with Addresses and Sermons by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax ; Hon. George Bancroft ;
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher; General Walbridge; Bishop Simpson, etc., with a full
account of the escape, pursuit, apprehension, and death of theassassln, Booth. With a
Portrait of President Lincoln, and other Illustrative Engravings of' the scene of the
murder, etc. Price Seventy-five cents in paper, or One Dollar in cloth. Agents sup
plied with the paper cover edition at Five Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for Twenty Dol
lars, or $37.50 a hundred ; or with the cloth edition, at Eight Dollars a dozen, fifty
copies for Thirty Dollars, or Sixty Dollars a hundred.
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHN
SON, Seventeenth President of the United States. With a full History of his Life ; v>
his career as a Tailor Boy, Alderman, Mayor, Legislator, State Senator, Governor of Ten
nessee, and his services in Congress, with his Speeches on the Rebellion, and, the part
taken by him from the first outbreak of the War, with his Speeches, Proclamations,
Acts and services since becoming President of the United States. With his Portrait.
Complete in one large volume. Price 75 cents in paper, or One Dollar in cloth. Agents
supplied with the paper cover edition at Five Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for $20.00, or
$37.50 a hundred ; or with the cloth edition at Eight Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for
Thirty Dollars, or Sixty Dollars a hundred.
ILLUSTRATED LIFE, CAMPAIGNS, AND SERVICES OF LIEU
TENANT-GENERAL GRANT; The hero of "Fort Donelson," "Vicks-
burg," "Chattanooga," "Petersburg," and "Richmond," also Captor of "General
Lee's"" and "General Johnston's" entire armies. With a full History of his Life, Cam
paigns and Battles, aud his Orders, Reports, and Correspondence with the War Depart
ment and the President in relation to them, from the time he first took the field in this
war until the present time. Complete in one large volume. With a portrait of General
Grant, and other Illustrative engravings of the Brattles of Fort Donelson ; General Lee's
surrender to General Grant; the Union army entering Richmond, etc. Price,75 cents -
in paper, or One Dollar in cloth. Agents supplied with the paper cover edition at Five
Dollars a dozen, or fifty copies for $20.00 ; or $37.50 a hundred ; or with the cloth edi
tion at Eight Dollars a- dozen, fifty copies, for Thirty Dollars, or Sixty Dollars a hundred.
THE LIFE, CAMPAIGNS, REPORTS, BATTLES, AND PUBLIC
SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN,
the HERO OF WESTERN VIRGINIA ! SOUTH MOUNTAIN! and ANTIETAM. With hi»
Portrait. In one large volume of 200 pages. Price fifty cents in paper, or seventy-flve
cents in cloth. Agents supplied with the Fifty cent edition at $3.50 a dozen, or $25.00 a
hundred ; or with the cloth edition at Six Dollars a dozen, or Forty-five Dollars a hundred
THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, the Hero of " New Orleans." With his Portrait.
Price 25 cents. Agents supplied at $1.50 a dozen, or Ten Dollars a hundred.
THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G.
MEA.DE, the Hero of " Gettysburg," and Commander of the Army of- the Potomac.
With his Portrait. Price 25 cents. Agents supplied at $1.60 a dozen, or $10.00 a hundred.
THE LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP IUGHES, first Archbishop of New Tork
with a full accouut of his Life, Death, and Burial- With his Portrait. Price 25 cents.
Agents supplied at $1.50 a dozen, or Ten Dollars a hundred.
Published and for rale at the Cheapest Book House in the world to buy or send for a
Btock of any kinds of books you may wish, which is at
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,
Ho. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
To whom all orders and remittances must come addressed to meet with prompt attention.
Copies of above books will be sent per mail, free of postage, on receipt of, re tail price. A '

f>m**n--